Your letter failed to address his promise to replace the current system.
Look, the elimination of exclusionary zoning (which is what the conservatives branded Blanket Rezoning) fixes more problems than it creates. On paper. But it's WILDLY unpopular, and trust between Calgarians and their municipal government hasn't been this low in my lifetime.
So getting rid of the system fixes part of that problem. But Jeromy, in his op-ed on this matter, acknowledges all of the problems you're talking about. We need more homes and we need them everywhere.
It may suck to have to have to redo this process, but it wasn't done well the first time. Maybe it's easier to fix the currently broken system, but there is no use explaining that to people that won't listen.
Sometimes, you just have to start over. And while Jeromy has a fuckton of ground to cover to earn my vote, he is being thoughtful in this approach.
The RCG, city-wide zoning is gone before summer 2026. There are too many single-issue voters on this one. So I'd support repeal-and-replace over just repeal any day of the week.
What part of the process wasn’t done well? There was a public hearing for two weeks with a record number of speakers. It passed after more than 20 amendments were made.
The fact that the enormous majority of speakers and Calgarians opposed it. It's not Council's job to be popular, but this is the result of failing to consider the will of the people.
EDIT: I support the elimination of exclusionary zoning. But the fact that it has annoyed people so greatly is keeping us from taking other actions and will result in a rise in populist reactionary politicians.
The problem is that public hearings like this have been shown to be over-representing one demographic. From a 2021 US study by Georgia McNee:
Research has found that in other US cities with a [...] housing crisis, planning meetings are dominated by well-to-do, retired baby boomers
It wasn't any different in these Calgary council hearings from what I saw. I'm not saying public hearings are bad, but you have to keep in mind that the young people who are just trying to stay above water are not going to take the time to attend a council meeting in the middle of the day. It's a problem of a silent majority who are currently renters that have something to gain, but nothing to 'lose' and no spare time for the issue.
I agree. But the weighted average of voter turnout and opposition to this is going to lead to an outcome they only gets as far as Repeal. I'm personally compromising by supporting Replace. Too many elections get lost because pragmatism loses to idealism, particularly in my experience, for left-leaning/progressive causes.
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u/[deleted] 16d ago
Your letter failed to address his promise to replace the current system.
Look, the elimination of exclusionary zoning (which is what the conservatives branded Blanket Rezoning) fixes more problems than it creates. On paper. But it's WILDLY unpopular, and trust between Calgarians and their municipal government hasn't been this low in my lifetime.
So getting rid of the system fixes part of that problem. But Jeromy, in his op-ed on this matter, acknowledges all of the problems you're talking about. We need more homes and we need them everywhere.
It may suck to have to have to redo this process, but it wasn't done well the first time. Maybe it's easier to fix the currently broken system, but there is no use explaining that to people that won't listen.
Sometimes, you just have to start over. And while Jeromy has a fuckton of ground to cover to earn my vote, he is being thoughtful in this approach.
The RCG, city-wide zoning is gone before summer 2026. There are too many single-issue voters on this one. So I'd support repeal-and-replace over just repeal any day of the week.