Mississauga-- debt free.

[Silverity]

My friend linked me this and I thought I'd share:

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I checked out a bit more information on Hazel McCallion at Wikipedia (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.), as well.

I'm posting it because I think it's a neat situation, and in the face of a lot of depressing politics, it was refreshing. I wish the video would go more into depth about what it IS that Hazel does to keep Mississauga in such good shape, but out of curiosity, do any of you live here or near here? It'd be nice to have an inside-view.

[pw242]

Thanks. I really enjoyed it. There are isolated examples of good government all over the place. To be honest, I don't think it's that hard to govern well. "Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things." for example. I reckon most governments aren't even trying to govern well.

[cal]

Maybe I'll start thinking about moving there, instead of Europe.

I wish the video would go more into depth about what it IS that Hazel does to keep Mississauga in such good shape

I wished the same thing, too.

I've always thought my practical mom would've done a good job running our city - much better than the *ss-faces who've been doing it over the years.

A story of how 'alternative thinking' made a difference between what the Olympics cost Montreal, and what it cost LA:

1. In 1976 the Olympics were held in Montreal and cost so much the remaining debt was only paid off by 1993. The financial load on the city was enormous. After that no city or country wanted to host the Olympics. they were held in Russia in 1980, but of course they had a different accounting system. The International Olympic Committee was having trouble finding a city and country host for 1984. When the city of Los Angeles decided they would act as host, stipulation was made that no local funds would be used. Peter Ueberroth, as person in charge of the Los Angeles games, developed a totally new way of thinking about financing the Olympics. For the first time in history, the Olympics made money. Asked how he came up with these new ideas, he attributed the results to Edward de Bono's lateral thinking tools.

[deinotes]

My friend linked me this and I thought I'd share:

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I checked out a bit more information on Hazel McCallion at Wikipedia (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.), as well.

I'm posting it because I think it's a neat situation, and in the face of a lot of depressing politics, it was refreshing. I wish the video would go more into depth about what it IS that Hazel does to keep Mississauga in such good shape, but out of curiosity, do any of you live here or near here? It'd be nice to have an inside-view.
Seems she just simply care about the people and uses common sense. ;)


McCallion has been easily elected for the last twenty years, with no serious challengers coming close to unseating her as mayor of the city. Due to her popularity, she does not campaign during elections and refuses to accept political donations, instead asking her supporters to donate the money to charity. She is currently beginning her eleventh consecutive term as mayor.
Good new way of doing politics instead of wasting it on a unnessecary bs campaigns.

[Aronnax]

She's allowed Government to operate in the black for a long time ($700M in reserves), that's what makes her city unusual. The large reserves allow out of pocket financing for large infrastructure and protect the city budget during economic downturns. Those two situations are how cities accumulate debt, avoid those and your city will remain debt free. When reserves begin to accumulate it typically triggers tax cuts and/or increases in spending, it's very unusual for any politician to avoid both of those pitfalls. I'm impressed; consistently operating a public agency in the black to accumulate the reserves necessary to keep a city healthy is usually very unpopular.

[LaoTzu]

I think that there is a lot of overlap in services, since Mississauga is part of the GTA. Transportation (I'm thinking) is probably less expensive, and some other things like water/sewer/energy will be shared to some extent.

A huge population is also key, and the cost of living re: real estate keeps that tax revenue flowing in nicely. I think they're around 1.2M people in Mississauga alone.


It's kind of funny I don't know a lot about it, when I live only 2 hours away :)
All I do know with certainty ... is that it really sucks to drive the GTA highways. (if you can call sitting still on a highway driving....)