Bowman already a far cry from predecessor

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/02/2015 (3963 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brian Bowman was swept to power last fall on a promise to change the culture of the mayor’s office in particular, and city hall in general.

How has the new mayor fared in this lofty goal? On Monday, Bowman convened a virtual town hall meeting — a conference call open to all citizens of Winnipeg — and held a news briefing to commemorate his first 100 days in office.

It certainly looked and felt different. Bowman represents a dramatic change from his predecessor, Sam Katz, in terms of manner, personal style and even tailoring.

Bowman is genuinely social-media savvy. His virtual town-hall conference call was a nice mix of the serious and silly. (Right off the bat, a citizen asked Bowman via Twitter the following question: If he were a professional wrestler, what would be his ring name and what would he use as his entrance music? The mayor chose “Big, Bad, Bodacious Bowman” as his nom de ring, and Unchained by Van Halen as his theme song. It was an awkward but endearing moment.)

At the news conference, Bowman was earnest, direct and succinct while fielding questions. That’s a nice change from the Katz years, during which the mayor used to revel in his ability to confound journalists and deflect questions.

As for sartorial splendour, Katz could never hide his penchant for flamboyant colours and styles — a holdover, no doubt, from his days in entertainment promotion. In contrast, Bowman’s style is sleek and modern. On Monday, that was evident from his trendy woollen tie and his skinny cut Swedish suit.

But what of more substantive change? Is 100 days enough time to reboot a city hall that had become, at the time of his election last fall, a den rife with patronage, corner-cutting and rule-breaking?

It should be noted the 100-days marker is little more than a political gimmick. The term was coined in 1933 by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who tasked the 73rd U.S. Congress to use a special 100-day session to pass several pieces of legislation necessary to combat the ravages of the Great Depression. Since then, it has become a not-altogether-meaningful unit of measurement for the urgency and effectiveness of newly elected politicians.

Bowman issued more than 100 promises during the mayoral campaign, but only 19 he promised to accomplish before 100 days were up. Bowman claimed success in meeting that deadline, although he rightly admitted some of the pledges (a transition meeting with former mayor Sam Katz and attending his swearing-in ceremony) were pretty “mundane.”

He also discussed his performance on a couple of hot-button issues that were not part of his 100-day promises, but have nonetheless become part of his early record. Bowman performed admirably in responding to an empirically challenged story in Maclean’s magazine, declaring Winnipeg the most racist city in Canada. And his calm resolve during the water-contamination scare is already being celebrated.

Apart from specific accomplishments, Bowman has done a good job of signalling it is not “business as usual” at city hall. In that spirit, he and some of the newly elected members of council have definitely shaken things up. It’s too early to say for certain all that shaking was positive or negative. But there has been shaking, of this there is no doubt.

Some of the shaking was due more to a new mayor and councillors and the steep learning curve in civic politics. Like when Coun. Marty Morantz, the chairman of the city’s finance committee, spewed venom at senior police officers to demonstrate his discomfort over escalating police budgets. In time, Morantz will learn he needs the co-operation of police to bring the budgets under control.Bowman, as well, has stumbled at times.

For example, Bowman lashed out at private snow-clearing contractors after receiving complaints about icy ruts. Over time, it will become more evident to the new mayor cold temperatures and snowfalls result in icy ruts that defy better efforts to scrape them away. And that disparaging the folks who drive the plows does not make for better winter road conditions.

Those incidents, however, do not erase the fact there has been some real change. Even if it has come in the form of baby steps.

Bowman led the charge to suspend interim chief administrative officer Deepak Joshi for reasons that remain mostly unknown at this time. However, after admitting he had lost faith in Joshi, Bowman has served notice to the civic service the new mayor has different and loftier expectations. That is a very good thing indeed.

In the end, it seemed evident Bowman is learning the most important things he will accomplish at city hall may not come from a list of campaign pledges. His ability to manage a crisis, make solid contact with life’s curveballs and otherwise deal with myriad unforeseen problems and complications will be far more important than whether he was able to attend his own swearing-in ceremony. And to date, Bowman is showing he is up to the job.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca