Note before you Vote - Municipal Elections

Issue 6.5, Volume 2

A quick note before you vote...

Sorry, no on the streets edition or music; this is just a quick note heading into the mayoral elections today.

Before You Vote

...listen to my opinion

...but seriously

I’ll give you my opinion on the mayoral candidates, but the important thing be ultimately that you look at what every candidate stands for and vote based on that, even in your ward. Make the best educated decision you can about all the candidates you will be electing or making a decision on, the city’s future depends on it.

The Candidates

First, the Mayoral candidates. I will say I’m pro Iveson, but more specifically I’m anti-Diotte. So, while I’ll be casting my ballot for the former ward 10 councilor, I wouldn’t mind, say, if Karen Libovici won the race. I will say I feel like Iveson really champions the city; as my ward’s council member, he has been transparent and accountable, and had always responded to my requests. I feel he knows what the city needs and has the tools and earned the experience to know how to get it done. Diotte, on the other hand...I think he wants the city back to the way it was 20 years ago. I’ve heard a lot of facetious facts and interesting spins, and stuff that downright is ludicrous for an educated grown man to say or do. First of all, there’s the ‘do you smell that, it’s the arena deal, it stinks.’ tagline that he uses over and over again. I actually saw him use this in debate, it’s freaking horrible; it’s like watching epic fails. It’s a bad movie where you feel embarrassed for the main character. You might remember the dubious association of this tag line for the campaign video that Diotte shot at the Blue Plate Diner. The owners had asked that the video not specifically show details of the restaurant, but the video clearly did, and the restaurant took the brunt of anti-anti-arena protests and was shunned. The owners asked for the video to be taken down, and Diotte did what was exactly the opposite I would expect from anyone trying to garner the public’s support: he said NO! Eventually he took it down, after two weeks of bad press. Why would you argue with that? Other arguments are against bike lanes (I was initially against bike lanes but I’ve noticed they’ve been becoming more used and less confusing the more cars and bikes use them to coexist), against the airport closure (note the airport does not allow us to develop downtown buildings over a certain height, and takes up a significant portion of what could be a large residential area), pro urban sprawl (indirectly - Diotte thinks the suburbs are cheaper for people to live in and therefore to expensive to update the city’s core). Our outgoing mayor once called him an idiot on television. I agree.

What Is A Mayor For?

I’ve read a lot of rhetoric in people’s comments, and it’s clear to me that citizens don’t always know what municipal government is responsible for. Remember your three levels of government, municipal, provincial and federal? This isn’t meant to slam any of you dear readers personally, but it’s a good idea to think about specifically what we’re electing for.

Municipal

Roads and Infrastructure, Arts and Entertainment within the city, city planning, schools, trying to get funding from other levels of government, city public transportation, city recreation centers, property taxes, municipal bylaw enforcement, city crime enforcement, fire department.

Provincial

Provincial infrastructure (outside of the city), funding to schools, healthcare (including ambulance services), funding to cities for their infrastructure projects, provincial taxes if any (income tax, sales tax). Partial funding to post secondary institutions, provincial law enforcement and jurisdiction

Federal

federal income and sales taxes, partial funding to post secondary institutions, employment insurance, pension plan, military, federal law, jails, bureaucracy.

Ultimately what you can take away from this are the things the mayor is actually going to be able to take care of and what they aren’t going to take care of. Rejuvenation of the quarters, repaving roads, deciding on road projects, deciding on development permits - these are the things you can worry about. School closures, that’s definitely a city one. Crime inside the city, another city thing. What I’ve heard from arena neighsayers are that the mayor could have spent that money elsewhere like on healthcare. Well, no, unless you’re talking about any applicable provincial portion of it. Otherwise, the healthcare is dealt with by the province. I’ve heard criticisms about spending time building a highway to fort mac (63). Well, no, the municipal government feels it would be better for residents of Edmonton that commute and work there to have a better highway, so they’re lobbying the provincial government. I’ve heard lots against bike lanes. People fear change, I guess. The most ridiculous one I heard was to ‘widen all the sidewalks instead.’ Wow, okay, so how are you going to do this, spend billions of dollars buying and/or annexing a couple of feet of everyone’s property lines? And billions more on construction of sidewalks? You thought painting some lines and putting up some signs were expensive?

The Worst Thing That Could Happen Before An Election

Anything to do with the city that makes you wonder if someone isn’t doing their job. So this morning, all the left hand turning lights stop working, as well as lane indicator signals causing pretty much all my colleagues to be late or later than usual. I am lucky I live so close to work. This really can’t be attributed to any one candidate. But imagine that? Big city screw up; something you’d normally complain to your elected official about. But there’s no one to complain to today.

Issue 6, Volume 2: Do you really know your Candidate? I'm Not Responsible Generation. Plus Cold War Kids and a 1992 Dodge Stealth

Issue 6, Volume 2:

Do You Know Your Candidate? - The Ultimate Test

The 'I'm Not Responsible' Generation, Cold War Kids, and a 1992 Dodge Stealth

On The Streets

Our On The Streets feature is on this amazing Dodge Stealth found in the parking lot of Highlands Golf Club, Edmonton. Why is this so rare? Well, perhaps in some districts in the United States it might not be. However, here, an early 90’s Stealth in this kind of condition is remarkable. Remember, it’s my job to bring you not just classic cars, but rare and usually unseen cars. I think it’s rare to see any car that is about 20 years old in this condition, let alone an icon of a sports car from the early 90’s. Sure the parking lot was filled with Infinitis, BMWs, Porsches (a nice 993 version), and about 3 Cadillac CTS models in black, but this was the car that really stuck out. The Stealth is the product of an agreement between Chrysler and Mitsubishi, which saw a lot of successful vehicles in the early 90’s and thereon. Initially the partnership happened in the 70’s, when Chrysler’s Europe brands like Simca did not produce cars that were successful in the US when the OPEC embargo hit. Chrysler took vehicles like the Mitsubishi Colt and remarketed them in the US, sometimes with old names like the Dodge Charger. After the success of Chrysler’s own K-car, the Mitsubishi deal moved forward in other ways. For example, prior to the new Phoenix V6, the most reliable V6 that Chrysler had, used in minivans, extended K cars (Daytona, LeBaron, Shadow/Sundance, Acclaim/Dynasty) was the 6G72 3.0L V6 in single-overhead cam iteration. The base version of the Stealth came with this engine. There was then the Stealth ES and Stealth R/T; the R/T having the option of Mitsubishi’s 6G72 Twin Cam and the 6G72 Twin Cam/Twin Turbo engine good for 276hp (Japan had a horsepower limit). The entire car, sold along side the Viper in dazzling Viper red, was actually built in Japan. This actually led to dissention from the UAW in the potentiality of using the car for the 1991 Indy 500, and a Viper prototype was used instead. The Stealth was a rare bird indeed. The car was identical to the Mitsubishi 3000GT (GTO in Japan) except lacking the automatically adjustable aerodynamics package, and of course, the Stealth got its own aerodynamic look to fit in as a Dodge. The car had many revolutionary technologies, including an active all wheel drive system, a dual mode exhaust (touring or sports settings) and electronically controlled suspension. Less than 20,000 of all iterations were sold a year from 1991-1994. The car received a facelift at that time and continued until 1996 (only 360 cars sold in the final model year). But to know how rare this car really is in these parts, looking at the breakdown of emissions build records would show that in ‘91, only 145 R/T turbos were built for the Canadian market, 373 in 1992, 378 in 1993, and 231 in 1994. The only Stealth available in the 1995 facelifted iteration was the basic R/T, and only for one model year before being discontinued in Canada. In the United States, the Stealth would continue for one more year, the 3000GT would continue in the US until 1999, and in Japan until 2000 (the last two vehicles were ‘2001’ models). This car is a shining example of a ‘91-’94 R/T Turbo in Firestorm Red.Someone has lovingly taken care of it, preserving this low number vehicle.

The Ultimate City Council Candidate Test - Figure Out Who You Will Vote For

Aside from the mayoral race - which I have some opinions about, but will not express here, what will effect you most in your municipal election will be what council member you choose. Even if the person you don’t want to be mayor happens to win the job; or a person who you did vote decides to go rogue, it takes city council to actually back their ideas. So what you want is a person who represents you in your ward - represents your ideas for where the city should be heading, and what to do with your money, etc. This person also represents the needs of your ward. So if you feel like your ward deserves a new rec center, you have a problem with snow clearing in your area, or transit service is not enough, you take it to your specific council member.

In that case, you want to select someone engaged in the same headspace you are. In order to do that, they obviously have to know the issues of where you come from.

So, how do we ensure that both subjectively and objectively we’re choosing the right person for us? This is an important decision that will have a lot of local ramifications for the next four years, and depending on the decisions these candidates make, maybe generations to come.

I’m going to start by speaking on my former ward 10 council member - Don Iveson. Now I’m not commenting on his mayoral run - not in this section anyway - but I want to talk about how he was at a council member. This magazine operates on my ability to complain about things; and with that, my ability to complain about things hinges on there actually being something noteworthy to complain about - beyond first world problems - or at least something interesting anyway. I became frustrated with Iveson as someone who was not an ally to my complaining, instead being an ambassador for City of Edmonton customer service. In other words, he always took care of my complaints. A couple of times in previous issues I was about to break out something huge - something scandalous that the city was doing - and at the same time I always had an email into Iveson for him to correct the problem. The problem (or solution) was he always got on top of things and corrected the problem before I could rant about it. Can’t complain about something that has been solved quickly and efficiently for you can you now? I mean you can try, but it just isn’t interesting to hear nearly as much as a story about how someone is dropping the ball.

Iveson generally knew what were the concerns of the demographic in my area - we have seniors, students, and a lot of young families who were students - upstarts like Sarah and I who used to go to the University or lived in the area during school years and whom still love being central to it all. And then there’s those who have lived in the area for a very long time - since a lot of it came into existence from the 50’s to the 70’s. Again - not to make this about Iveson - but if you look at his website it echoes a lot of issues originally meaningful to our ward - including specific issues like Scona Pool - and the lack of a south-central city-run rec center. Transit is another important one - considering a lot of individuals in this area commute to downtown or the university via transit. Road quality, schools, crime, affordable housing are a few other ones. Generally, the individual you want representing you should know what issues individuals in your area face: so they should be ideally a citizen of the area they are representing - to truly know the issues there. Looking at the new candidates, thinking, “will they measure up?” To do that they don’t necessarily have to uphold the status quo just because the status quo was good, unless there was some deep impact of that status quo. I feel like the people here in ward 10 went with Iveson for a reason - he knows the issues here, he responds quickly, and is accountable. So we would like someone with the same traits. I decided to test my candidates out on the merits of what I had learned makes a good council member: eagerness to be accountable to their citizens, knowledge of the issues, and a stance regarding those issues that is in line with the majority of the ward’s population.

I drew on past experiences and emailed each candidate in my ward, so that I would have an informed choice to go by. First, I’ll tell you how I scored them, so you can do similarly if need be. Then, I’ll actually show you the results of my ward 10 candidates (it’ll be updated until Election time) so you can see how real life candidates respond to things, and so you can take away something from my experience when you head to the polls.

The Test

The test was designed to score the candidates on criteria that I feel makes a good city council member.

1. Response Time - How long did it take the candidate to respond to my email? Iveson used to respond within 48 hours, which I feel is pretty quick. So response within the first 48 hours shows a commitment to the people who elected you into council as your first priority.

2. Local Complaints - I asked the candidates what they would do in response to two ‘hypothetical’ complaints (they don’t need to know these were taken from real situations - such that I already know the answer). One was about a pothole truck that was left for dead for two days on 109th street blocking off a lane. The other was about my car being covered in dust due to poor road signage not advising of the city sweep last spring. This tests the candidates’ abilities to synthesize solutions to a problem - and also tests if they are down to earth or just grandiose to garner votes. It also looks at how much the candidate cares about every day problems and concerns of their citizens.

3. Big Issue - I asked one question about a longstanding issue in our community to see how much the candidate is aware about the issue, and if they are on the side of the citizens to do something about it.

Scoring

1. Platform/Website: For the most part, not every candidate can answer every email, and I realize that - at least while they are busy campaigning. You also might not have time to go after your own ward candidates in this way - but I recommend you do some exploration just as deep as I have. For each issue they mentioned that was an issue representing our area specifically they are awarded 10 points. These issues are: Rec Center/Scona Pool (bonus 5 if they actually mention Scona Pool in particular), Transit (not necessarily expansion but sustainable access in oru area), Schools (in particular fighting against closures), Land value/Sustainability (this is because our area has become the most increasing in value and the one taking on the most redevelopment most recently), Roads (in particular repair), Infrastructure (in particular sidewalks and walkability), Affordable Housing (in particular increasing it), The Arts/Entertainment (in particular facilitating access to it), Crime (in particular reducing it - especially in thefts, car thefts, assaults, and stolen license plates, the crimes most common in our area), and the 10th one I left open for something I may not have thought of but maybe the candidate put a bug in my ear about it and reminded me that yes, that is an issue of our community. Candidates can only score a maximum of 100, and this will make up 20% of their entire score.

2. Response to Email: I feel being accountable to your area’s citizens is important. I felt within 48 hours was reasonable to respond to a concern or question from a resident in the area, and so a full 100 points awarded to those candidates who respond within 48 hours. They’ll lose 5 points per day thereafter. It’s weighted 30%, as being accountable to your individual citizens in your ward is paramount.

3. Answers to First Two Questions: 50 points for each, and this is subjective about how close they get, even though I do know what the right full answer is. To the first one, about the pothole truck, the response I received when I complained was within 24 hours. Don Iveson found the southwest yard for City of Edmonton, the yard crew was quickly notified, and removed the vehicle immediately. Iveson and the City of Edmonton both apologized to me and indicated exactly what happened although it was an embarrassing story for them that a driver had not communicated to the mechanic that the vehicle had broken down and was in need of a tow. Full accountability and transparency on their end, including rectifying the problem immediately. The second is a little harder. I complained about dust blowing on to my car, and that notification was not apparent. There is so much that could be done in this situation. I was apologized to, and said they would review signage for next year. Then I was referred to the city office where they said I could put in a claim if I wanted to. Now this is delicate. Because I wasn’t happy that it happened, and they didn’t just outright offer to clean and detail my car for free - but I need to recognize the city has processes. I could have filed a claim, but 1600 claims in that year for potholes meant I’d be waiting a long time. I could have escalated it but I didn’t. This tests the candidates grandiose structure - see - they can claim they’ll do everything in their power, but there is an accountability to the tax base as a whole. You would be furious if I was getting my car repainted for free every year by leaving it on the front street when a cleaning crew went by. So there is a claims process to go through. But you would also want to know the same crap wouldn’t happen to you so you’d expect the city to at least promise to review their process regarding communication. You wouldn’t expect that council members just write cheques to anyone who demands it. So this has to have a practical answer. This answer is weighted 25%.

4. Big Issue - Rec Center: This requires the candidate to know something about the issues in the area, and to know how important they are to the citizens. They also would need to know somewhat of a history.of the issue and why it’s an issue. Not knowing why something is important could lead to bad decisions about it. I asked the candidates to comment on the fact that there is no rec center in our area, and the only one operating, Scona Pool, the city tried to shut down, but now the city pays money to a private contractor to keep it open, but the pool has never qualified for renovations. In the south-central area, we do not have a city backed rec center. We are, however, paying taxes on some really large new rec centers for other communities that aren’t immediately within reach for our use. Our options are to use Scona Pool, now privately run with minimal government backing, which isn’t a full service rec center, go all the way to Kinsmen, or get a membership at the U of A - which may not be cost effective (as it’s not city run, city compensation can’t apply for those who are entitled due to low income circumstances). You would need to know that the city has no plans for a rec center, that the citizens want one, that the future of Scona is uncertain, and that we’d like our money to be spent as such. This section will be scored 25% of the candidate’s score. It’s out of 100. The main points the candidate needs to state are: clear knowledge of the history of Scona Pool, the knowledge that the city pays a contractor for Scona, the knowledge that the public wants some certainty about the pool, and some remedy (ie fight to keep scona open, fight to renovate scona and retake it, fight to close scona and make the demand for a new rec center to be built). Note - a candidate does not need to respond to the email for me to know how they feel about this, if it is mentioned on their website, I’ll take the score from there.

The Candidates in Ward 10

So, now, here’s my actual scoring of candidates in ward 10. You can always copy my table for use in your own scoring in your ward.

Candidate	About	Website Score	Email Response	Q1 & Q2	Q3	Total Score
Ray Bessel	Lived in Ward 10 for 10 years	Inflation (+10),	Response within 5 days (+80)	In Q1, would try to get answers (10), in Q2, would try to get a car wash, and see why there was not adequate notice (40)	Recommends using other nearby rec centers (0)	38.5
Hafis Devji	Family Business Owner ‘Family Oriented’ - Lifelong Edmontonian	Renewing/ Improving Infrastructure for current demographic (+10), school closures (+10)	No Response Yet (0)	No Response (0)	No Response (0)	4
Richard Feehan	Lived in Ward 10 for 24 years	Improving Infrastructure (+10), funding arts (+10)	No Response (0)	No Response (0)	No Response (0)	4
“Can Man” Dan Johnstone	Against Poverty, under 30	Fixing Roads (+10), Neighbourhood Watch/EPS (+10), Affordable Homes (+10), Tranist (+10), Arts (+10)	Response within 48 hrs (100pts)	‘Could Not Respond - Did not know what he’d do (0)	Said city wouldn’t compete with private institution (no real knowledge of situation) (0)	40
Michael Walters	Owns a consulting firm, has won a bunch of awards	Infrastructure - Roads (+10), maintain sidewalks, infrastructure (+10),	Response within 5 days (+80)	Did not know what he’d do, but would ‘look into it’ (15)	Is passionate and would work with ward 8 council member to try and push for new facility (100)	60.5
Scoring		100 (10 for each to maximum of 10) X 20%	100 (100 points for 48 hours, -5 points each day following) X 30%	100 (50 points for Q1, 50 points for Q2) total of both X 25%	100 points for question X 25%	100 point maximum

It’s still a tough race, but now I objectively have an idea of who I might vote for. There are also the overall impressions of the responses. Dan Johnston didn’t seem to know we (the City of Edmonton) paying to keep Scona Pool open, but having a private company run it. He indicated the city probably wouldn’t compete with a private company. That lack of knowledge of the issue is a critical flaw, whereas Michael Walters not only knew of the issue, but indicated that he already had committed in his platform to discuss it with the ward 8 council member to try and go for something sustainable for multiple communities right in our own back yard. Great! I appreciated Bessel’s response, but his suggestion to use LRT to get to rec centers outside of the community, while practical, was not in line with the overall community stance. I liked however, that Bessel would get my car washed from a dust bath. This is, unfortunately, more than he would actually be able to do for me.

We see names on ballots and we might recognize the names from signs, or past elections, or the community in general. But who are these people and how will their influence on the city truly effect you? This is why I urge everyone to find out what your candidate is up to, find out what they are for and against, how they are in line with your values, and hey, even how long they’ve lived in your area! And of course, get out and vote!

The ‘I’m Not Responsible’ Generation

This is likely to be a very controversial piece - maybe not for my readers, but in general. Because it is likely that at some point you will have been in a situation you wanted to blame on someone else, but you had to give up the fight, because the logic just wasn’t there. And because a lot of tragedies happen in this realm (that doesn’t make them NOT tragedies - it just maybe makes them harder to deal with when you don’t have someone to blame).

Lately I’ve noticed the increase in remaining not responsible for actions that seemingly make a person a victim. It starts here with this Anti-Fat-Shaming-Feminist-Meme where, unfortunately, while I feel for the woman involved, she’s also full of shit. She, from the get-go, discusses how she has no issues posting photos in spite of privacy warnings - but then gets upset when her photo was ‘stolen’ - no sorry, used by someone for fat-shaming, and potential anti-feminism. This launched a campaign where women of all shapes and sizes wore signs and shirts saying, ‘this is what a feminist looks like.’ But that’s still off the mark. Because, you know what, I’m a man, and I don’t look like a woman at all, and I’m what a feminist looks like, because I am one too.

The ultimate issue I took with this woman was her incessant blaming of everyone else that her photo had been used and she had been victimized. She was indeed a victim of internet trolls, but knowing those exist, you sort of have to roll with the punches. Knowing full well that something might happen and clicking the terms of use is akin to signing a waiver when you’re going, say, skydiving. I’ve never been, but I know there’s a chance I could get hurt. And if I did, would it be fair to hold the pilot responsible knowing that there was a chance I could get hurt? While it sucks that I got hurt, and sure I might be a victim of a terrible accident or tragedy, whose fault it is - is a bullshit argument. It was an inherent risk from the beginning, not begetting a ‘fault’ situation.

I’m going to turn the attention now to another situation that’s happened recently that I can’t take my mind off of. Was there a victim? Yes. Was the force used likely excessive? Yes. Can you blame the Toronto Police? Probably not. If you haven’t guessed already I’m talking about the police take-down of Sammy Yatim that resulted in the death of Yatim and the second degree murder charge of a Toronto officer. Yatim was reportedly wielding a knife at streetcar passengers, and when police showed up, would reportedly not drop the knife and wielded it towards police officers. So he was shot to death. The issue here is that he was shot seven times. That is obviously excessive. However, is Yatim a victim, and are the police at fault? While I find no issue in some charge being brought upon the officer that shot seven times (one probably would have sufficed) - using lethal force is generally found to be appropriate in a situation where a person has a weapon that could injure or kill someone else and generally won’t put it down. I think the main issue here is that Toronto doesn’t have a body like ASIRT (if they do they aren’t effective) that here in Alberta respond and investigate the amount of force used anytime a weapon is used by an officer to see if it was deemed appropriate. I have to get to the point here, because I’m straying off the basic focus of this argument; which is that should I expect to point a knife at people, and the police, and not expect to get shot to death? This isn’t Grand Theft Auto, it’s real life. True, if they simply knee capped him, maybe they could have found out what was causing him to be violent and he could have gone through therapy, and I’m not saying IT ISN’T an upsetting situation. But at the same time, how much can you say a person is a victim when, again, they point a deadly weapon at someone and then get shot by the police?

There is obviously some sort of culture of mistrust between the Toronto Police and its citizens which makes this not so cut and dry to everyone else, where generally in most places in North America, again, if GTA has taught you anything, it’s that if you point a weapon at people, you might get shot to death by the police if you don’t put it down.

My main argument here, which is the subject of many an old comedy routine (what idiot did this to warrant this warning label, etc) is that people less and less likely want to accept responsibility for their actions and blame someone else. It’s escaping common sense. It’s the proverbial rusty nail you stepped on as a kid at a construction site, that, during my youth, your parents would have told you to stop playing in that construction site, that nowadays parents would sue the developers because there was a gap in the fence.

Music

I usually lightly pepper each issue with a few remarks about the latest music I’ve been listening to. So here’s a few recommendations.

Cold War Kids - Dear Miss Lonelyhearts

This is the fourth studio album by the group from Long Beach, and I have to say, it fast became one of my favourites of this summer. The album features guitarist Dan Gallucci, former original guitarist from Modest Mouse. He was a great writer then, and carries that momentum to the Cold War Kids. Dare I say, this is their best album? The driving first single Miracle Mile is a fantastic out and out rock song, you don’t even need to say ‘indie’ for this. But the album isn’t full of songs like this. It’s actually a fairly stark, bare bones album with a lot of feeling to it. Tracks like Lost That Easy are great near-ballads, slow and haunting. I’ve heard a lot of critical response, some critics writing that the Cold War Kids are a band still “trying to figure out who they are.” In that - if it is true - they have become better in each successive album to the point where I really actually like them enough to obviously go out and buy their material, which says something in this day of tight purse strings. I recommend giving it a listen.

Sound City - Reel to Real Soundtrack

I don’t really know how to quantify this album, except that it’s a really good rock album that spans generations. From Stevie Nicks, to Rick Springfield, to the remaining members of Nirvana jamming with Paul McCartney, I think my actual favourite song on this album was the one by Corey Taylor of Slipknot. Just an unbelievable work of art through and through, and a great tribute to an analog recording console.

As always thanks for reading, letters can be sent to istillhaveatapeplayer@gmail.com

Mayoral Ambiguity, Previously Unpublished Material (The Fall of the Middle Class) PLUS Remembering Chi Cheng and a 1971 Dodge Dart

Issue 4, Volume 2

Mayoral Ambiguity, The Fall of the Middle Class (Pt.1), Remembering Chi Cheng

Oh, the life of a writer...should I have been one. It's my last day of 'holidays' - I put Bronx IV by the Bronx on my turntable, and then step outside to check the mail. My e-bay order didn't arrive today. I then go to the fridge to realize that I'm out of organic Cola. Here's a plug for the people at Blue Sky Soda, fantastic non-caffeinated real cane sugar cola. Truth be told I wouldn't drink any type of cola because it would hurt my stomach. But not this stuff. This stuff I could drink until I get diabetes - which I'm assuming is less likely from a cane sugar cola than it is from a HFCS cola (not true). But we already had this discussion back in Issue 2, Volume 1. But seriously, should I be a professional writer, I imagine that life would be much like it is today. Just put on some music, lament about being out of organic cola, and sit down and git 'r done. But it's not.

Our On The Streets comes from the vague idea that winter is going to be over sometime soon. This Sub-lime Dodge Dart. Sure, I said it is a 1971, but it really could be a 1970-1972, which is when they started using this particular front grille and bumper, and moved the back bumper into a sloping trunk line. It would be redesigned again in 1973 for federal crash standards, meaning they had to revise the front bumper for 5 mph impacts. This car, well, can't really be dated because I don't believe it's authentic. But it's pretty to look at. The fat rear wheels on Centerlines, the GTS hood with the tach stuck on it, the wild paint, radiused wheel wells, and even a go wing- this car is for fun. We're assuming this car is a 1970 or 1971 because it has a central divider in the grille, assuming that's the original grille. In 1971, the Dart could be had with either of two slant six engines, a 318 V8, or a powerful 340 V8, developed for the 'Cuda in AAR format (for trans am competition). The Dart name has recently been ressurected on the new Dodge Dart, a car actually based on an Alfa Romeo, with a line of Alfa engines. The cars are really related in name only, and their compact stature. The Neon name fell out of favor with consumers, and the Caliber was a different animal altogether, so for sales purposes, Chrysler went back to the swingin' seventies (actually the Dart was made from 1960-1976 but the most recognized are likely the 67 to mid 70's versions) to pick out a fondly remembered name. The best thing about this car, is that I've recently seen it driving around again, meaning it must be just about warm enough to take your collector car out of the garage. 

Mayoral Ambiguity - Why Mandel Didn't Indicate His Intent To Run

There is always a time and a place to make the right move. Imagine dating for a second. Why do people wait so long to ask other people out sometimes? I remember for me, there was a hesitation because I thought maybe I hadn't gotten to know someone well enough, and maybe it wasn't the right time. What did timing have to do with it? Well I thought maybe if I waited until I felt that I was confident through some force of the universe, I'd have better chances. That was probably crap, and sometimes I waited so long I ended up doing nothing and the opportunity passed me by (not that I lament it now obviously, but we're drawing a comparison so stay with me). But with political process, timing is everything. Elections happen around and after or before certain events because of the prospect that you'll win if all goes well. And there are several factors that can play into that. Larger governments usually seal their deals around budget promises (the promise to cut tax, the promise to spend on health and education, etc. So when you go to the polls you think, "this party said a tax cut is coming up soon, maybe that won't happen if we elect someone else!" Or on a more extreme scale, how about calling an election after you just called your troops home from war. People might think of you more as the person that brought home the troops rather than the person that left the troops in there for the entire other 90% of your term. 

Really, this is why I think Mandel dodged the question of whether or not he was going to run for Mayor again on the mayoral address to the city. Aside from the lingering dissatisfaction about a solid framework for the Arena deal, it was at a time that the city had 600,000 potholes to fill, and winter runoff saw water become super chlorinated and disgusting to drink. Should Mandel choose that time to announce he's running, you'd be thinking, "yeah, but the water is disgusting, and we have a huge pothole problem! Fuck this guy!" But if we should all happen to wait until June, when the potholes are filled, and the water tastes normal, and the weather is nice, you'll probably stop thinking about how bad things were.

I think Mandel would probably just say that he wasn't thinking that, he was just undecided. What I've heard is that being mayor can be a monotonous position. I know this, because I stopped playing Sim City Social entirely. Don't forget that if a politician says they aren't that smart, they're probably lying. Keep in mind, this isn't an accusation of some sort of conspiracy, but the type of slight of hand, and positioning that happens all the time in political circles. We're just not used to it at such a local level. 

Of course, we'll have full election coverage when that happens.

Unpublished Material - The Fall of the Middle Class (Pt 1.)

This was a little difficult to do. I have been writing for issue 4 for a few months now, and the idea of packing everything into one part was starting to get ridiculous, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to read all of that in one shot. So I give you previously unpublished material - the fall of the middle class part 1.

The Commercial Revolution Part 1 - Where Are We?

(News Source: Global National)

British Columbia Securities Commission released this week numbers regarding Canadian debt. Donna Friesen on Global National read the lines, "you might be surprised at who's struggling." Actually, I wouldn't, it turns out it is the 'lower spectrum of the middle class earners' who are struggling, which we might have expected. All in all, they found credit delinquencies were down, but most people are only making minimum payments due to their high debt load. BCSC notes that people want instant gratification as opposed to saving for things, thus they're taking on more debt. Here's the part where I disagree.

If you read Part 2 of our topic on the Commercial Revolution in this blog, you'll find that's not really the case. History has driven us here. Ultimately, we don't want any more than what our parents or grandparents had. As bank economists weigh in, they say that earning wages are not keeping up with inflation. Thus it's not as if we're necessarily a society of instant gratification; we just want the lifestyle our older family members had, but the idea to save up cash for that is ridiculous. Case in point, Perspectives, a Stats Canada publication on socio-economics wrote in their Summer 1993 issue, that in 1970, the average Canadian wage was $5700 per person. The Average price of a new car in 1970 from the U.S. Vehicle Technologies Office was $3542 (let's say 1:1, and also not forget there's a confounding factor here where people may have purchased more expensive cars, it's not necessarily cetibus parabus). According to the Globe and Mail from Frozen Out December 27, 2012, the average Canadian housing price is roughly 5 times the average yearly income of Canadians, up from roughly 3:1 in the mid 1970's. You know what you'd have cash to save up for if your mortgage payment was only 3/5 of what it currently is? Probably a new car. But wait? Could you? In 1970 your car cost 62% of an entire yearly income. Now? The average price of a car according to the Wall Street Journal in September 4, 2012, was $30,274, while the average wage of a Canadian (non attached male) is $39,900. So the price of a large consumer good like a car has moved from 62% of a current income to 76%. In part two, I've listed some explanations as to why this might be through history, but ultimately the purpose here: to show that we aren't just a society of individuals that need instant gratification. If all we wanted was a similar house and vehicle to what our parents had at our age, our income has decreased wildly in relation to how much those two things would cost. 

Not to mention, recently bank economists indicated that Canadians are working longer hours, more hours, and the middle class wage ratio has dropped by 37% looking at 2011 data in relation to the mid 70's. That means, versus our parents, we work 37% harder to get the same things, or face earning 37% less if we work just has hard. 

I remember watching Michael Moore's documentary Capitalism: A Love Story, and the saddest part was when he was with his father, a 33 year employee of General Motors, looking at the GM factory that had been shut down. Only Moore's father worked, and he spoke about how after his mom picked up the kids, she would swing by the factory to pick up their father, and they were so excited to see him. You could see in Moore's father's eyes how much he had enjoyed that period of time. Moore discussed how one UAW wage earner could easily afford a house, two cars, a vacation home, to send his kids to college, and had good medical insurance, and a great retirement plan after they were done working. Life was good. Part of feminist advancement in the work place (and I'm not saying this to be anti-feminist, I'm saying it strictly economically) was due to necessity; after recessions in the late 70's and early 80's, and the break-down of the manufacturing sector, it required both partners to work to earn the same amount. Essentially, everyone had to work to stay afloat. And now we're finding we can't even do that, so we're simply relying on credit. As long as our income is still more than our debt, we'll pay it off some time. Right?

Ultimately to say we are just a generation of instant-gratification seekers isn't true. We believe we should at least have things as good as our parents. Unfortunately, with the radical inflation, saving up to have things at least as good as our parents just isn't possible.

Remembering Chi Cheng of the Deftones

We lost a musical hero recently: Chi Cheng of the Deftones passed away, on April 13, 2013. After being in a coma since 2009 (a car crash left him in the state), his heart stopped. There were times when he was making some improvement. Ultimately all fans, family, and friends held their breath and waited. All our prayers and thoughts are with Chi and his family/friends, but at the same time, I think there is a celebration that he can move on to peace, and now, a time to reflect. 

Cheng initially joined the Deftones in the late 80's early 90's as their bass player. As the story goes, if I recall, I think it was either Carpenter or Cunningham who had won some law suit, and had spent all the money buying musical instruments. These friends, in their teens, in Sacramento formed a band, and eventually played live around California. Eventually Rick Ruben saw the Deftones live, but traded their demo to Maverick records for the Korn demo. Maverick signed Deftones, and has been their label since, with their first album, Adrenaline being released in 1995. Chi would release Around The Fur (1997), White Pony (2001), Deftones (2003) and Saturday Night Wrist (2006) with the Deftones. In addition to that, he also released The Bamboo Parachute (2000) - an album of spoken word. At the time of his car crash, the Deftones were working on Ethos, slated to be released in 2010. That album was scrapped entirely, and the Deftones went on to release instead Diamond Eyes (2010) with Sergio Vega.

Chi Cheng was always described by those that knew him as a soft-spoken and inspirational person, putting others first. He ran a program in his home town of Sacramento to help aid homeless individuals. He was a Buddhist and a Vegetarian among other things, the latter due to a strong conscience for being environmentally and socially responsible. 

Chi's playing style is very fluid, and there is no question he was instrumental in building the Deftones sound, which is a huge inspiration to so many.

If you are a fan of the Deftones, remembering Chi couldn't be done better than on April 20th, Record Store Day, where Deftones will release an album of live tracks from Adrenaline - early recordings with Chi very much involved. 

It's sad to lose a great musician, it feels like losing a great friend. But at least we can remember him, and his legacy will carry on due to his inspiration.

Letters To The Editor

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