Thread by @klaszus

BINGO. Councillor Walcott nails it. Councillors have been asking for more analysis on growth & climate. Walcott: we're just trying to justify something we can't do: greenfield development. Bad for enviro. Will increase citywide GHGs by 1%. More analysis won't change that. #yyccc

Walcott: "If climate's holding you up from this decision—you already have that info. This is +1%. There's no more info that's going to tell you we can be climate-friendly overall net & grow...the q is are you ok with 1% & the benefits that come w 8 new comms? That's the q" #yyccc

A lot of today's #yyccc committee meeting has amounted to councillors preemptively trying to justify/rationalize what they know they can't justify, in light of them declaring a climate emergency last Nov.

Councillor Sharp is trying to move up new comms before November budget—basically fast-tracking them. Walcott opposed. "We don't know what our budget is yet." May save industry time, he says, but increases our risk. Our job is to be caretakers of the city. #yyccc

Councillor Mian echoes Walcott's concerns about Sharp's motion bumping up new comms and circumventing good governance. #yyccc

Fairly regularly in this #yyccc committee meeting the participants are confused on basic points, which makes me feel a little better about struggling to understand what exactly they're trying to do (it's realllly not been clear a lot of the night)

Councillors are still trying to get clarity on what exactly these 8 communities will cost. $5M operating cost from 2023-2026 according to admin, but capital costs are murky. Won't trigger new capital costs, but will "leverage previous capital investments," admin has said. #yyccc

Councillor Spencer is pitching a riff on Sharp's motion. Instead of bumping up all 8 new comms from Nov to Sept, just bump up the 5 recommended by admin + do more analysis on the 3 maybes. Spencer: "This is where I believe we should be moving."

Everyone is confused in this meeting. "I'm really confused." "That was really confusing." #yyccc

Sidenote: I wish one could see how many people are watching the #yyccc livestream at any given time. Are 50 people watching? 500? 5,000? I wonder.

The 13yo upon walking into the kitchen and seeing me still watching #yyccc: "This is why I'm never becoming a journalist"

At this point questions are being asked and answered that have already been asked and answered in this meeting (but why stop now!) #yyccc

Now @gccarra is speaking at length #yyccc

(evergreen tweet)

We're tripping over ourselves to be business friendly, at the expense of our regulatory role, says @gccarra. Do not support this (moving up approval of 5 new comms from Nov to Sept). #yyccc

Councillor Spencer says if we can get new communities and amenities sooner, good. Time is money. Capital investment doesn't like uncertainty. "These are areas where it makes sense to put people." Established communities can't keep pace with housing demand. Need this. #yyccc

Council's inf + planning committee votes 6-5 to move up approval of 5 new communities from Nov budget time (admin's recommendation) to Sept. Still needs council approval.

For: Sharp, Chabot, McLean, Spencer, Chu

Against: Carra, Mian, Dhaliwal, Walcott, Wong

#yyccc

I feel like anyone who stays up late to watch #yyccc should be rewarded with early access to the next day's Wordle. When @sprawlcalgary acquires Wordle I'll make it so