| Dear Calgary:
Tired of city politicians living in denial over the realities facing Calgary? Want a break from so-called leaders who follow the opinion polls instead of leading our fair city into the world-class club?
This city needs some gritty Rudy Giuliani leadership. Leadership that embraces reality and makes something positive happen instead of denying there are problems, blaming others and promising things will be just fine.
I am officially announcing my intention to run for mayor in the 2004 civic election because the good burghers of Calgary are crying out for a leader who knows what it takes to be world-class. Lots of folks around here talk about Calgary being a player and making this city grow, but they have proven unwilling to deal with the cold reality of progress or the sacrifices needed to put our beloved Calgary on the map.
To be a world-class city, Calgary must have all the attributes of a world-class city – something our leadership either does not get or is unwilling to accept. Hosting the Winter Olympics and having a big rodeo does not count. Nobody is going to confuse Lillehammer, Salt Lake City or Nagano with a world-class city. The same goes for Edmonton, Las Vegas and Amarillo, Texas.
I am ready to help make Calgary the greatest city in Canada without burying you in horse manure.
It all starts with people. To be world-class, you have to be big. I do not care what kind of facilities or events you have – you are not a world-class city until you have five million souls to call your own.
If you thought Calgary grew quickly last year, hold on to your white Stetsons. We need to bring in as many people a month as we did all of last year if we want to reach five million in 20 years. We will have to build four Simons Valleys or McKenzie Townes each year for the next 20 years.
It is a big job, but with me as your fearless leader, I know Calgary can do it. As mayor, I will do everything I can to make Calgary grow. I will deliver cash handouts for newborns and housing, job and other incentives for anyone willing to move here. My job is to bring the people in. Your job is to make a killing building places for all these people to live, eat, learn and work.
Sure you will have to deal with all the problems that come with millions of people flooding into your town, but it is all a part of being a world-class city. You cannot have more monuments, museums, musicals, malls and office towers without getting your SUVs a little dirty.
If you want to be big, you have to have more homeless people, more slums and more crime, especially organized crime. You need more traffic headaches and parts of the city where good citizens are afraid to walk or drive. You are not a world-class city if the suburbanites can drive downtown in 45 minutes and park for less than $10, and lower-middle income families can afford a house within 30 kilometres of downtown or a central two-bedroom apartment.
It will be a tough transition from quiet hinterland town to metropolis. First I will get rid of most of the city’s planning department. I want this dramatic growth to be organic and human, not another sterile planning nightmare. Besides, Calgary will be growing too fast for all those bureaucrats to keep up, and I can use money saved on red tape to make Calgary grow.
Calgarians will just have to figure out for themselves where to put the roads. Do not tell me a group of action-minded citizens cannot do a better job than City Hall. If I had my way, we would be growing so fast that folks would have to build their own roads.
I will be busy convincing the feds to allow more immigrants and send them all to Calgary, and the province to relax its environmental standards so the oil and gas industry can grow as quickly as possible. The faster the oil companies grow, the faster Calgary becomes world-class and the faster we can become independent of hydrocarbons.
Most politicians in this town, province and country will say if you ain’t growing, you’re dying. Promoting growth is as basic to politics as kissing babies. Ask yourself, how many of those politicians are ready to do what is necessary to make this prairie caterpillar called Calgary blossom into a global butterfly? I count one – me.
Remember that when you see Willie Johnson on the ballot in 2004.
Your next Honourable Mayor,
Willie Johnson
ONLINE RESOURCES
· www.sierraclubchinook.org/Urban/Sprawl.html – Sierra Club’s urban sprawl campaign.
· http://action-for-agriculture.8m.com/index.html – Action for Agriculture.
· www.sustainablecalgary.ca/ – Sustainable Calgary (check out the green map).
· www.hww.ca/index_e.asp – Hinterland Who’s Who. |
Copyright ©2003 FFWD. All rights reserved.