When we arranged for another interview with St. Vital Councilor Brian Mayes, we didn’t expect he’d have landed in the headlines by the time we spoke.
In Episode 13 you’ll hear Mayes talk about the friction with Mayor Scott Gillingham that led to a fateful phone call on July 24th while Mayes was attending a conference in Atlanta.
4.25 Part 1- After almost 12 years as a Committee chair, Mayes and Mayor Scott Gillingham were on opposite sides of accepting federal housing cash with strings attached, as well as the huge price tag for Gillingham’s pet project to widen Kenaston Blvd.
“I had been pushing the limits, I would admit that. I would not have been surprised to be shuffled out in October,” he said, “but it was certainly unfortunate to go when I was out of town and was about to hit this milestone in July that mattered to me.”
7.00- Did his insistance that Gillingham keep a promise to hire a chief construction officer before greenlighting big infrastructure projects sting the mayor? Mayes discusses the various theories out there about what issue made Gillingham remove him but ultimately, “the Mayor’s office said ‘we have to be on the same page on housing.'”
8.40- Mayes benefitted from the strong mayor model, a system that also led to his ejection.
Surprisingly, “I think we had a little more leeway under Mayor Katz and Mayor Bowman,” Mayes says. “It’s been an unhappy term, I could never quite figure out where I stood…”
Mentioning “endless shadow-play” Mayes muses, “I could never quite crack the code and I don’t think the mayor’s staff could clarify what was expected.”
13.00- Following up on our last interview, Mayes picks up on how city staff would say ‘change is hard’ to dismiss the complaints of residents affected by new policies.
“I think that summarizes a lot of the challenges of the job,” he explains, honing in on the conflict between his representing the community and the politics of City Hall.
“It’s not your job as a civil servant to tell me to write off 20% of the polls in my ward” by dismissing somebody “as a NIMBY just because they want to keep some vestige of their current neighborhood.”
“When you have councilors saying, you can’t fight city hall, that’s a problem.”
- E-transfers, News tip, comments, email: [email protected]
15.50 – A discussion of ward issues, including
- Gravel lanes and the improved attitude in the planning department towards not overloading them with new housing; ‘
- How Marion Willis is effectively dealing with homelessness issues through a St. Boniface Street Links Centre set up at the old St Vital city hall: “I’ve come to quite like her, she’s feisty man. I have a lot of sympathy for her approach,” Mayes says.
- “At some point there’s a “communitarian” aspect to this – that the community also has some rights. We should be trying to house people and not fight for their right to sleep under the bridge.”
- A Norwood Bridge question about why a southbound traffic lane has never been opened for vehicles- it would take “an afternoon’s worth of work” to open the lane, Mayes admits, yet “we still have this odd situation.”
22.00- Coun. Mayes is familiar with our interview with Sophie Hildebrandt and her petition to open Lyndale Drive – and he discusses how council voted for a further study be done but no money is set aside for it. Mayes allowed he’d vote for funding a Lyndale Drive study.
“I had a poisoningly bad term with Coun. Allard last term… this term we’ve been getting along… We’re having a much better grown-up relationship this term.”
There will be more of our interview with Brian Mayes in the next few weeks.
28.50 Part 2 – A fast recap and update of these recent podcasts and columns-
Winnipeg must let the people decide on Plan20-50
Teenager Leads The Charge Against City Imposed St. B Bike Path
Lyndale Drive petition ignored by Allard as cyclists run wild on residents
Jews And Judaism In Canada Under Attack
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