It is bright and early and the long, winding lineups inside Calgary city hall make you wonder.
Is there a concert happening here?
This lineup can’t be for a week-long, brain-freezing gab-a-thon sure to test the endurance of even the hardiest of souls, a marathon of masochism.
But here they are.
Hundreds descend upon Calgary city hall Monday morning. Most are visibly unhappy. Some are quite worked up and very open about telling you exactly how angry they are.
If someone was handing out pitchforks this day they’d be doing a brisk business.
Yes, there are plenty of folks worked up. They don’t want their neighbourhoods to change.
They don’t want rowhouses or townhouses or fourplexes on their street. They don’t want city hall to fool around with the zoning. They don’t want citywide rezoning.
They think city hall couldn’t organize a two-car funeral.
They are serious.
They didn’t like the latest city tax hike but they didn’t travel, fuelled by their outrage, to the Big Blue Playpen to oppose the increase.
They didn’t like all the times Calgary city council showed they were hopelessly out of touch but they held their fire.
They didn’t like the stupidity or the arrogance or the almost non-existent listening skills at city hall but they didn’t get up close and personal with the city hall bigshots and the city hall politicians.
They especially didn’t like the fact that no matter how many times they pushed back city hall and this city council never learned.
Never wanted to learn, to be precise.
But then again, when you know everything what is there to learn?
But, as the well-worn saying goes, a person’s home is their castle and a lot of people feel their castle is under attack.
So they’re at city hall.
The lineup of speakers at city hall is long, very long.
The overflow area is set up with rows of chairs and it is packed.
The city council chamber is at capacity but it is much more fun in the overflow area where people cheer or boo after comments by the politicians and the paper shufflers.
The fear and loathing is everywhere.
This is what happens when city hall does not communicate in real people talk about what they are doing. Many more questions than answers this late in the game is not a good sign.
City hall talks about misinformation without properly informing the people who pay the bills, relying on mumbo-jumbo to make their case and giving the impression their life would be far easier if Calgarians would just zip it and stop being such a pain.
This most unpopular city council in Calgary polling history, according to the well-respected ThinkHQ nose counters, has lost the trust of many but many on council just don’t believe it.
The citywide rezoning was the straw that broke the camel’s back and there were many straws but the city council majority don’t see straws or camels.
They just preach what they consider the brilliance of their plans as is their standard operating procedure.
One city higher-up this day says it’s been “a tense and often emotional few months.”
There will be more tension and emotion in the days ahead. Bet on it.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek says council is trying to listen to everyone to make sure the right thing is done.
On Saturday the mayor met with community leaders from across the city and talked about “finding inclusive and beneficial solutions for all.”
We shall see.
Sadly, we still can’t get the straight goods on how much, if any, of the $228 million Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to Calgary for housing will be returned to sender if there is a No vote to citywide rezoning.
City deep thinkers say there are no strings attached. Since they talk in circles, their credibility is shot.
Andre Chabot, a veteran councillor, isn’t necessarily buying their answer.
Sonya Sharp, an outspoken northwest Calgary councillor, wants to ask the question again.
Gondek says Calgary applied for the dough before Trudeau laid down a lot of conditions.
But a recent Postmedia article states Gondek believes federal dollars are “partially contingent” on citywide rezoning.
Meanwhile, word is members of city council want to tweak the citywide rezoning plan to get it over the finish line.
Sharp thinks if there are so many proposed tweaks there might be a need for a talk with city hall mucky-mucks to see if this is the actual policy to be approved.
Yes, the lineup was long on Monday. It is expected to be a long week.
Of course, the biggest question cannot be answered yet, in a city where apathy about city hall is legendary.
Will lineups be as long in the fall of next year when Calgarians get the chance to cast their ballot in the city election?
rbell@postmedia.com
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