Nenshi envy

Calgary's mayor pulls city through a tough time.

by Gillian Steward

The disastrous Calgary flood could easily have ruined Mayor Naheed Nenshi’s political career. After all, he is a rookie who had never held political office until he was elected mayor of Calgary in 2010. And it’s not as though before that he had any experience navigating a city of over a million people through a flash flood. Who does?

But Nenshi not only held his ground during the disaster, he handled it so well — with such calm determination, competence and compassion — that he is more popular than ever.

“Nenshi was omnipresent and inspirational. He seemed to understand that his role was to stay out of micromanagement and support co-operative efforts of all departments,” says Phil Elder, a keen observer of urban politics and a professor emeritus of environmental and planning law at the University of Calgary.

Some have compared Nenshi to New York’s mayor Rudy Giuliani during the 9/11 attacks. Others have said Nenshi was more like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie during Hurricane Sandy.

There’s no question that for Calgarians Nenshi will symbolize the can-do spirit of this city for a long time to come. He’s proven himself in times of trouble. Perhaps one day the response of other political leaders who pull people together during tough times will be called Nenshi-like.

But of course he couldn’t have done it alone. And that was obvious, too. The organizational and communication strategies that emerged from municipal authorities as the angry waters of two rivers rose higher and higher were so effective they ensured that approximately 100,000 people were evacuated to higher ground in a matter of hours.

The fact that only one elderly woman drowned during the flood is astounding given that some of the hardest hit areas were neighbourhoods full of seniors, retirement homes and long-term care facilities.

“The city’s response was open and highly responsive to the situation,” says Elder, who lives only a few blocks from the Bow River. “We were well-informed and the mayor and the director of emergency management were calm — the whole effort seemed well organized.”

And this urban flood surely has to be a milestone when it comes to effective use of the Internet and social media.

The City of Calgary’s website became the place to go for up-to-the-minute information. Everything from the water levels of the rivers to road and bridge closures to the status of various neighbourhoods was posted there, available at the click of a mouse or a finger touch on an iPhone. As soon as people could go back into their flooded homes to clean them out, the city posted information about dumpsters and landfill sites.

All of this was co-ordinated from the city’s new emergency ops centre as city hall itself was swamped with muddy water and out of commission.

I was actually in California during the flood but all my family ended up camping out at my house while their houses and condos were out of bounds. They checked in with the city’s website several times a day so they knew what was going on and what to expect next.

I live near the Elbow River but up on a hill so our house was left high and dry. But houses just down the hill are ruined… caked in mud. Some will likely be condemned and bulldozed. My mother’s condo building won’t be livable for six weeks because all the mechanical and electrical fixtures are on the flooded lower level.

Many Calgarians are still dealing with mud and waterlogged houses and business and will be for months to come. The downtown core won’t likely be fully operational until later this week. Public transit is still hobbled.

But we have all learned something important. What goes on at city hall really matters even when we aren’t paying attention.

And during an urban disaster strong mayors can be lifesavers. That certainly was the case in Calgary.

© Copyright 2013 Gillian Steward, All rights Reserved. Written For: StraightGoods.ca