| Unless there’s a major upset, Mayor Dave Bronconnier will likely be swilling champagne with his supporters on October 18 after winning a landslide electoral victory.
Yet despite his widespread popularity in the city, Bronconnier’s first term in office hasn’t been without controversy and his leadership style isn’t uniformly admired. When you ask people about him, words such as "autocratic" and "aggressive" come up. During council meetings, he often comes across like a strict kindergarten teacher intent on keeping his little aldermen in line. And while some feel he’s a guy who gets things done, other wonder if Bronco, like his predecessors, is letting developers call the shots at city hall.
It’s also clear there are plenty of issues that Calgarians think the mayor and city council still need to tackle.
Calgary residents interviewed at random last week by Fast Forward on 17th Avenue and 4th Street S.W. praised Bronconnier for improving roads and other infrastructure, and a couple commented on how clean Calgary is as a city. But people also expressed concerns about public transit not keeping up with city growth, rapid redevelopment of the inner city, urban sprawl and the growing decline of affordable housing.
Rocky Singh, who lives in the northeast, says city transit is abysmal. "The service is so poor," he says. "Some places, the buses don’t run after 10 (p.m.)."
Chris Rogers says he’s concerned about the pace of new development in the inner city and the number of big-box stores moving onto 17th Avenue S.W., replacing buildings with more character. He says the city also "has to be more proactive about bringing life to the downtown core."
Gordon Grant says inner-city redevelopment is reducing affordable housing. "There used to be a lot more," he says. "Now developers kick out the poor people… and people fall through the cracks. Right now the homeless problem is incredible and we’re almost rivalling American cities."
Grant also says the inner city is facing a big drug problem. "The neighbourhood is terrible for crack," he says. "It’s an epidemic. There should be more drug enforcement."
On the subject of Bronconnier’s performance, Joe Howes says the mayor is generally "doing a good job." But he’s "a little disappointed" that Bronconnier said he wouldn’t participate in any more all-candidate debates this election after calling the first one he attended, on October 1 at the University of Calgary, a "gong show."
Bill Kerr describes Bronconnier as "a little autocratic" and he says city planning is sometimes questionable. As an example, he points out that there isn’t enough parking for all the people driving to the Dalhousie C-train station, forcing many to park in adjacent neighbourhoods.
Laurie Bardsley says he believes city council under Bronconnier is still "a rubber stamp for developers in Calgary."
"Any time a developer comes up with any kind of project, it’s ‘Go ahead’ and it doesn’t matter how it disturbs communities around it," says Bardsley. "The green-lighting of suburban sprawl causes a strain on infrastructure and they don’t make the developers pay…. Taxes in the inner city go up to pay for roads in the subdivision."
In Bronconnier’s first term in office he has developed a reputation as an aggressive, take-charge kind of mayor who gets things done regardless of whether that leads to tension and division among council members. At a March, 2003 Chamber of Commerce meeting, Bronconnier singled out six members of council for a "pat on the back" and criticized the other eight council members for moving too slowly on city issues – a remark which outraged the eight aldermen in question.
Retiring alderman John Schmal was one of the council members Bronconnier criticized. "He named six members of council to be really great and didn’t say anything about the balance," he recalls. "From a political point of view, it wasn’t really appropriate or necessary.
Contrasting Bronconnier’s leadership with that of his predecessor, former mayor Al Duerr, Schmal says council functioned more like a team under Duerr. "I somewhat preferred the team effort, because to me it showed everyone was on board in the end."
On the other hand, Schmal concedes that Bronconnier "has accomplished a lot in his term."
University of Calgary political science professor Stan Drabek agrees that Bronconnier is much less "the broker type" than Duerr was. Whereas Duerr worked behind the scenes to get consensus from everyone on council, Bronconnier "gets his way" says Drabek. "It has caused some tension due to his style."
Mount Royal College policy studies instructor Keith Brownsey agrees, but says Bronconnier’s more aggressive style was greatly needed at city council. "Duerr wanted to bring all 14 aldermanic seats onside and they didn’t get anything done," says Brownsey.
Bronconnier’s tougher approach could be seen when he led the charge to terminate the contract of city CEO Dale Stanway in October 2003. Drabek says Bronconnier and the majority of council decided city administration had too much control over what was happening in the city.
"There were sparks between the two," says Drabek of the CEO and the mayor. "(Bronconnier) and the majority of council felt administration wasn’t letting council into the knowledge loop."
Stanway’s termination came a year after the biggest controversy of Bronconnier’s term – the collapse of a deal between the city and a private developer to redevelop the East Village. City council ended up having to spend $2.8 million to exit the partnership in November 2002. Bronconnier blamed the debacle on senior administration, saying there was an "accountability gap" between administration and city council.
Both Drabek and Brownsey believe that Bronconnier has a strong approval rating in the city. They say he has done an effective job at lobbying the provincial and federal governments for more infrastructure money, and he’s improved the city’s road network.
However, they say Bronconnier and council’s record on combating urban sprawl has been weak. "We just seem to be going out and out and out. We’re bigger than New York," says Brownsey.
"I think they’re almost in a holding pattern because an awful lot of people want their house so they can raise their kids," adds Drabek. "One of the easiest solutions is to keep annexing land."
Fast Forward requested an interview with Dave Bronconnier for this story but, as of press time, his campaign office had not responded. |
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