Alderman Who?

Open any newspaper; turn on your television set or radio, and you will likely hear three names when referring to the upcoming municipal election; Ric McIver, Barb Higgins and Naheed Nenshi. The issues you hear, or read about, are the airport tunnel, the controversy over the audit or the Peace Bridge. These are all very important issues facing Calgary over next 10 years and beyond, but they are not the only issues facing voters.

Could you, as a voter, name who is running for Alderman in your ward; without the colourful ocean of paper and chloroplast announcing who has to most money to spend? What are the issues they stand for are they active in the community or do they even live in your ward? What will they do for you, not for themselves, in city hall?

In Ward 12 (which consists of Mahogany, Douglasdale, McKenzie, Auburn Bay, Cranston, Shepard, Seton and New Brighton), voters are concerned with bringing the SE LRT line to homes east of Deerfoot Trail, building recreation centers in the new communities and traffic congestion to name a few.

There are five candidates running for the position of Alderman in this election; Al Browne, Shane Keating, Roger Crowe, Rory Rotzoll and Ben Sim.

All five contenders took part in the recent CivicCamp forum for Ward 12, with, in my view two clear front runners Al Browne and Shane Keating.

Al Browne, owner of several Hooters Restaurants and a Cheesecake Cafe, has been active in provincial politics having lost to Art Johnson ,as MLA, a number of years ago. The knock against Mr. Browne then, was his ownership of the Calgary's Hooters franchise, his opposition to remove smoking from public establishments and his opposition to increasing the minimum wage for employees.

Reading Mr. Browne's policies read like a list things that should be said during an election; without the thought and detail that would outshine his name recognition through his association with the Conservative Party.

Truthfully, none of the candidates have put a lot of detail into their promises.

Mr. Browne has a large following of supporters, speaks and presents very well, but I fear is trying too hard to ride the coat tales of his endorsement by the Honourable Jason Kenney (Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister with the Federal Government).

It is difficult to find whether Mr. Browne has been active in the Ward 12 community, as most of his extra-curricular committees focus more as an alumnus of S.A.I.T. and Rotary (both great organizations).

When driving through the streets of Ward 12, you see Browne's Conservative Blue and Red signs, professionally designed and carefully thought out (you can clearly see the party influence in his campaign). Compare that to Keating's simple, green on white chloroplast signs staked into the ground deep enough to finish off anyone from the cast of Twilight.

Shane Keating, a teacher and principal for more than 31 years clearly does not have the backing of friends in high places, but does have a respectable campaign.

Keating is campaigning on the typical things one would expect a candidate for alderman to campaign on, open transparency in council, doing things different a city audit and so on.

I did received a media release from Keating's campaign team the other day touting his plan "to deal with LRT and transportation in the South East, building dense communities that encourage businesses to move from the crowded downtown core to where employees live, work and play and demand that he, and all other members of city council, are accountable to the voters who vote them into office."

Whether or not Keating's ideas or "policy statements" would fly in chambers is up to the voters in Ward 12.

The remaining candidates in the ward have done a great job of riding on the fact that their names will appear on the ballot and little else. Sure there are signs everywhere, but that is all.

It still baffles me that a candidate who lives in a different ward (Roger Crowe from Ward 14) is campaigning in Ward 12. Granted, Mr. Crowe lived in the ward back when Willow Park was part of Ward 12, but with the redrawing of the ward boundaries, Mr. Crowe, knowingly, is no longer a resident of Ward 12.

Two things are certain; little is really known about who is running for Alderman in Ward 12, and all other wards in Calgary, and voters have a lot of signs to look at in making their decision on who will represent them on the morning of October 19, 2010.