Former Edmonton mayor calls upcoming municipal election ‘crucial’ to city’s future

Former Edmonton mayor Stephen Mandel says Edmontonians need to get out and vote to improve the conditions in the city.

A former Edmonton mayor says this is a crucial municipal election that could determine the direction of our city.

Stephen Mandel, who served as mayor from 2004 to 2013, believes that without strong leadership, the city will continue in a downward spiral.

Mandel, who went on to become leader of the provincial Alberta Party before leaving politics in 2019, spent more than a decade trying to shape the city into a place people wanted to be.

“It seems like it’s falling apart, and it’s very, very frustrating,” he told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday. “I talk to people constantly. They say, ‘I’m not going downtown. I’m not going to go there,’ ‘I don’t want to do this. It’s too dangerous.’ I was talking to a fellow not 20 minutes ago about taking his kids to the hockey game, and he said he got on the LRT and there were needles on the floor.

“We have to start being much more aggressive and cleaning up the city of Edmonton just to make it attractive so people come and invest here and want to build a life here. I know people around the suburbs say, ‘Well, who cares about downtown?’ But downtown is the vitality of the city. It’s not the sidewalks of the suburbs, and it’s very frustrating to see the lack of focus, the lack of vision for downtown.”

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As election day nears, Mandel has become more vocal about what he believes are the issues plaguing the city.

“I think this is a very crucial election,” he said. “I think we’re floundering. I think our city’s got problems that aren’t being coped with properly. We need people at the helm who can do the kind of things and make the kind of changes and include the kind of people to make a difference in the future of our city.”

Political analyst John Brennan says Mandel’s comments reflect a segment of public opinion.

“The majority of Edmontonians feel that the city is on the wrong track (and there are) a whole bunch of reasons for that,” Brennan told CTV News Edmonton. “The increases in property taxes, the whole infill mess in mature neighbourhoods, the construction chaos going on in the city, the issues around public safety, crime and social disorder. He’s expressing his concerns, but he’s also expressing the concerns that are held by the majority of Edmontonians.”

Mandel says the key to moving the city forward is to be creative and develop better partnerships, including with police and the province. He says the city needs a mayor and council that shows leadership, is passionate about improving all areas of the city and can make decisions.

“The mayor has to be able to build consensus because you do have people that are of different political ilk, political ideologies and political will,” Mandel said.

“You need to be able to bring people together, and that means sitting down with them, finding out their priorities and how to fit their priorities in with other councillors’ priorities and not making them ‘us versus them.’ It’s about how we work together to try to build a better city for all of us. I think that’s what’s really needed.”