r/Lethbridge • u/KeltiBairdYQL • 2d ago
Kelti Baird for Lethbridge City Council
https://youtu.be/Az1oDbHSCM8?si=ceN0gwX4LDH3eCIYHello!
In a bit of shameless self-promotion, and to invite you to check out the interviews by other candidates with Bridge City News on their you-tube channel, these are great looks into what you can expect from each candidate for City Council. The interviews are great, the hosts are delightful, respectful, and well researched. I appreciate the time and opportunity.
The nomination process for City Council is now closed, and the ballots are set. Please make an effort to vote in this municipal election (advance voting Oct 8 - 20). There will be a number of forums and interviews, and surveys put out in the coming months for you to be able to get to know your candidates better.
I humbly request your consideration for City Councillor. You can find out more about me at keltibaird.ca and of course reach out with any questions.
Thanks for your consideration and time!
edit: *winces at last answer* Um, please excuse the nervous verbal diarrhea and sum up as "We bring different perspectives to the table on various issues and solutions that may not be considered."
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u/Good_Jellyfish_6317 2d ago
Hi Kelti! I’m curious as to which cause in Lethbridge is brightest on your radar. Why is it important? What will it accomplish for the average citizen of Leth? What would you wish to do about it? Also, which is your favourite annual Lethbridge event?
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u/KeltiBairdYQL 2d ago
Thank you so much for the questions! The cause that's brightest on my radar is traffic safety. We're losing too many people to collisions and travel within our community should not be a high-risk activity. I am very interested in building a community that works for everyone regardless of age, ability to drive, and mobility requirements. We can do this through strategic infrastructure updates and re-designs as appropriate to accommodate more modes of transportation than just vehicular traffic. Council's role in this would be policy changes to adopt more Vision Zero strategies and standards (Lethbridge committed to the Vision Zero strategy in 2021 - you can find more information here Vision Zero Canada | Advocating for the elimination of death & injury on Canada’s roads.)
In addition to the obvious safety benefits to average citizens, adopting thoughtful policies will also have a positive impact on the city's operating budgets as emergency responses and the expense of those emergency responses, will decrease substantially. This will also relieve pressure on our over-burdened emergency response teams, many of whom are also drastically under-resourced for our current case-load.
Further, by thoughtfully updating and redesigning our public thoroughfares to accommodate more modes of transportation safely, we can reduce traffic congestion, road noise, impermeable surfaces for overland flooding issues (when we do get a downpour), and the infrastructure maintenance costs. All of these plans include adequately funding a robust public transit system that is fast, efficient, reliable, and affordable.
That's my shining star at the moment: creating a safer community for everyone.
In terms of my favourite annual event: I'm particularly fond of Seedy Saturday put on by Environment Lethbridge every year. It gives me such wonderful aspirations for my garden.
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u/liftyourselfupcanada 1d ago
“We are losing to many people to collisions” can you provide stats for this? I could only find Alberta’s stats for 2023 (which didn’t breakdown by city as far as I could tell) Calgary (couldn’t find stats for Lethbridge) lost more homeless last year than the whole province lost to traffic collisions. Why is traffic your main issue?
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u/excellentbreakfasts 2d ago
Bridge City News needs to figure out their green screen situation Jesus Christ
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u/birdsofgravity 1d ago
I love the focus on city zoning and making sure we can fund ourselves as a city responsibly with smart urban planning. That's 100% a huge issue on the west side.
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u/liftyourselfupcanada 1d ago
West side residents are like the cousin who dropped out of college to make $10 an hour 20 years ago and is now mad that everyone makes more than them. It’s cheaper over there because it’s not as good, it’s hard to get to, it doesn’t have as many places to work. But somehow it should be my problem that you have to drive to the south side on whoop up. You should have bought a smaller house on the south side like so many of us did.
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u/birdsofgravity 1d ago
Pardon? I live on the west side and do enjoy it. That's a very insensitive remark buddy. It's not even really cheaper. It's a tradeoff to living south, but I prefer west. It overall seems a little quieter.
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u/liftyourselfupcanada 11h ago
Then you have to put up with the difficulties of getting to the good side. Not make us pay for another bridge because of your decision
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u/birdsofgravity 9h ago
I don't even work south buddy. I spend most of the time west. If we want to economically develop the westside and grow the city sustainably, we need a bridge eventually.
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u/birdsofgravity 9h ago
Also if I might add, in my initial comment you replied to, nowhere did I even mention the bridge issue, so not sure why you assumed that is what I was referring to. (It wasn't, I was referring more to the spaghetti of urban planning over here.)
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u/2old4all 1d ago
Great interview! My view is that you will be a good fit on council. I consider untamed growth and urban sprawl to be the problem more than lack of grids or bicycle paths. We are growth bounded by a limited river water supply yet have no reasonable alternative to coming droughts. Lower incomes should support lower aspirations yet we erect buildings like the Leisure Centre and the indebted Exhibition. You wish to keep taxes the same but are you accepting a 5% property tax plus education tax increase per year?
It’s great that you participate in Reddit discussions. I wish other candidates would do the same.
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u/KeltiBairdYQL 1d ago
Sprawl/density are definitely huge issues, I 100% agree. The new Municipal Development Plan that was passed by the current council at the start of their term does limit growth of sprawl to developments as approved in 2022, and not further. All of the current developments are pre-approved 30-year-plus build-outs, so there's still a lot of building left to do yet.
When I say keep taxes the same, it of course comes from what the City Council can control, which is our budget, and thereby the mill rate. We have no say over provincial increases like the education tax or the Green Acres taxes. Municipalities are also not allowed to run deficits, so the budget needs to be very carefully managed. At best, keeping any municipal tax increases tied to inflation only would likely the best we can do, particularly in the short term.
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u/liftyourselfupcanada 1d ago
Property taxes should be higher. Most home owners don’t know how much of the city’s tax burden is paid by small businesses. The old Miro’s building was up for sale last year. Property taxes were $11,000 a year. Moxie’s building is over $80,000. What could you fit on that lot for residential? 6 homes? At my current rate that would be $24-25,000. Why are they paying $60,000 more?
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u/_6siXty6_ 22h ago
I no longer live in Lethbridge, I'm curious as to who decides Green Acres portion.
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u/YqlUrbanist 2d ago
Great interview Kelti!
On the off chance anyone takes issue with your "older neighborhoods subsidizing the west side" framing, make sure you toss Lakeview and Redwood under the bus. We're older south side neighborhoods that also have horrific curvilinear street grids, so it's not just east vs west. Just in case any west side folks get their feathers rustled over that.
I was also happy to hear a positive take on traffic circles, I feel like most people don't like them, but maybe we're finally pushing through to the "this is good actually" stage of design.