Get on the merry-go-round.

Calgary city hall made what they now believe is a mess and they are trying to clean it up.

We’re back at Calgary city hall, sometimes called the Big Blue Playpen because fun and games abound.

It is where the deep thinkers down here, and the majority of politicians on the last city council led by former mayor Jyoti Gondek, had a master plan for more housing and cheaper housing.

They had the solution to Calgary’s housing woes. They told us what they called blanket rezoning was the latest thing among the self-styled smart set. It would work like a Swiss watch.

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Come on, former prime minister Justin Trudeau loved the idea so it must have been right. Insert sarcasm here.

Two years back Calgarians came down to city hall in numbers never before seen and said their piece, day after day after day after day.

They didn’t want rowhouses and townhouses fast-tracked in their neighbourhood of single-family homes without going through a hearing at city council.

These Calgarians rebelled, a very rare sight in a city where Calgarians usually suck up whatever nonsense city hall’s Big Blue Playpen serves up.

I mean fewer than four in 10 Calgary voters actually voted in last fall’s city election.

So, two years back, the Gondek-led council majority pushed through their plan. Taxpayers are city hall’s ATM. ATMs don’t talk back. They cough up the cash.

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Then the crud hit the fan.

Let us quote Andre Chabot, the veteran member of city council. This is far from his first rodeo.

“They didn’t think it was going to have that much of a negative backlash,” says Chabot, of the last city council.

“It never stopped. It just kept building. It upset people more and more as time went on, when they saw blanket rezoning hitting the ground.”

Chabot says the last council wanted to be popular, but not with Calgarians.

The councillor says the Calgarians opposing blanket rezoning wanted to live in their community as it is and, with blanket rezoning, they saw the potential of big changes to their “peace and tranquility” and they did not like it.

Why are they steamed?

“Quality of life. That’s what they’re fighting for. Quality of life.”

Chabot figures the city hall politicians wanted to be popular across the country and show “the planning gods” at city halls throughout Canada how Calgary was leading the way in higher-density housing.

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Calgary was on the cutting edge of something remarkable.

But, Chabot adds, when the politicians went out knocking on doors scrounging for votes in the recent election they got an earful. World-class outrage.

Many of the politicians who promised to punt blanket rezoning got elected to city council.

So it’s back to the drawing board.

This time it’s like watching a hockey game where you know the winner before the opening puck drops.

Blanket rezoning will be deep-sixed and life will largely go back to the way it was.

What will then follow down the line is anybody’s guess.

When your scribbler asks where the people moving to Calgary are going to live as the city continues to grow, and does not look anything like the Calgary of not so many years ago, it is clear that important question is for another day.

Right now, most on council just want the blanket rezoning to just go away.

Of course, almost never does anything go smoothly at city hall.

Why should this day be anything different?

Rookie south Calgary councillor Rob Ward says a simple question turned into a convoluted answer by city hall planners.

He says city hall misled people when asking about what Calgarians thought of blanket rezoning.

Ward says residents were trying to say whether they support or oppose blanket rezoning but the city hall form asked about supporting or opposing getting rid of blanket rezoning.

The councillor went through all the answers to see what people were trying to say, since some folks contradicted themselves in the confusion.

He found almost four out of five supported punting the rezoning.

Then there is Mayor Jeromy Farkas.

He says what is going on at city hall is “democracy at its best.”

The mayor says he wants to work more closely with communities when it comes to development but adds the city has to keep building.

Farkas tells newshounds blanket rezoning was sold as the way to make housing more affordable and build more homes.

The mayor says it didn’t happen as advertised.

But His Worship adds a cryptic comment everyone should ponder. After all, Farkas ran for mayor talking about preparing for Calgary with 2 million people.

“At the end of the day I can’t prevent change from happening.”

© Calgary Herald