What I Asked the Mayor
I put this question to Alberta's big city mayors Don Iveson and Naheed Nenshi, last week:
Calgary's Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Edmonton's Mayor Don Iveson have announced they will not be running for office in the fall's municipal elections. After three- and two-term stints as the mayors of Alberta's largest cities, they appeared on a call-in radio show last week to reflect on their work and cities. I squeezed in the question, and here's what they said:
Mayor Naheed Nenshi (Calgary)
So many things. Before COVID, I got to attend 30 events on a Saturday in every corner of the city, learning about amazing things people do in community that I never knew. Did you know Calgary's a world centre for jump rope, and kids do amazing things in jump rope here? So that's what I'm going to miss the most is learning new things about what people are up to every day.
Mayor Don Iveson (Edmonton)
That there have been people here for at least 9000, maybe 13,000 years and that is doesn't just go by the name Edmonton. It's also known by many indigenous names, including amiskwacîwâskahikan, which is beaver hills lodge.
As usual, these two mayors complement each other. They are keen to learn, each exhibiting two different ways they do so: one energized as he learns about the zoomed-in work of citizens all over the city, every day, and the other energized by a much bigger view of the city and its place in a landscape that stretches over thousands of years, not the conventional, colonial view of a couple of hundred years. Together, they remind us of the everyday meaning of city life—our work and the place of human settlement over a larger expanse of time.
These two Alberta leaders will be missed for their work in their cities, as well as their influence on the well-being of cities in Canada and around the world. I'm sure the latter of these contributions will continue to grow.
My most recent fondness for Calgary is because this city hosted the inaugural face-to-face edition of the Nest City Circle, a 16-week course around the Nest City book. And I love it when a mayor makes the time to send a thank-you note.
Closer to home in Edmonton, I worked on many projects for which Mayor Iveson helped clear the way: the Infill Roadmap to foster missing middle residential development in the older parts of Edmonton, the new City Plan, Edmonton's Energy Transition Strategy, Edmonton's Economic Action Plan and now a rewrite of the zoning rules for land use with an overdue equity lens.
The legacy of Mayors Iveson and Nenshi is the value they place in serving the entire city, rather than a political slice of the city. They work hard to find workable solutions in the never-ending quest that is city improvement. I do not doubt that they will continue this work wherever they land.
Thank you.
NOTE: You can listen to the entire episode of Alberta at Noon with Judy Aldous here. Look for the April 16, 2021 episode.
Reflection
What are the skills and capacities you most appreciate about your current political leaders?
What are the skills and capacities needed in your city’s next political leaders?