Edmonton city council gets mixed reviews at term’s halfway mark

Two years into the current Edmonton city council’s term, reviews are mixed.

Political analyst John Brennan said council seems to be disconnected from Edmontonians.

“On taxing and spending, I would give them a failing grade,” Brennan said.

“I think they are out of touch with the decisions they made last December by increasing property taxes by five per cent (for) four straight years.”

Brennan also pointed to council’s vote to increase the price of parking downtown and last year’s decision to stop the aerial spraying program for mosquitoes. He said reconsideration on the police budget was a good a call.

1:52 Edmonton city council listens to Day 2 of public hearings for proposed zoning bylaw

“I was very pleased to see them reconsider the police budget and come up with a formula which will increase the budget for police based on population growth. So I think that’s a positive,” Brennan said.

“It’s really a mixed bag… They haven’t done a terrible job, but they haven’t done a great job.”

Tim Cartmell is on his second term as city councillor. He said he isn’t satisfied with council’s progress.

“Downtown is getting better. I would say it’s better than a year ago, but it’s not good yet,” he said. “There’s still a lot of concern about safety in the public. The most concerning thing people see when they’re in our public spaces and in our transit system is rampant use of drugs just open and freely.

“We’ve made investments, we’ve tried to make moves… But we are absolutely not there yet. So I’m certainly not satisfied.”

2:12 Hearings for Edmonton’s proposed zoning bylaw

Cartmell also sees a disconnect between council and Edmontonians.

“There seems to be a lack of synchronisation between the views expressed by my council colleagues when it comes to taxes and tax increase,” the Ward pihêsiwin councillor said.

“There is enough money in the system that we should be able to do most of what people want to do most of the time, and we’ve been met with heavy resistance from city administration to come up with that. I don’t think council has pressed hard enough.”

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said there has been surprise challenges since stepping into his role two years ago.

“I never imagined the kind of social issues that we would experience in the form of a doubling of the house business population, the mental health crisis, the overdose crisis, the addictions crisis,” Sohi said.

1:46 City of Edmonton going after owners of derelict properties financially

Sohi stressed council is taking steps to tackle issues by investing in affordable housing, putting more safety resources into public transit and the police budget.

“We are on the path to, I would say, improving services… But we have a long way to go, so we are on the right track but we have much more work to do.”

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The city has been instructed to find $240 million in the existing budget. It would be reallocated to core services like transit, snow clearing, housing and action on climate change.

“We need to make sure what are some of the discretionary spending that we have that we can reduce in order to limit the impact of a tax levy that Edmontonians are experiencing,” Sohi said.

1:39 Suburban sprawl costs Edmonton taxpayers more than infill: City report

Ward Anirniq Coun. Erin Rutherford said these past two years have gone by really fast.

She narrowly won her spot on council, with two other candidates close behind. Rutherford said it’s important for her to make sure she represents those who voted for her and those didn’t.

“This council is more composed of progressive thought leaders, I would say. But that doesn’t mean we’re partisan to a fault. I think there’s data that has proven, for example, Councillor Janz and myself — who have both been endorsed by the NDP in the last election — don’t vote very similarly together on split decisions,” Rutherford said.

She said the first two years of this council will set the stage for the next two and Edmontonians will notice.

“I want to see some of the good work in the foundation that we are laying as a council come to fruition, in terms of things that Edmontonians can practically see in their day to day lives,” Rutherford said.

1:59 How will police funding formula impact Edmonton?

“The public spaces bylaw is a really good example. It’s all conceptual right now. We need to have that conversation about that bylaw, pass it and allow people to start to see that bylaw at work in the public spaces,” she said.

“I want to start to see some of those things cross the finish line before we get to the next election.”

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Brennan said he expects the next election will be tight.

“I think we’re going to see a lot of very competitive councillor elections and I think we’re going to see a very competitive mayoralty election, because I think there is going to be a little bit of backlash especially from the business community, but also from some citizens towards this council,” Brennan said.

He said even the current public hearings about the proposed changes to the zoning bylaw will have an impact on voters.

Brennan suspects Cartmell will announce he will run for Mayor.

When Global News asked Cartmell if he would consider running for mayor in the 2025 municipal election, he said he hasn’t decided what he would like to do from here. Stressing he is enjoying his work as a councillor.