What people are saying in Calgary's Inner City
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What people are saying in Calgary's Inner City
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So on the bad news side we have of City Hall's call for a tax hikes of 3.5 to 4.5% plus a multitude of funding options as the city tries to offset our infrastructure needs. We have increases in user fees, fines, and other hidden taxes. We have reports on downtown Parking rate increases making Calgary one of the most costly places to park in North America. Why is that? What impact is this having on our downtown businesses? Do we have enough parking? How can the downtown compete with suburban malls with their acres of free parking? Yet parking needs are dramatically increasing in the Beltline as several mega developments add thousands of people to the population base. Did you know that the City of Calgary collects millions of
dollars annually so that builders do not have to install required parking
spaces? It is called the cash in lieu program. If a development is
required to have 20 stalls it can pay the city in order to only put in 10. The
City in turn is then suppose to use that money to build public parking in the
area. Why is that not working? Traffic seems to be a consistent Calgary concern and is always in the top five complaint to city hall and police. In our haste to rush into construction projects are we missing the boat on long term planning and safety? Are the current fatality and injury rates acceptable? Are they really simply the cost of having a mobile city? I think we can be doing much much more to protect Calgarians from these needless deaths and injuries.
On the good news side it is summer time and Calgary is awash with events. We had the Lilac Festival on 4th Street. We had one of Calgary's most successful Stampedes in July. The Marda Gras Festival had perfect weather and almost a record attendance. We also have Flames Hockey to look forward to this year which will likely have the best selling of its 25 year history. I expect every home game will be completely sold out and hopefully we can recreate the excitement and victory of the last season played. For many drinking establishments along 17th Avenue there will be a heartfelt wish to also re-create the Red Mile which is still a sore spot for many others who live and work along the now famous avenue. Now if we could only get our football team to win the cup....
Editor Steve Chapman
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Send mail to
steve@ward8.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
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Unfortunately the news media tends to report mostly on what
is wrong in our city. We hear about the violence, problems, and mistakes. And
we can't ignore those issues. But we also have to celebrate the good, the
positive, and the successes. 
We have a call for
more police despite having one of the most
expensive police departments in Canada. If the money is not being spent on
increasing street patrols then where is it going? The safety of our citizens has
to be of primary importance. And while we need to invest to make this happen, we
need to invest wisely. Policing is already the single most expensive service
provided by the City of Calgary and its largest budget expenditure. We need to
think smart and look for alternatives.
