The honour of introducing our guest speaker went to Chris Davis, a former dweller in city hall, and very familiar with the convoluted manner in which "business" appears to be conducted.

Jim Stevenson is the elected alderman for the far North East ward, was elected in November of 2007. Prior to that, he served his community in many ways before throwing his hat into civic politics.

His is the fastest growing ward in the city and one of the current wards under consideration for division in the future.

By way of starting his talk, Jim referred to the "silly season" having begun at city hall as we are due for elections this November. Jim's frustration was evident as he talked about the "mess" of the airport tunnel situation. He's been involved with the issue since he was president of his Corral Spring community association.

In 2007, three billion dollars was allocated from the province for infrastructure for Calgary. Indeed, money was allocated for several projects earmarked for the NE communities, including what the communities thought included the airport tunnel.

Unbeknownst to anyone, the city administration hadn't let the city council know they had removed the tunnel from the city's plan. OOOPS Now, due to lack of planning, the city is running out of time to rectify the situation.

By April 2011, Barlow and McCall will be closed and all traffic will have to take Deerfoot until a new road is constructed to connect Metis Trail in the vicinity of Rotary Challenger Park.

Stevenson predicts in 10 to 15 years our airport will be an inner city airport due to the rapid growth in the northern sector of Calgary with industrial and residential construction in the plans. Stevenson's plan is to take the issue to city council to get their backing for some more research for the dollars, land, traffic impact and analysis for the 720 meter long tunnel under the proposed new runway.

The dollar figure sits at $287 million currently. Environmental studies indicate future problems without tunnel access, including more diesel fumes from shuttle busses to and from the surrounding hotels as the busses have to take a much longer route. Plus, the hotels predict a future loss of business.

Alderman Stevenson hasn't given up yet on the complicated situation. Clarence Buckley did a neat job of thanking our guest and presented Mr. Stevenson with our world famous Boltman.

reported by Lynne Thornton