Riders' O'Day believes positive steps taken in 2024
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Work has now begun on evaluating the roster ahead of the 2025 season.
The holiday season is offering Mayor Charlie Clark and the rest of Saskatoon city council a chance to recover after an “intense” 2018 packed with major issues.
Councillors restricted wood-burning fire pits to between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m., raised their own wages to offset the loss of a tax break, allowed ride sharing into the city and wavered on whether to turn curbside garbage collection into a utility.
And those were just the big headlines.
“These are tough issues,” Mayor Charlie Clark said in a year-end interview with 650 CKOM.
“The reason it’s been intense is we’re working.”
Clark spoke about what he saw in 2018, previews for what’s ahead of council in 2019 and about life as mayor in general.
Great Waste Debate
Among the biggest issues council faced in 2018 was what to do with Saskatoon’s waste management program.
Several councillors were alarmed to find the waste management program had been underfunded by millions of dollars each year for many years, and the waste reserves had largely been depleted.
As a solution, administration proposed offering residents a choice between three different garbage bin sizes, and charging homeowners a monthly bill based on their bin size.
They also put forward the possibility of a green bin program for organics, which they said accounted for 58 per cent of household waste.
The organics program was approved, and council initially greenlit the garbage utility.
However, they went back on their decision a month later after Ward 1’s Darren Hill changed his mind.
“I thought by the end of the year we would have a game plan going forward,” Clark said.
He said he had hoped the first decision approving the utility would be final, and he maintains it was the right plan to support.
“We have to make the right decisions now, to not create a whole bunch of costs where the next generation of council is going to look back and say ‘what were they thinking back then?'” Clark said, noting the possibility of spending $100 million to replace the Saskatoon landfill.
Social Media Reactions
Many of the decisions Clark and his council made also resulted in harsh social media reactions throughout the year, particularly in regard to waste and firepit restrictions.
Some councillors said they were threatened over the fire pit issue, while some groups shared photos of a mother and her son who spearheaded the push for backyard bonfire restrictions, encouraging their harrassment.
“Social media can often bring out some of the most cynical points of view … there is a ferocity about it,” Clark said.
“I think we live in a time where social media … gives a sense of the tone in the community, but it’s not the entire tone.”
He noted while people may be aggressive with their words online, it’s a completely different story in person.
“They will send out ferocious tweets or Facebook posts, and then I’ll meet them face-to-face and their tone is totally different,” he said.
“In today’s world we need to think about how we do democracy and politics in a way that isn’t just dictated by that (online) ferocity.”
Bridges a big accomplishment
While garbage may have been a trashy time for Clark, he is proud of how the city expanded its infrastructure in 2018.
He pointed to the grand opening of Merlis Belsher Place, the first new ice sheets in Saskatoon in 30 years, as well as improvements made to the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.
However, the biggest accomplishments in his mind were the successful openings of the overpasses at Boychuk Drive and Highway 16, and McOrmond Dr. and College Dr., along with the twin openings of Traffic Bridge and the Chief Mistawasis Bridge.
“No other city out of anybody I’ve talked to has gotten two bridges open in one day,” he said.
Clark said he was particularly proud of the history behind Chief Mistawasis Bridge.
“That sort of links the whole story to the history of this relationship on Treaty Six territory,” he said.
“It told a story about a city that has a strong future, that is building for the future and that wants to include the whole community in the success of the city.”
‘Opportunity to reshape downtown’
Looking ahead to 2019, the mayor sees debate around several downtown projects dominating.
More talk is expected on the possibility of a downtown arena, re-designing Idylwyld Drive to be more fluid and bicycle-friendly, including more bike lanes on other streets and planning more for a bus rapid transit system through the core.
“We have the opportunity to reshape the downtown in a way that will build a very vibrant city for generations to come, if we get it right,” Clark said.
Year two as mayor
Clark is now through his second year as mayor, after serving as a city councillor for 10 years.
He said he’s become more accustomed to the attention and scrutiny he receives from the media and public, and the demands of attending events and openings.
“The first year is definitely a year where you feel like you’re drinking through a fire hose,” he said.
“Year two has been a good year of learning and building on that, but I still have a tremendous amount to learn.”
Clark said in finding the balance, he’s been able to focus more on building a team with staff and other councillors.
And time to train a new puppy at home, which he adopted from Saskatoon Dog Rescue after years of asking from his children.