Ward 9 race is all about the infrastructure

The electoral equation in Edmonton’s southwest Ward 9 is simple: an exploding population plus poor road infrastructure equals voters keen for a champion to build new or expanded arterials.

Departing councillor Bryan Anderson was able to get all kinds of investment in the southwest in his 19 years on council. That includes the much-loved Terwillegar Recreation Centre. But for 40 years, Terwillegar Drive hasn’t really been a drive at all. Instead, it is a series of off-ramps masquerading as an arterial road.

A six-to-eight-lane highway has always been envisioned to go in the massive length of green space between the off-ramp roads of the current drive, but with LRT and Henday construction at the top of the city’s priority list, Terwillegar has stayed as is. It’s been getting more choked with traffic every decade. It’s now a nightmare in rush hour.

Five Ward 9 candidates — Rob Agostinis, Tim Cartmell, Mark Hope, Payman Parseyan and Sandy Pon — are running in the Oct. 16 civic election to replace Anderson and they’re united that it’s high time to start building interchanges and expanding Terwillegar.

“For the last 25 years that I’ve lived there, nothing has really been done in transportation,” says Pon, a real estate agent. “It’s almost ludicrous it never got the attention it deserved.”

To be fair, the Anthony Henday ring road has provided huge benefits to the southwest, so it’s not as if this area hasn’t seen a drop of public investment, but the Terwillegar Drive situation needs changing.

“Terwillegar Drive is my highest priority,” says Parseyan, a businessman. “That road has been on standby since 1986. I want to get that road built.”

The candidates are also generally united when it comes to mass transit, though they’re not LRT fans like city council has been. Paresyan is partial to LRT, but Pon, Cartmell, Agostinis and Hope all favour Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).

“LRT is quite antiquated. Not too many cities are building LRT anymore because it’s very expensive,” says Agostinis, a former doctor who now teaches. He adds that BRT is more economical, can be rerouted if needs change, and it’s easier to run more or less BRT based on demand.

The views of the candidates match up on numerous other issues. All of them, for example, are critical of the city’s photo radar. “I think it should be about safety, not about revenue,” says Hope, summing up the consensus view.

They’re also all critical of the city’s bike lanes. Cartmell, an engineer project manager, wants to see no new bike lanes built until ridership numbers prove success for the new segregated lanes downtown.

Parseyan says bike lanes should have been built on expanded sidewalks, not on our roads: “We have got too much congestion as it is.”

One area of disagreement between the candidates is the city’s Blatchford redevelopment, which is moving slowly after being scaled back from a grandiose green-topia vision. The city continues to lead the project. Agostonis and Pon are open to the city doing something new, interesting and dynamic there. As Pon puts it: “That could be the example for any new development from that point on.”

But Cartmell is skeptical of the city acting as a developer.

“The city is becoming a developer when we have developers to do development work. I’d rather see the city stick to its knitting and let people that know what they’re doing do it.”

Parseyan says the same: “Rather than the city spending billions doing it and putting our risk there, we could have business come and do this.”

As for who best can serve the ward, I’ve now met and talked with all five candidates about a variety of city issues, and I can report this is an exceptionally strong group. Agostinis and Pon are both impressive, thoughtful individuals with long records as volunteers.

Parseyan, who has business interests in real estate, the oilpatch and restaurants, has huge ambition. He talks of one day being Canada’s foreign minister. He also has tremendous enthusiasm and the ability to persuade. I could see him developing into a council dynamo.

But I see Cartmell as the standout candidate. Both Anderson and former premier Dave Hancock have strongly endorsed him.

Cartmell has led many major building projects, including the Expo Centre and three seniors’ lodges. It’s also the case that city council has had major woes with its handling of major projects. Major bridge and LRT projects have been delayed. This makes Cartmell not just a solid candidate for the southwest, but in possession of expertise that could greatly assist city council.