Since I left City Council I have worked to avoid commenting on Council directly. Ex-councillors get asked a lot for their thoughts & opinions on what Council is doing. I tried to avoid that. I remember how annoying (& boring) it was to hear from ex-cllrs. #yyccc 1/12
We used to think “If you still wanted the job you should have stayed”. I loved my job as a City Councillor, I loved it to the very last minute. I love that I decided to not run again. Life if always full of adventure & discovery, I have always relished & sought that #yyccc 2/12
Sure, I have fired off missives on SM, specifically in the twitter realm, about issues, comments, decisions of Council. Twitter is a very narrow self-selected group of #polinerds 3/12
But, when the media has called I have either declined or kept it to the issue, and usually issues I care deeply about: affordable housing, poverty, urban growth, etc. I have avoided commenting in the media on Council or Councillors….. until yesterday. #yyccc 4/12
My anger at the newest revelations about Cllr Chu tipped me over the edge & when the media called, I responded. I think it is important for Council to understand that the intimidation & implicit threatening behaviour exhibited towards the Mayor is part of a pattern. #yyccc 5/12
This isn’t only about a botched investigation into a sexual assault case 20 yrs ago or doxxing a colleague a few weeks ago. #yyccc 6/12
Over the past 9 yrs of Chu being on Council, questions have been raised multiple times about threatening & intimidating behaviour towards other cllrs & towards city staff #yyccc 7/12
All the “ethics courses”, “lessons learned”, and “apologies” over the past 9 years (aside from the egregious issues of misogynistic & abusive behaviour prior to that) has done nothing to change this pattern of behaviour from Chu. #yyccc 8/12
Ultimately, this is about a safe work environment. Council deserves a safe work environment &, I believe, they have a responsibility to ensure a safe work environment for everyone who works at the @cityofcalgary. #yyccc 9/12
Council can’t fire a Councillor & obviously Chu feels no compunction to resign. He has demonstrated no obvious awareness that his behaviour is problematic. His comments yesterday are emblematic of that. #yyccc 10/12
Council needs to do everything in their power to ensure a safe work environment for themselves, their staff, & for @cityofcalgary employees. That is at the core of my comments on City Council. Hopefully, the Province will do the right thing, because Chu has shown he won’t. 11/12
Back in 2008, when @cityofcalgary undertook creating a new Growth Plan for #yyc, (the MDP), a key understanding & driver was sprawl. We had 33 communities under development & couldn’t afford it. #yyccc knew we had to reduce that number to become financially sustainable.
@cityofcalgary Developers were upset because we were picking “winners and losers”. And yes, we were. All land is not equal when it comes to servicing and development. That is where the Growth Management Overlay came from. #yyccc
@cityofcalgary Since the MDP was approved, there has been constant pressure from the development industry and their lobbyists to relax & erode the rules and regulations in the MDP. Everything from density targets (which were modest at best) to servicing costs have been eroded. #yyccc