[thommyjo]

Well a number of polls consistently said around 70% of people were not happy with the past council. I suspect many of of those people did not turn out to vote and more of the other 30% did. It was probably because many didn't feel some of the change candidates were so great either.

I agree, the previous mayor also did become the lighting rod for much of the discontent, his not running again changed the dynamic. I feel that decision caught some other candidates by surprise as they were expecting him to run again.

People can also say “I’m not happy” and then look at the candidates running and not like the options for new ones. I suspect that happens too.

Also, when given a chance to complain, people will complain a lot more than they’ll praise. The city can hit some stuff out of the park that someone cares about, but there’s always another thing they can point to and complain about.

You’d be hard pressed to find large cities in North America with more than 50% of people liking the current direction I’d imagine.