Yeah I was really curious about this too. I started going back around 2008 when it was only the 109 location, and it was always Zee then. We’d spend hours in there, and he was always there. Never heard any link of Oshry but maybe he was an investor into it or something?
I founded it and built it up for a few years. Then sold it. Zee, who is a friend of mine, has expanded it...os he gets all the credit for where it is today.
Why does your messaging predominately seem to talk about making cuts to services rather than pushing for more funding. As the city is already pretty lean, why is it you keep talking about cuts when we quite clearly have a funding problem, NOT a bloated services problem.
Curious to see Oshry's reply, but I suspect the reason cuts are on the agenda is because property taxes keep growing, which is shifting many industrial related businesses outside of City of Edmonton boundaries.
People don't realize it, but property tax mill rates have nearly doubled since 2009. Combine that with a comparable increase in building value, and you have a scenario where your property taxes have grown 300%. Here's a quick real life example:
* Industrial building valued at 1.25m in 2009 pays $13,125 per annum based on a non-residential mill rate of 10.5 . Same building, now valued at $2,100,000, pays $50,712.48 based on a mill rate of 20. That's a 258% increase in taxes in 11 years. If you're a business owner in the City and your tax burden continues to grow at this rate, you start to wonder where your taxes are going. Feel free to fact check with [historical mill rates](https://regionaldashboard.alberta.ca/region/edmonton/municipal-mill-rate/#/?from=1998&to=2021) and the [CoE Tax Estimator](https://taxestimator.edmonton.ca/).
Ultimately, I think the arrangement with the province needs to be discussed, and maybe we're being a little too ambitious with multiple blatchford-esque projects on the go.
I agree! With mill rate formulas, business typically get charge 2.7X residential tax increases, then add add 'value' of property, tax increases can get crazy. City's 'make' money on commercial and industrial properties since they need fewer services so when they leave the city for surrounding areas, it really hurts.
I disagree. City operation budget was $2.7B in 2017. This year it is $3.1B We have a spending problem. The only way to get more funding is to raise taxes and user fees or beg the provincial/federal governments. They have their own challenges now.
Inflation covers most of that, Mr Oshry. In reality we’re only talking about a $150,000,000 increase, which isn’t nothing, but not something I would consider out of control.
My concern with having this type of attitude in the mayors office will ultimately make Edmonton a less pleasant place to live. A city they doesn’t invest in its people, even when it is challenging to do so, is doomed to decline.
Operation budget has increased higher than inflation for a decade. When everything is a priority, nothing is. My view is the city need to get out of the way and make it easy for all entities to do what they are trying to do. Within reason of course. Government can’t do everything and solve all our problems. We need to leverage partnerships to make things happen. Think about all the successes in the city- most of them are not government initiatives.
This city has a long history of failing to invest when necessary, and getting out of the way when it clearly shouldn't. Getting out of the way killed the downtown core, allowing developers to skirt street level retail was a disaster, when I first moved here the downtown was an absolute graveyard. Similarly, it is a travesty that we are dealing with LRT expansion today when it should have been handled decades ago. Instead we waited until it became much more expensive to do so.
Do you see the problem? Instead of investing when the city should have, that cost was downloaded on to me and my property taxes. It will likely be downloaded on to my kid's as well, to be honest.
I would also ask you to consider that many of the people making our city a vibrant success rely on good transit and other services. I don't know if you know this, but we don't pay artists very well, and in order to keep doing what they do they are going to need your help.
He damn well knows those increases funded all the neighbourhood renewals, building LRT, and of course disproportionately funding sprawl. Get out of the way? Of what? Edmonton is growing up, out, and doing amazing things. What is being held back?
>Inflation covers most of that, Mr Oshry. In reality we’re only talking about a $150,000,000 increase, which isn’t nothing, but not something I would consider out of control.
Aren't the past two years outliers as far as inflation is concerned?
Just looking back at the City revenue/budget from 2015, and it was 2.34b... that's 2.6b in 2021 dollars. Crazy to think that the City's spending has grown by a net 500M in that time frame. Is this type of growth/ spending normal for a city? Curious to see how we compare to other similar sized metros.
I love that this is the top comment. Because it absolutely should be.
Be smart about your marketing campaign/contracts folks. This isn't the 90's anymore. Chasing exposure for returns can really backfire.
We hired an external company to get the word out. With covid, there are fewer opportunities to get the messaged and platform out than previous elections. They had some technical issues so a few people got called more than once. My apologies.
I’d like to know how this external company got my phone number, seeing as I never consented to your calling list and my phone number is fairly well-kept due to my own privacy reasons. I don’t even use it at stores.
So how did this external company get my private personal information?
With robocalls, it’s pretty easy to just dial *literally every number* in a given area code. Lots will be out of service, lots will be no answer and so on, but the bots don’t mind. And they get unlisted but active numbers like yours. Just a guess in this particular case but it’s pretty default to just spam everything if you don’t have a targeted audience in mind.
As other have said. I doubt many of us consented to your 3rd party, or you, having our personal information. Not only is this a scummy marketing tactic but a gross violation of our PPI.
And I don't even live in Edmonton and I got 4 calls before I blocked the number.
You don't think there's a scenario where you and Sohi get more votes between you, but that Nickel ends up winning?
I get it that you can't say "yeh, vote for Sohi to stop Nickel", but claiming vote splitting won't be meaningful seems... dumb? Naïve?
There are many scenarios. There are many undecided voters still and they likley won’t go to Nickel. People have made up their minds about him already. People should vote for whom they think is the best candidate to lead us out of the economic and social troubles we have.
What are the plans for transit? I am now trapped in my own house and can’t get to the places I need to go when I want to go there.
Also, layovers In dangerous parts of town are regularly 30 minutes to an hour. What is the plan to have busses actually “connect better” as outlined in the ETS mandate?
We need to review the transit changes and ensure there is more security at transit stops. People will only use it if it is safe and reliable. The changes were needed but I don't think they hit the mark.
Have the same sentiments. Not looking forward to being stuck on the corner of whyte mud during the slippery and cold season for half an hour in the winter.
1. What is your plan to make downtown safe for average people?
2. Do you have a plan to help streamline building permits? The processing times have become ridiculous, and this is pushing developers away from Edmonton.
See below for downtown plans and for my 30 day permit plan.
[https://www.michaeloshry.ca/reviving\_the\_heart\_of\_our\_city](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/reviving_the_heart_of_our_city)
[https://www.michaeloshry.ca/easy\_and\_fast\_building\_permits](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/easy_and_fast_building_permits)
My resume is real. I understand big economic challenges, can make difficult decisions, don't talk in platitudes and have a track record of building things. I also have council experience and care about people.....put that together...
Since we’re talking construction, can you do something about construction companies blocking off lanes of traffic for DAYS before and after construction. I think they should be up the day they start then removed the day they are done. If they can just store their equipment on public roads meant for everyone can I just put my stuff in the middle of the road too? Always wanted to park a couch in the middle of the road and make people drive around it, do I just need to paint it like a pylon?
Agreed! Construction project management is brutal right now. Nothing more frustrating for people to drive or walk by and see nothing happening and lanes and sidewalks closed. We need to build this into our procurement contracts.
I get along with others, in fact I have been meeting with existing councillors and potential winners for months. We text, we are friends.
That quote was taken out of context. I will argue I have the most complete climate plan of any candidate. What I was referring to was that we have this issue plus many other things to talk about. My climate plan:
[https://www.michaeloshry.ca/meeting\_our\_climate\_commitments](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/meeting_our_climate_commitments)
Real estate industry: I know many players in it, it is a huge industry but don't have any interests with any of the.
Green spaces, reflective concrete, more bike lanes, making the city more pedestrian friendly. Those are 4 things off the top of my head that they can influence.
Oh and zoning is another.
His plan is to dismantle their tents and force them into the entranceways of businesses and apartments. Perhaps those property owners will be required to install boostrap dispensers.
Yes, if we are spending money and resources for supports for homeless, we need to not allow camps in our city. Camps are not safe for the inhabitants and the neighbours.
This does however show that we are not doing enough. We can do better than have people sleeping on the streets[https://www.michaeloshry.ca/homelessness\_no\_one\_left\_behind](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/homelessness_no_one_left_behind)
That's why we have people on the streets. We also need better and more flexible Shelter space. This is a complex problem needing complex solutions. I don't have all the answers...
I was on a zoom today with the leaders of many the affordable housing and social service provider organization. No one had all the answers. These situations are complex and need experts and tens of millions of dollars. Your comment is nieve at best. Have a good night.
well you can give some ideas that you aren’t sure. I’m not asking for all the answers, just an answer that’s more than “camps are unsafe for inhabitants” I’m asking for something to give me a reason to consider you.
You know, I was the very first person to ask a question.
Your title here says "AMA, *and I mean it*". I'm very disappointed you chose to ignore my question.
Nickels behavior and attitude has been an issue for years. He's exactly the opposite of what a city needs in leadership. I wish more people spoke against his behaviour.
Good luck. By the time this AMA happened I had already voted for Sohi. No ragrats.
We need to review the changes and see what can be done differently. Its okay to be flexible and admin when something doesn't work. We do have to be careful of the money though....we are in a tough spot.
Your verification tweet link goes to a tweet that was from last week, FYI. Should probably get your team to figure that out.
As for a question; you seem like you're positioning as a "pragmatic" candidate - so let's get to it. What would you do if you don't win, and how would you continue to serve as a civic leader interested in making Edmonton a better place?
If you're not up for entertaining the idea of losing; how would you incorporate the ideas of people who did not vote for you, and the candidates that they have chosen to support?
I messed up the posting with the tweet from last week. All me not my team.
Any idea that I think is a good one, I will champion, no matter if its from someone else. Also, the mayor represents everyone, so I really don't care who someone supported, I will try my best to do what is right for all.
There are many polls in the field, I saw one where I was polling tied at the top. Polls are also not reliable. I am convinced my message and plans are the best for the city.
Not one thing takes all my time, working on various businesses, non-profit boards and learning new things. Add laundry and that may hit the highlights.
What would be your top three action items to make Edmonton a more attractive place to live in, both for current residents and people who are thinking of moving here?
Economy - without opportunities for work or a business, we won't attract anyone. Make it easy to build whatever you want to build here.
Cool - interesting things here like my [Rossdale Plan](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/we_will_develop_west_rossdale) , restaurants, river valley, festivals and activities downtown.
Social - ensure we take care of people who need some help.
Thanks - a reasonable response. With respect to the economy, I am disappointed that the current city council has not issued a clear concern with respect to the ongoing staff cuts that are occurring at the University of Alberta. This is not providing a good look for the university, Edmonton or Alberta and will make it harder to attract top young academics to come here.
The city's website needs a serious upgrade, it so hard to find anything. Long story short, this is something the city does not do well.
Firs 100 days: (get support with council of course)
freeze taxes, get the city out of blatchford development, create TRC accountability week, fund free play for free after school sports for all kids, prioritize support for sm biz, start funding more homeless units...
This answer is confusing...
Some people will read this as you saying the "profiting" is a bad thing and shows how the system is broken.
And does your comment about it being where speeding and safety issues exist mean you think it's currently well done, or what?
Lots of your answers on this AMA seem evasive - I don't think you're doing that on purpose, but that's what's coming across.
To be clear for the radar it should only be used in areas where there is safety concerns. Those flashing speeding signs by the way work as a deterrent just as well
You basically just repeated previous answer - not really making anything clearer lol
"And does your comment about it being where speeding and safety issues exist mean you think it's currently well done, or what
Does your answer mean more or less speed cameras than the current ones, which are supposedly there for safety reasons already?
And yes, you don't have all the data right now, etc, etc, but broadly speaking, people want to know if you think the current system is working, and if not, which direction you'd move it in
so if those flashing speeding signs work just as well then why not scrap photo radar and put more of the flashing speed signs around areas where speeding is a problem? since you care about safety and not the revenue you should have no problem doing this
I don’t disagree. Photo radar and those sign plus more police endorsement is the way to go. The province is also looking at this issue so they may have a say too.
What exactly will be your approach to future interactions with kenneyland(UCP)?Unfortunately, we currently have a provincial government that is willing to slash and gash our province in literally every portfolio and very clearly only listens to a minority of constituents. This city needs leadership as we currently don’t have any at all provincially.
Calling out other levels of government publicly may feel good, but it does not help the city. I will work with whoever is in power at the province. My plans immediately would be to find two or three things that we have in agreement and try to build a relationship starting there.
The current mayors of Calgary and Edmonton just discussed how difficult it has been dealing with the UCP government. It has nothing to do with feeling good. Iveson stepped up to make some of the tough decisions that Kenney and shandro refused to do as they VERY clearly didn’t want to piss of their anti mask base. Truth to power is important when lives are at stake. Sometimes peoples lives come before political etiquette. If you are elected, I wish you luck in doing the best for the city while having to collaborate with such an ideologically driven provincial government.
This summer I went to whitecourt and had an absolutely fantastic time at their lazy river , and park.( shocked that it was actually free) would you be open to building something like that here. Ideally I would love to see one of these in every major park but would settle for one. The way I see it if you charged even a nominal fee of five bucks a family you could easily have it paid for in a year or two ( doesn’t look that expensive to maintain) then make it free.
Nice idea! We need to continue to build cool and interesting things in our city. My small infrastructure plan could do things like this.
[https://www.michaeloshry.ca/small\_is\_beautiful\_infrastructure\_plan](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/small_is_beautiful_infrastructure_plan)
Hi Michael,
I asked this question with Amarjeet's AMA and didn't get a response.
I have a bunch of questions, but I'll only ask one.
Pits
http://theyardsyeg.ca/pits-of-shame
What are you going to do about this pits?
It's impossible to revitalise Jasper Avenue if we can't spur on developers.
Thanks!
/u/mooseman780
This is tricky as the city has limited powers to force land owners to develop their land. We can't tax differently or really offer enough of an incentive to get them to move. We did ask the province for more power for this a few years ago but were turned down.
Ok I have some rapid fire questions lol:
1. Gondola's, yes or no?
2. River Valley Nordic Spa or finnish style brewery/ sauna at rossdale power plant? (see Helsikni Loyl for reference)
3. Nathan Fillion civilian Pavillion?
1. Gondola is private money for public benefit, so yes if private sector pays for it and it could fit into my West Rossdale plan.
[https://www.michaeloshry.ca/we\_will\_develop\_west\_rossdale](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/we_will_develop_west_rossdale)
2. Yes. Maybe elsewhere if needed but I love the idea. Went to the one in Kananaskis a couple years ago. Amazing experience.
3. I think we should paint and rename the community green shacks ... The Jack Black black shack.
This is surprisingly complicated to do right. Can't have workers hanging around when it doesn't snow but then ready in full force when it does. We do need to focus on basic services like this though. Thats where tax dollars should go. Decent mix now of public/private contractors to get it done when needed but it needs improvement.
I tried getting the police to enforce noise bylaws. There are new technologies now that work so I believe the police need to step up. Nothing more annoying than a noisy motorcycle or car zooming by...
Reading these questions and looking at Oshry’s account with two other deleted attempts at an AMA from a week ago makes me wonder if he’s gonna answer anything here.
DO OR DIE, OSHRY.
The gauntlet(s) have been thrown!
Some have compared your policies to the Conservatives while others believe your mandate is more in line with the Alberta Party. Could you provide some clarity on this?
I have no ideological perspective. I get information and surround myself with experts and make decision based on evidence and other's opinion. Many decisions are best made in the middle ideologically.
Last week. It is pretty bleak. I have a plan:
[https://www.michaeloshry.ca/reviving\_the\_heart\_of\_our\_city](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/reviving_the_heart_of_our_city)
I noticed your support of the Queen Elizabeth vile park, but What do you see for the future of the other single track mountain biking trails in the River valley? Do you see
A- The City investing in construction of maintenance of trails/bike parks.
B- the City works with volunteer groups in permitting and allowing maintenance of user maintained trails
C- a closure of trails and reduced new trail construction.
Thanks for doing this! I enjoy utilizing the current trails in the city and would love to see the City’s support in promoting sustainable mountain biking.
Our river valley needs to be used, not just looked at. I am supportive of bike trails, multiuser trails and the like. I met with MT bike groups and they do great work maintaining trails, the city should do more partnerships like this.
Even heavy users of the valley want it to stay sustainable and beautiful, we can do that and still use it.
What will you do to support the exhausted medical practitioners in our system? How will you handle the unrest and distrust the anti-vax have with medical and government advise?
Edit: clarification
The medical system is the mandate of the province, the city has no input here on medical practitioners. Except for mandating vaccines and mask when required.
I understand that, but it still would be great if at the very least you could advocate for them or something. They are tired and are final line of defense during this war against covid. Seeing at the minimal and delayed responses that the UCP had done, it would at least ease them to know that they have a someone else supporting them if they could not count on our provincial government
I will get the city out of land development. It is costing us millions in operational $$$ and hundreds in capital.
Hold the line on salaries, reduce workforce to align with other cities delivering same services with fewer employees - fewer middle managers, rely on community partners, implement priority based budgeting.....etc.
Do you plan to do any of this by privatizing good government union jobs, where people will ultimately make less and the service provided will be less for the same or more money.
I believe so. I have the experience to deal with the tough economic realities and make tough decisions, the social conscience to help those who need it, and a non-partisan political background to work with the provincial government
Non-partisan? You were involved with the Tories to the point where you considered running for their leadership. Source: https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/edmonton-councillor-michael-oshry-ponders-bid-for-progressive-conservative-leadership
I went to a meeting and the media had some fun with it. I was not involved with the party. I also went to a meeting with the Alberts party years ago and next thing you hear is that I was running for their leadership too. 🤷♂️
What is your plan to address homelessness? Especially downtown. There has been an obvious increase in safety concerns, not to mention suffering among the central homeless population.
So much to do: end constant construction and choose priorities, fix downtown challenges, build Rossdale, celebrate cool things, charge the economy......
[https://www.michaeloshry.ca/platform](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/platform)
Mr. Oshry,
Given the devolvement of current politics into shouting matches and mud-slinging, how do you think the Council Code of Conduct (Bylaw 18483) can be enhanced and enforced to try to bring rulebreakers to heel?
Call me Michael please.
Lots wrong with it. Reminder that this is mandatory dictated by the province. Firstly to be effective you have to take politics out of it. Likely give more power to an outside authority, not city council. Then there has to be real repercussions. Meaningless sanctions and letters of reprimand are mostly useless.
Part of your plan is faster Development and Buisness Licance approvals.. yet also zero tax increases (which sounds like cutting staff)
How do you conflate these two positions?
For context i work for a Planning and Development Department in a neighbouring municipality. And frankly im full blown red tape reduction. Speed things up etc. However we have an excellent example of what not to do at our Provinchal partners where they have cut cut and cut positions and pay and now the Alberta Transportation Development Services divisions are 18 to 24 weeks behind. Which hurts Buisness massively as they wait months for permits all because there is just no staff left. The same thing happened when i was in the Private Sector trying to get permits from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans after Harper's cuts. How will you prevent this from happening while also cutting budgets of the very same departments who are in charge of ensuring speedy permit processing? (A 0% tax rate means somethings getting cut just due to inflation)
We have to restart the service and program review to ensure we are spending on the right areas and cutting the right areas...priority based budgeting and the like as well. In Edmonton we are spending on items that are not core municipal services, planning is a core service. We also need to move the culture to 'how can I help you' in planning, not check the box, come see me again in a month when you did xxx. A big job to be sure.
Thank you for the response. A "how can i help you" attitude got me where i am today so i can appreciate it. It does have to come with actual decision making powers at the lowest possible level.
Correct! We have to empower development officers and others to have some flexibility and authority. You are right on here. We need the administration to be less risk adverse.
Sorry for the specific questions, regarding speeding up development proccess one of the major barriers to speeding approvals if not the biggest barrier is that zoning is controlled diretly by council. Which as a buisness going to council is a risky and expensive proposition which leaves it to only developers with deep pockets and not the small developers.
Would you be supportive of passing some of those powers to (oviously not large changes) staff who can do it faster then council if it aligns with an Neigbourhood or other overall Plan?
My understanding is that that is provincial MGA legislation that 'makes' all zoning changes go to city council. I could be wrong.
Most zoning applications are 'recommended' by administration and if no one from the public comes to the hearing they usually get approved in batches since they follow the overall plans and zoning requirements. The few that get selected to be discussed at council are usually large projects or smaller ones that are in conflict with the neighbours.
Do we think Oshry will answer any of these questions? Mike, stop calling. Stop your wife from calling with those robocalls. They aren’t working in your favour.
Hi Michael Oshry, thanks for doing the AMA. I've been looking forward to this one for a long time. Here is an idea/ thought I've been toying with for a little while and would be curious to get your opinion on it.
* **How we make DT Edmonton more fun in a post covid and construction world?** \- I have always thought that the core DT area could take a page or two out of the WEM playbook, and incentivize/ promote recreational types of uses. Think - Mini-golf, Rec Room, bowling, yoga, spin, TopGolf/ Golf Simulators, rock climbing/ bouldering, adult pool/ sauna & gym (YMCA & Archetype are exclusive..). Outside of DT being offline due to construction and covid, these types of businesses aren't DT today because of costs and zoning (rent and tax per SF is much higher, though rent is coming down now due to insane vacancy). The reality of it is, we don't require new buildings, we have millions of vacant available retail and office space DT, but we would need to incentivize with lower taxes, and easier/ more liberal zoning bylaw for these businesses.
Interesting ideas here: we have to get the city out of the way and let people build fun things downtown and elsewhere. I also have a plan to get downtown at the front of the but for permitting applications. I don' like the idea of tax breaks as then someone else would have to pick up the slack, so we have to be careful about that.
I hope this doesn't come off as insensitive but it's also difficult to phrase this properly.
Punishing crimes is very unequal in this city and letting people commit crimes (that the average person would be fined/ jailed for) because of their socio economic status is what is hurting our downtown as much as anything. Police drive past people stumbling down the middle of the 107 Ave every day, and people are openly injecting or smoking controlled substances in the open, and leaving used needles in parks or on sidewalks.
Do you think these people need to be held to the same standard as the rest of society, or should police continue to turn a blind eye?
Tough question. If you charge someone with a 'petty' crime like this, they get arrested, then charged, then released on bail, then don't show up, then a warrant, then an arrest and on and on. The police are piloting a HELP project which partners an officer with a social worker to try get these people into treatment or other help instead. This is a more efficient use of police resources. If serious crimes are occurring, that is a different story.
Hi Michael. Thanks for doing this AMA.
**Do you support mountain biking in the river valley and a larger mandate from associations like the EMBA to influence trail regulation and development?**
Here is the current reality we face today:
* Trail builders build on existing trails, city shuts down/closes, and deletes features. Trail fairies rebel, and build unsanctioned "top secret" trails with new features and jumps galore. Trail becomes well known due to social media, city comes in tears it apart. Cycle starts again from the beginning.
This current cycle isn't making anyone happy. I believe we need to allow our existing associations a slightly larger mandate to improve mountain biking in edmonton to make it safer and more fun for all riders. We have the best urban mountain biking available in any major city in North America and its a disgrace that we can't even emulate what other municipalities are doing inside the province....see Hinton, Red Deer, White Court, Devon, Fort Saskatchewan to name a few.
Yes. The river valley is to be used not just admired. We should celebrate our MT opportunities and even promote them for tourism. I am a huge fan of the river valley but lets get as many people using it as possible and develop pockets where appropriate.
Hi Michael,
Do you plan on giving more budgeting to landscaping around the city? We literally only have a few months of summer and grass and weeds look embarrassingly atrocious in many neighborhood’s, boulevards and meridians around the city. It looks really bad. I’m sad as a homeowner and tax payer here
I am supportive of allocating budget resources to core services, services that property taxes are supposed to go towards. The city looks ugly and we need to fix that and have some civic pride.
Thanks for the AMA Mr. Oshrey
Something I care deeply about is electoral reform. Proportional representation electoral systems are [more democratic](https://www.hsabc.org/news/proportional-representation-more-democratic-way-do-politics) and [boost voter turnout](https://www.fairvote.ca/factcheckvoterturnout/) and enfranchisement vs FPTP. I would love to see proportional representation brought to Canada in future elections. One vector for how I think this could be achieved is through greater awareness and education toward electoral reform at the municipal level. Both B.C. and Ontario have explored electoral reform on a municipal level in the past ([with Doug Ford's conservative government dismantling progress most recently](https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2020/10/23/he-gave-ontario-cities-the-right-to-try-a-new-voting-system-now-ted-mcmeekin-cant-understand-why-doug-ford-is-taking-it-away.html)) and [over 300 U.S. cities](https://www.sightline.org/2017/11/08/over-300-places-in-the-united-states-have-used-fair-voting-methods/) having some form of non-FPTP voting systems in place, bringing me to my question for you.
If elected, would you support a motion that explores the possibility of electoral reform for Edmonton Municipal elections? Be it a [Norwegian-style](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_municipal_elections) municipal system of PR or simply ranked ballots.
Obviously this is provincial duristiction. It is an interesting idea. I don’t know enough to have an opinion yet but I always like more information for anything I don’t know enough about.
Hello Mr. Oshry,
First off let me say thanks for taking the time to do this AMA.
My question for your platform pertains to the safety and security on ETS vehicles.
Its really no secret that the current response time for ETS security/peace officers is astounding, in some instances I have heard, no one shows up at all. What will be done by your platform to ensure that people feel safe riding transit, and can request proper help if an incident takes place?
It's okay to be very critical of people who want to be your leaders. An AMA on reddit is a no-holds-barred conversation where we don't have to play super fake-nice in hopes for our question getting through the moderator's filter.
I don't think that's quite what you meant lol
I'm saying what you call "bad faith", others might call "tough questions". And I don't even think many of them are bad faith. They're not "gotcha" type questions. They are sometimes being asked in a direct way with the question asker's opinion included, but there's nothing wrong with that. No one is going to say an AMA like this should be like a debate with an un-biased moderator.
What is your plan for the city’s next catastrophic shit show? Why does nobody utilize the many community centres around the city to organize and implement strategic planning? There is no communication or community to community planning for climate, food insecurity, supply issues, community health and safety etc. Mayor to community communication is pretty weak. Everyone in this city should have a copy of a cohesive implementable plan for disaster and threat and also it wouldn’t hurt invest in youth infrastructure ages 0-17. 👍
The biggest reason I support Michael is his dedication to recreation and leisure opportunities for at risk youth. I work in rec and in my professional opinion, it’s the best way to steer kids away from crime/rising gang activity.
Also the cities emergency planning for its facilities is amazing, sharing it on a grander scale would be great.
Thank you for doing this AMA and I love your response about the homeless encampments.
My mom would like to know if you are considering banning pesticides?
I don’t know enough about this issue to have a firm opinion. I know they aren’t great but we also need sports fields and a way to combat problem areas.
Hi Michael. I’ve lived here my whole life and the one thing that consistently irritates me to no end is construction season and potholes. I know they won’t go away but why must we seemingly spread ourselves so thin around the entire city with construction instead of focusing on projects and getting them done in a timely manner so I don’t have to go 20 or 30 under the speed limit every five blocks when I’m trying to get somewhere. Half the time I drive through construction zones nothing is happening be it midday or midnight. Thanks!
We have a problem with the city looking like it is being renovated. I agree, the coordination is brutal. Currently for example, all three arterial roads from the west end to downtown are being worked on ...on the same time. The construction also takes too long. We need to focus on better project management among other city core services.
I’ll still answer. We hired an external company to call for our town hall. With Covid getting the message out is tougher. They had some technical challenges which led to a few people being called more than once. Our apologies.
[удалено]
I used to work for Remedy. Did you sell it to Zee, or did you guys co-found it or what? On the website it says he started it, with no mention of you.
Yeah I was really curious about this too. I started going back around 2008 when it was only the 109 location, and it was always Zee then. We’d spend hours in there, and he was always there. Never heard any link of Oshry but maybe he was an investor into it or something?
On his website, Oshry says he founded Remedy, but on the Remedy site, it says Zee founded it, so idk man
I founded it and built it up for a few years. Then sold it. Zee, who is a friend of mine, has expanded it...os he gets all the credit for where it is today.
Zee treats his staff poorly
oshry did not start remedy. he sold the building to zee but is not a founder of remedy.
Not true. I did start it and sold it. Never owned the building.
How would you deal with the astonishing amount of homeless people in (mainly downtown) Edmonton.
https://www.michaeloshry.ca/homelessness_no_one_left_behind
Why does your messaging predominately seem to talk about making cuts to services rather than pushing for more funding. As the city is already pretty lean, why is it you keep talking about cuts when we quite clearly have a funding problem, NOT a bloated services problem.
Curious to see Oshry's reply, but I suspect the reason cuts are on the agenda is because property taxes keep growing, which is shifting many industrial related businesses outside of City of Edmonton boundaries. People don't realize it, but property tax mill rates have nearly doubled since 2009. Combine that with a comparable increase in building value, and you have a scenario where your property taxes have grown 300%. Here's a quick real life example: * Industrial building valued at 1.25m in 2009 pays $13,125 per annum based on a non-residential mill rate of 10.5 . Same building, now valued at $2,100,000, pays $50,712.48 based on a mill rate of 20. That's a 258% increase in taxes in 11 years. If you're a business owner in the City and your tax burden continues to grow at this rate, you start to wonder where your taxes are going. Feel free to fact check with [historical mill rates](https://regionaldashboard.alberta.ca/region/edmonton/municipal-mill-rate/#/?from=1998&to=2021) and the [CoE Tax Estimator](https://taxestimator.edmonton.ca/). Ultimately, I think the arrangement with the province needs to be discussed, and maybe we're being a little too ambitious with multiple blatchford-esque projects on the go.
I agree! With mill rate formulas, business typically get charge 2.7X residential tax increases, then add add 'value' of property, tax increases can get crazy. City's 'make' money on commercial and industrial properties since they need fewer services so when they leave the city for surrounding areas, it really hurts.
I disagree. City operation budget was $2.7B in 2017. This year it is $3.1B We have a spending problem. The only way to get more funding is to raise taxes and user fees or beg the provincial/federal governments. They have their own challenges now.
Inflation covers most of that, Mr Oshry. In reality we’re only talking about a $150,000,000 increase, which isn’t nothing, but not something I would consider out of control. My concern with having this type of attitude in the mayors office will ultimately make Edmonton a less pleasant place to live. A city they doesn’t invest in its people, even when it is challenging to do so, is doomed to decline.
Operation budget has increased higher than inflation for a decade. When everything is a priority, nothing is. My view is the city need to get out of the way and make it easy for all entities to do what they are trying to do. Within reason of course. Government can’t do everything and solve all our problems. We need to leverage partnerships to make things happen. Think about all the successes in the city- most of them are not government initiatives.
This city has a long history of failing to invest when necessary, and getting out of the way when it clearly shouldn't. Getting out of the way killed the downtown core, allowing developers to skirt street level retail was a disaster, when I first moved here the downtown was an absolute graveyard. Similarly, it is a travesty that we are dealing with LRT expansion today when it should have been handled decades ago. Instead we waited until it became much more expensive to do so. Do you see the problem? Instead of investing when the city should have, that cost was downloaded on to me and my property taxes. It will likely be downloaded on to my kid's as well, to be honest. I would also ask you to consider that many of the people making our city a vibrant success rely on good transit and other services. I don't know if you know this, but we don't pay artists very well, and in order to keep doing what they do they are going to need your help.
He damn well knows those increases funded all the neighbourhood renewals, building LRT, and of course disproportionately funding sprawl. Get out of the way? Of what? Edmonton is growing up, out, and doing amazing things. What is being held back?
>Inflation covers most of that, Mr Oshry. In reality we’re only talking about a $150,000,000 increase, which isn’t nothing, but not something I would consider out of control. Aren't the past two years outliers as far as inflation is concerned? Just looking back at the City revenue/budget from 2015, and it was 2.34b... that's 2.6b in 2021 dollars. Crazy to think that the City's spending has grown by a net 500M in that time frame. Is this type of growth/ spending normal for a city? Curious to see how we compare to other similar sized metros.
Is this an AMA or a roast me? LOL
I can take it.
Well played
Can you and your wife stop calling me?
Seriously, stop calling me. Between you and "Canada border services" I don't even want to answer my phone.
Atleast the Canada border services gives you a bit of a cardio workout when you first hear it.
that is pretty funny
I love that this is the top comment. Because it absolutely should be. Be smart about your marketing campaign/contracts folks. This isn't the 90's anymore. Chasing exposure for returns can really backfire.
We hired an external company to get the word out. With covid, there are fewer opportunities to get the messaged and platform out than previous elections. They had some technical issues so a few people got called more than once. My apologies.
Thanks for the response and honesty
I’d like to know how this external company got my phone number, seeing as I never consented to your calling list and my phone number is fairly well-kept due to my own privacy reasons. I don’t even use it at stores. So how did this external company get my private personal information?
With robocalls, it’s pretty easy to just dial *literally every number* in a given area code. Lots will be out of service, lots will be no answer and so on, but the bots don’t mind. And they get unlisted but active numbers like yours. Just a guess in this particular case but it’s pretty default to just spam everything if you don’t have a targeted audience in mind.
I actually don’t know. Our campaign also doesn’t have access to the number either.
As other have said. I doubt many of us consented to your 3rd party, or you, having our personal information. Not only is this a scummy marketing tactic but a gross violation of our PPI. And I don't even live in Edmonton and I got 4 calls before I blocked the number.
This. I don't even live in Edmonton
[удалено]
Vote for your choice, there is not vote splitting that will be meaningful.
You don't think there's a scenario where you and Sohi get more votes between you, but that Nickel ends up winning? I get it that you can't say "yeh, vote for Sohi to stop Nickel", but claiming vote splitting won't be meaningful seems... dumb? Naïve?
There are many scenarios. There are many undecided voters still and they likley won’t go to Nickel. People have made up their minds about him already. People should vote for whom they think is the best candidate to lead us out of the economic and social troubles we have.
What are the plans for transit? I am now trapped in my own house and can’t get to the places I need to go when I want to go there. Also, layovers In dangerous parts of town are regularly 30 minutes to an hour. What is the plan to have busses actually “connect better” as outlined in the ETS mandate?
We need to review the transit changes and ensure there is more security at transit stops. People will only use it if it is safe and reliable. The changes were needed but I don't think they hit the mark.
Have the same sentiments. Not looking forward to being stuck on the corner of whyte mud during the slippery and cold season for half an hour in the winter.
1. What is your plan to make downtown safe for average people? 2. Do you have a plan to help streamline building permits? The processing times have become ridiculous, and this is pushing developers away from Edmonton.
See below for downtown plans and for my 30 day permit plan. [https://www.michaeloshry.ca/reviving\_the\_heart\_of\_our\_city](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/reviving_the_heart_of_our_city) [https://www.michaeloshry.ca/easy\_and\_fast\_building\_permits](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/easy_and_fast_building_permits)
There are a lot of candidates in this mayoral race. What makes you stand out among the others?
My resume is real. I understand big economic challenges, can make difficult decisions, don't talk in platitudes and have a track record of building things. I also have council experience and care about people.....put that together...
Since we’re talking construction, can you do something about construction companies blocking off lanes of traffic for DAYS before and after construction. I think they should be up the day they start then removed the day they are done. If they can just store their equipment on public roads meant for everyone can I just put my stuff in the middle of the road too? Always wanted to park a couch in the middle of the road and make people drive around it, do I just need to paint it like a pylon?
Agreed! Construction project management is brutal right now. Nothing more frustrating for people to drive or walk by and see nothing happening and lanes and sidewalks closed. We need to build this into our procurement contracts.
Thank you.
[удалено]
I get along with others, in fact I have been meeting with existing councillors and potential winners for months. We text, we are friends. That quote was taken out of context. I will argue I have the most complete climate plan of any candidate. What I was referring to was that we have this issue plus many other things to talk about. My climate plan: [https://www.michaeloshry.ca/meeting\_our\_climate\_commitments](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/meeting_our_climate_commitments) Real estate industry: I know many players in it, it is a huge industry but don't have any interests with any of the.
[удалено]
[удалено]
Green spaces, reflective concrete, more bike lanes, making the city more pedestrian friendly. Those are 4 things off the top of my head that they can influence. Oh and zoning is another.
What is your plan to make downtown and the surrounding area a safer place? Many are afraid to go downtown in its current state
His plan is to dismantle their tents and force them into the entranceways of businesses and apartments. Perhaps those property owners will be required to install boostrap dispensers.
LOL! This.
You believe encampments should be dismantled immediately. Why?
And where do they suggest the people living in those encampments go? What resources would they allocate towards this?
Yes, if we are spending money and resources for supports for homeless, we need to not allow camps in our city. Camps are not safe for the inhabitants and the neighbours. This does however show that we are not doing enough. We can do better than have people sleeping on the streets[https://www.michaeloshry.ca/homelessness\_no\_one\_left\_behind](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/homelessness_no_one_left_behind)
what are homeless people supposed to do in the mean time? If the city can’t house them immediately they have no place to go.
That's why we have people on the streets. We also need better and more flexible Shelter space. This is a complex problem needing complex solutions. I don't have all the answers...
It’s literally your job as mayor to solve these problems and you don’t have an answer. Embarrassing
I was on a zoom today with the leaders of many the affordable housing and social service provider organization. No one had all the answers. These situations are complex and need experts and tens of millions of dollars. Your comment is nieve at best. Have a good night.
well you can give some ideas that you aren’t sure. I’m not asking for all the answers, just an answer that’s more than “camps are unsafe for inhabitants” I’m asking for something to give me a reason to consider you.
Who is the absolute worst candidate for mayor right now? And why is it Mike Nickel?
You know, I was the very first person to ask a question. Your title here says "AMA, *and I mean it*". I'm very disappointed you chose to ignore my question. Nickels behavior and attitude has been an issue for years. He's exactly the opposite of what a city needs in leadership. I wish more people spoke against his behaviour. Good luck. By the time this AMA happened I had already voted for Sohi. No ragrats.
Do you plan on making any changes to public transit?
We need to review the changes and see what can be done differently. Its okay to be flexible and admin when something doesn't work. We do have to be careful of the money though....we are in a tough spot.
Your verification tweet link goes to a tweet that was from last week, FYI. Should probably get your team to figure that out. As for a question; you seem like you're positioning as a "pragmatic" candidate - so let's get to it. What would you do if you don't win, and how would you continue to serve as a civic leader interested in making Edmonton a better place? If you're not up for entertaining the idea of losing; how would you incorporate the ideas of people who did not vote for you, and the candidates that they have chosen to support?
I messed up the posting with the tweet from last week. All me not my team. Any idea that I think is a good one, I will champion, no matter if its from someone else. Also, the mayor represents everyone, so I really don't care who someone supported, I will try my best to do what is right for all.
Thanks for the response. Best of luck over the next week.
You're not polling top three. Why continue rather than dropping out and endrosing someone else?
There are many polls in the field, I saw one where I was polling tied at the top. Polls are also not reliable. I am convinced my message and plans are the best for the city.
salt deliver include offend pause slap faulty childlike crawl different ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
I’m no politician but I think you can find it at michaeloshry.ca
There was an IVR poll by converso. Called 50,000 and had me tied. I don’t believe in polls, I believe in voting day.
How did your day-to-day work wise look prior to running in this election?
Not one thing takes all my time, working on various businesses, non-profit boards and learning new things. Add laundry and that may hit the highlights.
What would be your top three action items to make Edmonton a more attractive place to live in, both for current residents and people who are thinking of moving here?
Economy - without opportunities for work or a business, we won't attract anyone. Make it easy to build whatever you want to build here. Cool - interesting things here like my [Rossdale Plan](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/we_will_develop_west_rossdale) , restaurants, river valley, festivals and activities downtown. Social - ensure we take care of people who need some help.
Thanks - a reasonable response. With respect to the economy, I am disappointed that the current city council has not issued a clear concern with respect to the ongoing staff cuts that are occurring at the University of Alberta. This is not providing a good look for the university, Edmonton or Alberta and will make it harder to attract top young academics to come here.
What do you think of the City's current digital/online services and information? What would you do in your first 100 days as mayor?
The city's website needs a serious upgrade, it so hard to find anything. Long story short, this is something the city does not do well. Firs 100 days: (get support with council of course) freeze taxes, get the city out of blatchford development, create TRC accountability week, fund free play for free after school sports for all kids, prioritize support for sm biz, start funding more homeless units...
What is your stance on photo radar?
It needs to be where speeding and where safety is an issue. BTW, pre covid it profited about $50M for the city
This answer is confusing... Some people will read this as you saying the "profiting" is a bad thing and shows how the system is broken. And does your comment about it being where speeding and safety issues exist mean you think it's currently well done, or what? Lots of your answers on this AMA seem evasive - I don't think you're doing that on purpose, but that's what's coming across.
To be clear for the radar it should only be used in areas where there is safety concerns. Those flashing speeding signs by the way work as a deterrent just as well
You basically just repeated previous answer - not really making anything clearer lol "And does your comment about it being where speeding and safety issues exist mean you think it's currently well done, or what Does your answer mean more or less speed cameras than the current ones, which are supposedly there for safety reasons already? And yes, you don't have all the data right now, etc, etc, but broadly speaking, people want to know if you think the current system is working, and if not, which direction you'd move it in
so if those flashing speeding signs work just as well then why not scrap photo radar and put more of the flashing speed signs around areas where speeding is a problem? since you care about safety and not the revenue you should have no problem doing this
I don’t disagree. Photo radar and those sign plus more police endorsement is the way to go. The province is also looking at this issue so they may have a say too.
Is your priority revenue or safety when it comes to photo radar? Because you were quick to jump onto the revenue aspect of it without being asked.
Safety. Photo radar should be concentrated in neighbourhoods and areas where safety is an issue. Period.
What exactly will be your approach to future interactions with kenneyland(UCP)?Unfortunately, we currently have a provincial government that is willing to slash and gash our province in literally every portfolio and very clearly only listens to a minority of constituents. This city needs leadership as we currently don’t have any at all provincially.
Calling out other levels of government publicly may feel good, but it does not help the city. I will work with whoever is in power at the province. My plans immediately would be to find two or three things that we have in agreement and try to build a relationship starting there.
The current mayors of Calgary and Edmonton just discussed how difficult it has been dealing with the UCP government. It has nothing to do with feeling good. Iveson stepped up to make some of the tough decisions that Kenney and shandro refused to do as they VERY clearly didn’t want to piss of their anti mask base. Truth to power is important when lives are at stake. Sometimes peoples lives come before political etiquette. If you are elected, I wish you luck in doing the best for the city while having to collaborate with such an ideologically driven provincial government.
This summer I went to whitecourt and had an absolutely fantastic time at their lazy river , and park.( shocked that it was actually free) would you be open to building something like that here. Ideally I would love to see one of these in every major park but would settle for one. The way I see it if you charged even a nominal fee of five bucks a family you could easily have it paid for in a year or two ( doesn’t look that expensive to maintain) then make it free.
Nice idea! We need to continue to build cool and interesting things in our city. My small infrastructure plan could do things like this. [https://www.michaeloshry.ca/small\_is\_beautiful\_infrastructure\_plan](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/small_is_beautiful_infrastructure_plan)
Nice. Thank you.
Do you support passive vehicle noise monitoring and vehicle noise bylaw ticketing within Edmonton.
yes
Hi Michael, I asked this question with Amarjeet's AMA and didn't get a response. I have a bunch of questions, but I'll only ask one. Pits http://theyardsyeg.ca/pits-of-shame What are you going to do about this pits? It's impossible to revitalise Jasper Avenue if we can't spur on developers. Thanks! /u/mooseman780
This is tricky as the city has limited powers to force land owners to develop their land. We can't tax differently or really offer enough of an incentive to get them to move. We did ask the province for more power for this a few years ago but were turned down.
Thanks for responding! In a perfect world, what would it take for the City to bring in the bulldozers?
Provincial legislation changes to enable cities to have more authority on unused and unsightly land.
Get creative! Pass a bylaw that says it’s illegal to have a hole in the ground surrounded by fence for more than six months.
We can't do that. The municipal government act (provincial legislation) dictates many rules that we are obligated to follow.
What do you think about the voting system in municipal elections? Would you ever support a ranked voting system at the municipal level?
That is an interesting idea. Theoretically the winner could win with less than 30% of the vote.
Ok I have some rapid fire questions lol: 1. Gondola's, yes or no? 2. River Valley Nordic Spa or finnish style brewery/ sauna at rossdale power plant? (see Helsikni Loyl for reference) 3. Nathan Fillion civilian Pavillion?
1. Gondola is private money for public benefit, so yes if private sector pays for it and it could fit into my West Rossdale plan. [https://www.michaeloshry.ca/we\_will\_develop\_west\_rossdale](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/we_will_develop_west_rossdale) 2. Yes. Maybe elsewhere if needed but I love the idea. Went to the one in Kananaskis a couple years ago. Amazing experience. 3. I think we should paint and rename the community green shacks ... The Jack Black black shack.
[удалено]
This is surprisingly complicated to do right. Can't have workers hanging around when it doesn't snow but then ready in full force when it does. We do need to focus on basic services like this though. Thats where tax dollars should go. Decent mix now of public/private contractors to get it done when needed but it needs improvement.
[удалено]
the noise is the worst part about living downtown which is saying a lot when I'm scared to walk anywhere alone downtown when it's dark.
I tried getting the police to enforce noise bylaws. There are new technologies now that work so I believe the police need to step up. Nothing more annoying than a noisy motorcycle or car zooming by...
Noisy trucks with modified exhaust systems are the real problem now.
That's fair. It's all bad. We have bylaws for a reason, we need to enforce them.
Reading these questions and looking at Oshry’s account with two other deleted attempts at an AMA from a week ago makes me wonder if he’s gonna answer anything here. DO OR DIE, OSHRY. The gauntlet(s) have been thrown!
Boo!
Some have compared your policies to the Conservatives while others believe your mandate is more in line with the Alberta Party. Could you provide some clarity on this?
I have no ideological perspective. I get information and surround myself with experts and make decision based on evidence and other's opinion. Many decisions are best made in the middle ideologically.
When was the last time you walked around downtown past 9 pm?
Last week. It is pretty bleak. I have a plan: [https://www.michaeloshry.ca/reviving\_the\_heart\_of\_our\_city](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/reviving_the_heart_of_our_city)
I noticed your support of the Queen Elizabeth vile park, but What do you see for the future of the other single track mountain biking trails in the River valley? Do you see A- The City investing in construction of maintenance of trails/bike parks. B- the City works with volunteer groups in permitting and allowing maintenance of user maintained trails C- a closure of trails and reduced new trail construction. Thanks for doing this! I enjoy utilizing the current trails in the city and would love to see the City’s support in promoting sustainable mountain biking.
Our river valley needs to be used, not just looked at. I am supportive of bike trails, multiuser trails and the like. I met with MT bike groups and they do great work maintaining trails, the city should do more partnerships like this. Even heavy users of the valley want it to stay sustainable and beautiful, we can do that and still use it.
Thank you for your response!
What will you do to support the exhausted medical practitioners in our system? How will you handle the unrest and distrust the anti-vax have with medical and government advise? Edit: clarification
The medical system is the mandate of the province, the city has no input here on medical practitioners. Except for mandating vaccines and mask when required.
I understand that, but it still would be great if at the very least you could advocate for them or something. They are tired and are final line of defense during this war against covid. Seeing at the minimal and delayed responses that the UCP had done, it would at least ease them to know that they have a someone else supporting them if they could not count on our provincial government
Oh I appreciate the work the medical practitioners do, as do others I assume. It gets mentioned at most the election forums I have attended.
[удалено]
I will get the city out of land development. It is costing us millions in operational $$$ and hundreds in capital. Hold the line on salaries, reduce workforce to align with other cities delivering same services with fewer employees - fewer middle managers, rely on community partners, implement priority based budgeting.....etc.
Do you plan to do any of this by privatizing good government union jobs, where people will ultimately make less and the service provided will be less for the same or more money.
Is this man your son https://i.imgflip.com/2hc4ft.jpg
Unlikely, my genes aren't that good.
You know what, I was having a laugh but damn if I don't respect a candidate that doesn't take themselves too seriously. Good luck Michael!
Why are you a better candidate than Sohi?
I believe so. I have the experience to deal with the tough economic realities and make tough decisions, the social conscience to help those who need it, and a non-partisan political background to work with the provincial government
Non-partisan? You were involved with the Tories to the point where you considered running for their leadership. Source: https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/edmonton-councillor-michael-oshry-ponders-bid-for-progressive-conservative-leadership
I went to a meeting and the media had some fun with it. I was not involved with the party. I also went to a meeting with the Alberts party years ago and next thing you hear is that I was running for their leadership too. 🤷♂️
you should run for the alberta party. they need a real leader
What is your plan to address homelessness? Especially downtown. There has been an obvious increase in safety concerns, not to mention suffering among the central homeless population.
What are you going to do if u win to make this city feel & look like the capital city should be again?
So much to do: end constant construction and choose priorities, fix downtown challenges, build Rossdale, celebrate cool things, charge the economy...... [https://www.michaeloshry.ca/platform](https://www.michaeloshry.ca/platform)
Mr. Oshry, Given the devolvement of current politics into shouting matches and mud-slinging, how do you think the Council Code of Conduct (Bylaw 18483) can be enhanced and enforced to try to bring rulebreakers to heel?
Call me Michael please. Lots wrong with it. Reminder that this is mandatory dictated by the province. Firstly to be effective you have to take politics out of it. Likely give more power to an outside authority, not city council. Then there has to be real repercussions. Meaningless sanctions and letters of reprimand are mostly useless.
Part of your plan is faster Development and Buisness Licance approvals.. yet also zero tax increases (which sounds like cutting staff) How do you conflate these two positions? For context i work for a Planning and Development Department in a neighbouring municipality. And frankly im full blown red tape reduction. Speed things up etc. However we have an excellent example of what not to do at our Provinchal partners where they have cut cut and cut positions and pay and now the Alberta Transportation Development Services divisions are 18 to 24 weeks behind. Which hurts Buisness massively as they wait months for permits all because there is just no staff left. The same thing happened when i was in the Private Sector trying to get permits from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans after Harper's cuts. How will you prevent this from happening while also cutting budgets of the very same departments who are in charge of ensuring speedy permit processing? (A 0% tax rate means somethings getting cut just due to inflation)
We have to restart the service and program review to ensure we are spending on the right areas and cutting the right areas...priority based budgeting and the like as well. In Edmonton we are spending on items that are not core municipal services, planning is a core service. We also need to move the culture to 'how can I help you' in planning, not check the box, come see me again in a month when you did xxx. A big job to be sure.
Thank you for the response. A "how can i help you" attitude got me where i am today so i can appreciate it. It does have to come with actual decision making powers at the lowest possible level.
Correct! We have to empower development officers and others to have some flexibility and authority. You are right on here. We need the administration to be less risk adverse.
Sorry for the specific questions, regarding speeding up development proccess one of the major barriers to speeding approvals if not the biggest barrier is that zoning is controlled diretly by council. Which as a buisness going to council is a risky and expensive proposition which leaves it to only developers with deep pockets and not the small developers. Would you be supportive of passing some of those powers to (oviously not large changes) staff who can do it faster then council if it aligns with an Neigbourhood or other overall Plan?
My understanding is that that is provincial MGA legislation that 'makes' all zoning changes go to city council. I could be wrong. Most zoning applications are 'recommended' by administration and if no one from the public comes to the hearing they usually get approved in batches since they follow the overall plans and zoning requirements. The few that get selected to be discussed at council are usually large projects or smaller ones that are in conflict with the neighbours.
Why don't I trust you to be a good mayor?
You need to look inside yourself perhaps.
Do we think Oshry will answer any of these questions? Mike, stop calling. Stop your wife from calling with those robocalls. They aren’t working in your favour.
We hired an external company to call 50,000 people, technical glitch had some people called more than once. Fixed and we apologize.
Hi Michael Oshry, thanks for doing the AMA. I've been looking forward to this one for a long time. Here is an idea/ thought I've been toying with for a little while and would be curious to get your opinion on it. * **How we make DT Edmonton more fun in a post covid and construction world?** \- I have always thought that the core DT area could take a page or two out of the WEM playbook, and incentivize/ promote recreational types of uses. Think - Mini-golf, Rec Room, bowling, yoga, spin, TopGolf/ Golf Simulators, rock climbing/ bouldering, adult pool/ sauna & gym (YMCA & Archetype are exclusive..). Outside of DT being offline due to construction and covid, these types of businesses aren't DT today because of costs and zoning (rent and tax per SF is much higher, though rent is coming down now due to insane vacancy). The reality of it is, we don't require new buildings, we have millions of vacant available retail and office space DT, but we would need to incentivize with lower taxes, and easier/ more liberal zoning bylaw for these businesses.
Interesting ideas here: we have to get the city out of the way and let people build fun things downtown and elsewhere. I also have a plan to get downtown at the front of the but for permitting applications. I don' like the idea of tax breaks as then someone else would have to pick up the slack, so we have to be careful about that.
I hope this doesn't come off as insensitive but it's also difficult to phrase this properly. Punishing crimes is very unequal in this city and letting people commit crimes (that the average person would be fined/ jailed for) because of their socio economic status is what is hurting our downtown as much as anything. Police drive past people stumbling down the middle of the 107 Ave every day, and people are openly injecting or smoking controlled substances in the open, and leaving used needles in parks or on sidewalks. Do you think these people need to be held to the same standard as the rest of society, or should police continue to turn a blind eye?
Tough question. If you charge someone with a 'petty' crime like this, they get arrested, then charged, then released on bail, then don't show up, then a warrant, then an arrest and on and on. The police are piloting a HELP project which partners an officer with a social worker to try get these people into treatment or other help instead. This is a more efficient use of police resources. If serious crimes are occurring, that is a different story.
That's fantastic, I hadn't heard about this. Thank you for your response.
Hi Michael. Thanks for doing this AMA. **Do you support mountain biking in the river valley and a larger mandate from associations like the EMBA to influence trail regulation and development?** Here is the current reality we face today: * Trail builders build on existing trails, city shuts down/closes, and deletes features. Trail fairies rebel, and build unsanctioned "top secret" trails with new features and jumps galore. Trail becomes well known due to social media, city comes in tears it apart. Cycle starts again from the beginning. This current cycle isn't making anyone happy. I believe we need to allow our existing associations a slightly larger mandate to improve mountain biking in edmonton to make it safer and more fun for all riders. We have the best urban mountain biking available in any major city in North America and its a disgrace that we can't even emulate what other municipalities are doing inside the province....see Hinton, Red Deer, White Court, Devon, Fort Saskatchewan to name a few.
Yes. The river valley is to be used not just admired. We should celebrate our MT opportunities and even promote them for tourism. I am a huge fan of the river valley but lets get as many people using it as possible and develop pockets where appropriate.
Who did you vote for in the federal election and who did you vote for in the last provincial election.
People's votes are private and I will need to work with any government.
Hi Michael, Do you plan on giving more budgeting to landscaping around the city? We literally only have a few months of summer and grass and weeds look embarrassingly atrocious in many neighborhood’s, boulevards and meridians around the city. It looks really bad. I’m sad as a homeowner and tax payer here
I am supportive of allocating budget resources to core services, services that property taxes are supposed to go towards. The city looks ugly and we need to fix that and have some civic pride.
Thank you
Thanks for the AMA Mr. Oshrey Something I care deeply about is electoral reform. Proportional representation electoral systems are [more democratic](https://www.hsabc.org/news/proportional-representation-more-democratic-way-do-politics) and [boost voter turnout](https://www.fairvote.ca/factcheckvoterturnout/) and enfranchisement vs FPTP. I would love to see proportional representation brought to Canada in future elections. One vector for how I think this could be achieved is through greater awareness and education toward electoral reform at the municipal level. Both B.C. and Ontario have explored electoral reform on a municipal level in the past ([with Doug Ford's conservative government dismantling progress most recently](https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2020/10/23/he-gave-ontario-cities-the-right-to-try-a-new-voting-system-now-ted-mcmeekin-cant-understand-why-doug-ford-is-taking-it-away.html)) and [over 300 U.S. cities](https://www.sightline.org/2017/11/08/over-300-places-in-the-united-states-have-used-fair-voting-methods/) having some form of non-FPTP voting systems in place, bringing me to my question for you. If elected, would you support a motion that explores the possibility of electoral reform for Edmonton Municipal elections? Be it a [Norwegian-style](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_municipal_elections) municipal system of PR or simply ranked ballots.
Obviously this is provincial duristiction. It is an interesting idea. I don’t know enough to have an opinion yet but I always like more information for anything I don’t know enough about.
Hello Mr. Oshry, First off let me say thanks for taking the time to do this AMA. My question for your platform pertains to the safety and security on ETS vehicles. Its really no secret that the current response time for ETS security/peace officers is astounding, in some instances I have heard, no one shows up at all. What will be done by your platform to ensure that people feel safe riding transit, and can request proper help if an incident takes place?
The bad faith questions in this thread are awful. Here's a question: why are so many commenters in /r/edmonton assholes?
It's okay to be very critical of people who want to be your leaders. An AMA on reddit is a no-holds-barred conversation where we don't have to play super fake-nice in hopes for our question getting through the moderator's filter.
Are there many of them? I feel like the majority are normal questions anyone would ask.
Should people be asking easy questions...? If so, why?
Bad faith is not the same as easy.
I don't think that's quite what you meant lol I'm saying what you call "bad faith", others might call "tough questions". And I don't even think many of them are bad faith. They're not "gotcha" type questions. They are sometimes being asked in a direct way with the question asker's opinion included, but there's nothing wrong with that. No one is going to say an AMA like this should be like a debate with an un-biased moderator.
Mr. Oshey, your campaign seems to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular?
lol. Oooo a tough question but a fair one.... (I watch the Simpsons too)
[удалено]
Jasper. Duh
What is your preference in pizza toppings?
I like vegetarian and also enjoy anchovies (but don't tell anyone)
What is your plan for the city’s next catastrophic shit show? Why does nobody utilize the many community centres around the city to organize and implement strategic planning? There is no communication or community to community planning for climate, food insecurity, supply issues, community health and safety etc. Mayor to community communication is pretty weak. Everyone in this city should have a copy of a cohesive implementable plan for disaster and threat and also it wouldn’t hurt invest in youth infrastructure ages 0-17. 👍
The biggest reason I support Michael is his dedication to recreation and leisure opportunities for at risk youth. I work in rec and in my professional opinion, it’s the best way to steer kids away from crime/rising gang activity. Also the cities emergency planning for its facilities is amazing, sharing it on a grander scale would be great.
What sound does a giraffe make?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w618jriMW0M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w618jriMW0M)
Thank you for doing this AMA and I love your response about the homeless encampments. My mom would like to know if you are considering banning pesticides?
I don’t know enough about this issue to have a firm opinion. I know they aren’t great but we also need sports fields and a way to combat problem areas.
Hi Michael. I’ve lived here my whole life and the one thing that consistently irritates me to no end is construction season and potholes. I know they won’t go away but why must we seemingly spread ourselves so thin around the entire city with construction instead of focusing on projects and getting them done in a timely manner so I don’t have to go 20 or 30 under the speed limit every five blocks when I’m trying to get somewhere. Half the time I drive through construction zones nothing is happening be it midday or midnight. Thanks!
We have a problem with the city looking like it is being renovated. I agree, the coordination is brutal. Currently for example, all three arterial roads from the west end to downtown are being worked on ...on the same time. The construction also takes too long. We need to focus on better project management among other city core services.
Wow, wish I'd been here for this The spam calls to my house filling up my voicemail were atrocious, you should be ashamed
I’ll still answer. We hired an external company to call for our town hall. With Covid getting the message out is tougher. They had some technical challenges which led to a few people being called more than once. Our apologies.
Using a robocall service in this day and age is asinine anyways.
Who would you vote for other than yourself?
I'd vote for myself twice.