Now-closed methadone clinic in Braeside (CTV.ca)
We don’t just live in our community — we live in the whole city. Every time we take the bus, go shopping, see a movie, take the kids to their hockey game, we step out of our protected zone and wade into the dark morass of the infected, the perverse, the poor, the addicted. Them.
The Tsuu T’ina Nation have voted to reject an offer from the province to build the southwestern portion of the city’s ring road through their territory. These negotiations have been ongoing for nearly half a century, but after seemingly reaching an understanding, the members of the nation shut it down with a majority vote.
Now the city is scrambling to come up with viable alternatives that still strive to maintain automobile connectivity; many of these plans will revist the controversial idea of bridging or tunnelling under the Weaselhead Flats on the Elbow River. (Read more about possible “Plan B’s” via The Calgary Herald)
But some aren’t sure that it’s even necessary to build more roads. The following link will take you do a documentary hosted by CNN’s Miles O’Brien while he examines the way various mobility options have dictated the form of Denver, Portland, and New York. It’s an excellent film, and one that presents compelling evidence for smart growth from several different viewpoints.
Click here to watch PBS’ “Blueprint America: Road to the Future”.
The past week has been fairly eventful with regards to city council taking action (or at least postponing it only slightly) and the voices of citizens lobbying them to go further. First, a motion opposing the closure of two of Memorial Drive’s four lanes on Sundays in August was defeated. This expansion of the pedestrian realm onto our city’s riverfront parkway should provide an interesting experiment that will hopefully spur further pedestrian-friendly zones.
Also, the date for Plan It Calgary to go before council was pushed back a week to June 23. This gives all citizens of Calgary additional time to prepare to speak before council, and we encourage everybody to send in their written comments to the City Clerk’s office by 10 am on June 11 and to prepare a few words for the public hearing on the 23rd. The City Clerks office can be reached at Mail Code #8007, P.O. Box 2100, Station M, Calgary, AB T2P 2M5. We’ll keep you updated about Plan It!
One of the most driving forces in support of Plan It and a new direction for the city in general is the newly formed Civic Camp. What is it, and what is the organization’s stance on Plan It?
“Plan It Calgary,” Calgary’s new municipal development and transportation plan, has finally arrived. As most of you involved in imagineCalgary already know, PlanIt is the direct outcome of the imagineCalgary process and reflects a great many of the wishes Calgarians have expressed for our city. Foremost, PlanIt seeks to guide the growth of the city in a way that is sustainable. As infrastructure, maintenance and service costs rise, peak oil approaches, the population ages, and housing affordability becomes an ever-bigger issue, it is clear that we need to chart a new and better course for Calgary. The new municipal planning documents that will shape how the city grows for the next 50 years will go to Council for approval in late June, but that approval is not assured. Getting City Council to listen to the voices of its citizens is now more important than ever. Please consider taking part in the public discussions around PlanIt. If you would like to join a group of concerned citizens concerned with PlanIt and other civic issues, consider joining CivicCamp Calgary, a non-partisan citizens’ organization asking Council to support a more fiscally, environmentally, socially responsible city when it votes on Plan It this June.
If you still have questions or would like to get involved, check out the Civic Camp website, join the mailing list at Google Groups, or follow them on Twitter. The time for action is NOW.
May 5 and 6 will bring the second Gaining Ground Summit in Calgary. Those of us who have volunteered have received our work schedules, and it looks like there will be some highly interesting speakers and material for all attendees.
We’ll be sure to post a full recap of the conference as soon as we can!
The “Civic Camp” held on Saturday was an opportunity for citizens with a vested interest in a sustainable future for the city. It was a great experience overall and it looks like it could really get something started. Plus I had an excuse to use Twitter.
Check out the news coverage on CTV, and follow this link for more information on Civic Camp.
Hope everybody’s doing good on finals and projects.
A big thanks to all of you who came out on April 2 to see what Plan It has to offer Calgary! This was hands-down the biggest event put together by the UrbanCSA and the culmination of a whole bunch of hard work. It was great to see so many people showing up to see what the future of the city might hold, and also how much free pizza can be handed out at a single event. Check out some of the photos below!
Also, word on the street is that our hoodies have arrived, so be on the lookout next week. Enjoy your Easter weekend, and be sure to check your inbox to see the status of the UrbanCSA’s first year-end party.
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Looks like students from other institutions besides the University of Calgary have decided to get involved in raising awareness for this city’s potential new development plan. The UrbanCSA will be joining Plan It down at Mount Royal College at their presentation the day after the one at the U of C.
The event will be Friday, April 3 from 12:30-2:00 pm in the food court of Wyckham House, located at the west gate entrance of Mount Royal College.
We look forward to seeing you there!
What: The UrbanCSA is proud to present Plan It Calgary at the University of Calgary. There will be displays outlining not only the purposes of the document, but the reasons for its implementation, the role of the students, and a way to provide feedback to the city on just how we want it to look in the future.
Who: On hand to give presentations will be Pat Gordon, project manager of Plan It, and Dr. Byron Miller, the head of the Urban Studies program on campus. Members of the UrbanCSA will be there as well to give further information on the document and to answer any questions you might have.
Where: The event will be held in the South Courtyard of MacEwan Hall (between the Campus Security Office and the SU office).
When: This Thursday, April 2 from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm.
This event is not just for students, but rather is an opportunity for all Calgarians to get educated about the potential this city has and to get involved in directing its future. Feel free to come by at any time, and a few other displays will be set up around campus to get more people interested. We hope to see you there!
Here’s a small preview of one of the displays we’ve created:
For further details, or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to e-mail us.
Tomorrow night is the 3rd annual Earth Hour, where those of us who advocate lower energy use can put our money where our mouths are and turn the lights out for one hour starting at 8:30 pm.
Buy some candles, read a book, go for a walk, spend some quality face time with someone… there are so many ways to spend a mere one hour that don’t involve the use of electricity.
Vote to save the planet with your light switch!
For more information, check out EarthHour.org
The Canadian Home Builder’s Association of Calgary and the UDI have used their collective heaps of money to un-ironically plan the arrival of Randal O’Toole in town today. Mr. O’Toole is a long-time anti-planner who touts the supremacy of the free market (an inherently unstable system that, according to pure capitalists, has the ability to not only meet our needs for today but provide unlimited growth and prosperity for the future without any regulation or coordination whatsoever) and a key part of the CHBA & UDI’s war against Plan It.
Since he’s in town, the Herald’s opinion section has come up with a new piece to offend the common sense in us all. Before I detract it too much, I should note that they do make one good point in that the city’s approval process for the medium to high-density developments proposed in Plan It need to be seriously overhauled to give priority to the new forms of building.
That doesn’t make up for the completely contradictory argument you’ll see in the following article; notably that they complain that the future is ethereal and unknowable, yet definite policies and concise direction are needed. I guess it doesn’t matter where we go as long as we do so with boldness and decisiveness.
Forgive me for not having faith that those with vested interests in greenfield, low-density, suburban development will somehow magically create a city I want to live in.
-Derek
Our nation’s capital is currently considering raising their standards for infill development – the very idea being proposed by Plan It. Ottawa has a metropolitan density roughly on par with Calgary’s and yet their current plans call for only 36% of new development inside the city boundaries. New proposals exist to push that percentage up to 40%, and there are those hoping it will even be higher (up to 44% within twenty years). In contrast, Calgary’s proposed 20% infill growth is raising significant opposition from some developers.
Ottawa’s planners are proposing a gradual increase in the amount of urban redevelopment in the city because they say a wholesale move from single-family homes in the suburbs is not realistic.
Continue reading “Planners propose gradual increase in urban redevelopment” at OttawaCitizen.com.
If you hadn’t noticed, that banner up at the top of our site contains a few buildings that haven’t actually been built yet. It’s an image created by Devin Henry, who works as a graphic artist for Buss Marketing. They have a pretty cool flash presentation showing the locations and heights of buildings that will be added to the skyline by 2012. Check it out at BussMarketing.ca.
Devin has done a bunch of work in his free time to visualize what the skyline could potentially look like in 2030. Some of the buildings added to the pictures have been put on hold due to the recent financial “incident”, but it’s pretty interesting getting to see images of our city’s future. The images can be found at SkyscraperPage.com, a busy message board with plenty of information on current local construction projects, and pictures of the work sites every few days.
Also, links in the right column to BikeCalgary and CentreCity Talk have been added. CentreCity has a really interesting story about urban agriculture from the Toronto Star; I’ll add it to the links section in the next update.
On March 3, Tom Howard and I made the courageous journey all the way from the East Village, across the vast plains, and out to Fort Calgary to party with some planners. The event, put on by the Alberta Association of the Canadian Institute of Planners and the City of Calgary, was orchestrated for planners to show what had been learned through the new processes of public consultation used to create the Brentwood TOD. While there are those in the community that would argue the City did not go far enough to listen to all possible perspectives, what was apparent to my fresh eyes was that not only did the City take a serious approach to public consultation, but they are actively seeking to make the process more efficient and effective for all stakeholders.
Continue reading “Refining the Public Consultation Process at Fort Calgary”
In a groundbreaking study of urban sprawl in Calgary, Max Foran, professor of Canadian Studies in the Faculty of Communication and Culture, analyzes the relationship between land developers and the local government between 1945 and 1978, implicating both in a pattern of policy and decision-making that has resulted in the urban sprawl Calgary experiences today.
“By abrogating the responsibility for where, when, and how utilities and roads were installed in new subdivisions, the City of Calgary in effect lost the real power to direct residential growth.” – Prof. Max Foran
After much deliberation, we’ve finalized the design of our Urban CSA hoodie! This badass bunny hug will keep you warm and sexy, urban studies style. If you want to order one, submit your information to: Hoodies Order Form. We’ll need your name, e-mail address, phone number, and size (S/M/L/XL).
Check these bad boys out!
It looks like what I’ve hearing about the Regional Transit Symposium last Friday was accurate, and the province is indeed dropping the ball on giving a regional transit service any priority. The plan was to begin forming a transit network between Calgary and 7 of the outlying towns in order to allow people to commute without driving their cars, but apparently the province decided that sounds like a bad idea.
Leaders in the region are fine-tuning their vision for a seven-town transit system, even though the province is warning it will deliver only a tiny sliver of its promised $2-billion fund.
Cochrane Mayor Truper McBride said express commuter buses could roll from communities such as Airdrie and Okotoks into Calgary as early as next year, if the province provides enough upfront cash. Train links could follow in 10 to 15 years, he said.
Continue reading “Budget cuts hit Calgary regional transit” at the Calgary Herald.
Remember that big tour we were going to go on back in December? Remember how we cancelled it because it was -30 out? Well this time it’s back, and better than ever.
The poster for the event, along with some fantastic pictures of your exec, can be downloaded here. We’re also going to the Unicorn later that night, so even if you can’t make the tour, I’m sure you can make time for a few pints with the rest of the club.
The City of Calgary will be giving a presentation at Fort Calgary on Tuesday, March 3 to explain the complexities of and lessons learnt from the public participation helping to shape the Brentwood TOD plan.
If you’re interested, you need to give us your name and ticket payment NO LATER than Wednesday, February 25. Cash only! Full details below…
Continue reading ‘AACIP & City of Calgary Brentwood TOD Event’
From Calgary Heritage Initiative
From the Calgary Heritage Initiative Society:
Heritage Roundtable – Feb. 19
Are you looking for ways to increase appreciation for community character, tell the unique story of a heritage place or foster neighbourhood pride?
The next instalment of the popular Community Heritage Roundtable is on February 19 2009.
Professionals from Interpretation Canada will be talking about how you can effectively tell the story of your community through tours and other kinds of interpretive programs. This workshop will introduce you to the world of heritage interpretation, offering practical tips and techniques for connecting people to your place. It will inspire, challenge and engage you with plenty of ideas and materials to take back to your group.
Continue reading ‘Heritage Roundtable and Public Art Forums’
Gary Holden, CEO of ENMAX, will be speaking at the U of C on Wednesday, February 11. He will be talking about “building a sustainable future”, in which he is well-placed to have a controlling stake s the head of one of the most progressive and innovative utilities in Canada.
Date: Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009 @ 2:00 PM
Location: PF 3160, the Faculty of Environmental Design
