Nearly two years ago, Calgarians elected a new mayor and city council with a mandate for real change. As I did last year, I thought it would be helpful to provide a progress report on what’s been done and what work remains for the final year of our term.

In 2011, your council unanimously passed our fiscal plan for Calgary after consulting with more than 20,000 citizens. The plan begins with these words:

“Calgarians have always been innovative, confident, entrepreneurial, and willing to make things better. They expect no less from their city council. We need to continue to transform government, becoming better at delivering the services Calgarians need. We do that by valuing City of Calgary employees as colleagues, and by empowering them to do their jobs better. We will strive to be more efficient and more effective, while focusing on transparency and engagement with all Calgarians.”

So, how are we doing? Some changes were quick: finally getting a direct bus to the airport, starting a pilot project on cutting red tape by approving food trucks, halving the sprawl subsidy that encouraged unsustainable growth, and improving snow removal.

Some of the more systemic changes will take longer to implement, but we have laid a strong groundwork to make Calgary an even better place to live in the future, while maintaining our property tax rates among the lowest in Canada.

Significant progress has been made on each of the five main elements of the plan.

First: ensuring every Calgarian lives in a safe community and has the opportunity to succeed. Crime rates are the lowest in a generation, and Calgarians report that they feel that our city is safe. To ensure that all citizens have the opportunity to participate fully in their communities, we also launched the Calgary Poverty Reduction Initiative. I’m excited about the big ideas coming forth on how we can use existing community resources to help those most in need.

Second: investing in great communities and a vibrant urban fabric. I’m proud of the first investments from the new Community Investment Fund. We’ve been able to support parks, libraries, recreation and fire halls and equipment using these newly available funds. Soon, we will also see a new Central Library and four new recreation centres in parts of the city that are sorely lacking.

Third: moving people and goods throughout the city efficiently and sustainably. We have embarked on a major strategic, operational and customer service plan for Calgary Transit known as RouteAhead, and have dedicated major funds — pending provincial government release of the money — to reduce congestion on the existing LRT system and improve transit service to southeast Calgary. Major road projects like the airport tunnel remain on time and on budget, and the enhanced level of snow clearing has received rave reviews.

We are also making a modest, but important, investment in commuter cycling infrastructure. Improving safety and convenience for cyclists reduces congestion on our roads and on transit. Not only does it give people who would otherwise be in a car or on a train another transportation option, it also improves efficiency for everyone by separating bike, vehicle and pedestrian traffic.