The Shallow End

In a recent blog post I mentioned it had been 5.5 years since I'd left Ontario and moved back to Alberta.  Much has changed in my life in that time, but I suppose I could say that for everyone and everywhere.

One of the uglier trends I've noticed in this city in the last few years is the rising level of impatience & the lack of manners.  For many years, Calgary was a place where car drivers would stop to let pedestrians cross the road.  It was a place where people were generally polite & friendly to each other in traffic, on the street & in social settings.  One would get on an elevator and normal behaviour would be to say hello to the other person.  The same could be said if you were out walking your dog.

Now that behaviour isn't completely gone, but it seems it's become more uncommon since the economic meltdown in late 2008.  A walk downtown in the morning and it's likely you will nearly get hit by a car.  If you don't experience that, you will experience the regular sound of car horns as impatient people release their frustration on their horn.  The nature of my work makes me a very mobile person but, like many, I do end up walking downtown in Calgary at times.

What I do notice is how much it feels like Toronto now.  People move quickly.  A ride on transit, especially the C Train, and the aggressive nature of people comes out...especially when trying to get a seat.  If you happen to be one of those people that walk slowly and you don't move to the side of the sidewalk, you'll experience the "huff" of people frustrated that you aren't going fast enough.   I spent several years working in the core of downtown Toronto & I find the vibe very much the same.  Noted is that this level of impatience didn't seem to exist prior to the recession.  One might try to blame it on a poor job market, but Calgary's job market is quite robust right now. 

Are we the "New Toronto".  Saying so would boil the blood of long time Albertans, but the fact is..in some ways, yes we have adopted traits of corporate Toronto.  Why have we become this way?  I'll explore my theories in a blog in the future. 

P.S.

I'll ask for forgiveness on my writing & punctuation skills.  It's been a while since I actually sat down & wrote anything. 

Calgary 'hoods: Beltline

                                **photo taken from the Wikipedia article on Beltline, Calgary**


The minor recession of 2009 aside, Calgary is a city that continues to grow. Many of it's neighborhoods have been gentrified in the past 10 years (and often not for the better). 

The Beltline is the largest of the downtown neighborhoods in Calgary.  It runs east to west from about Macleod Trail to 14th St SW & the downtown rail way tracks to 17th Ave SW.  The area has a mixed bag of residents.  There are those living in upscale condo's or heritage homes, and, at the other end of the spectrum, those living in run down apartments or houses.  In some situations, these residents could very well be next door neighbors (as odd as that sounds).  It is one of the last remaining areas of urban Calgary that has not been gentrified & overrun by yoga shops & martini bars. 

It's arguable, but the west side of the Beltline would probably be considered the "nicer" side.  A walk down the street and you'll generally find well kept buildings, larger trees & a relatively quiet area (at least relative in the sense it's 1 km from downtown).  The east side is a bit rougher around the edges.  Street prostitution is common on 12th-15th Ave SW once you get east of 4th Street.  There are noticeably more homeless & those who are destitute.  The Mustard Seed, a non profit organization dedicated to providing "basic human services" is in the East Beltline as are other places designed to help the poor & addicted. 

What type of business is found here?  Well everything from swank, upscale restaurants & martini bars to dingy, hole in the wall pizza places & liquor stores. 

Beltline is one of the last urban areas of Calgary that has not been gentrified.  Mission, Kensington, Marda Loop..have all been overrun by upscale martini bars & yoga studios.  The Beltline has not.  It's a place that still has some "grit" to the streets & it is a neighborhood with soul.  Sadly, in a city awash in oil wealth & with a penchant to be "upscale" I suspect it's days are numbered.  Each year you see more upscale condo's and less plain old 3 story walk ups.  Many of those that exist are no longer rentals but have been converted to condo's. 

In Calgary there is often talk of how we do not hold on to the past....how we level everything that is old and replace it with something new.  What we never talk about is how our urban streets continue to be gentrified & turned into the equivalent of Queen Street in Toronto.   Once vibrant & cool, these neighborhoods are now overrun by hipsters & wanna be artsy types who are likely to be seen sipping an over-priced latte while doing whatever on their Macbook.   As much as they don't want to believe it, it has very little to do with being creative & individualistic & more about assimilating and fitting in.  

You cannot design or build a cool neighborhood.  It's a collection of people and business who have a vested interest in the area that goes beyond profit.  Anyways, I'll shut up now. 

A bridge...err tunnel to nowhere

If you've lived in Calgary for any length of time, you've probably seen public infrastructure that makes you shake your head.   Take the Deerfoot Trail, Calgary's major highway.  Drive the Deerfoot & you can't help but notice how it goes from 3 lanes down to 2 lanes then back to 3 lanes for no reason.   Or how about the C - Train?  The C Train, while crowded, is a efficient light rail transit until it reaches downtown Calgary.  Once in downtown, it runs along a road which has pedestrians & intersections where it comes in close proximity with vehicles.  The result?  There are frequent delays on the system due to switch failures, accidents, people getting hit, etc, etc, etc.  My own personal estimation is that a delay happens at LEAST several times a week (if @calgarytransit is correct). 

You are probably asking who was the genius that designed things this way?  The answer is former governments who did things on the cheap.  Those planning the Deerfoot, C Train, stop lights, etc, etc never expected Calgary to become what it is.

After Mayor Nenshi came into power, one of the first things he approved was an airport tunnel.  The tunnel was to replace a road which had existed for decades, but had to be removed to make way for a large runway.  The cost of the airport tunnel IS very high at around $300 million dollars.

The reaction to the decision was immediate & loud. And predictable.  The pocketbook citizens of Calgary IMMEDIATELY freaked out.  It was a huge waste of money. Yet, many of these same people who commented on the tunnel would then comment on the stupid planning of the Deerfoot or the C Train downtown.

The airport tunnel is NOT about right now.  The airport tunnel is about 20 years from now.  It's a decision that recognizes that Calgary will, in all likelihood, continue to grow. YYC, the airport, will continue to attract more air traffic.  That alone will necessitate TWO ways to get in and out of the airport.  The airport tunnel was a decision that was made for the future, not for today.  If you ask me, that's a first in this city.

For those of you that dislike the decision, I remind you of this.  The same pocketbook citizens wanted the Deerfoot built on the cheap.  And they didn't want to spend the $$ to bury the C Train downtown (or elevate it).  Those decisions were made at the time for "now", not for the future.  The result is clear.  They were bad decisions & the fix for both of them is going to be incredibly expensive (as in billions).  

It's about time Calgary starts planning for the future. 

The Purple Revolution Part 2

For many folks, the image of Calgary is that of cowboys, Calgary Stampede & right wing redneck conservative voters.  At one time, I think that was a fair representation of Calgary, but I don't feel it is in 2012.  Yet, the stereotype of "Cowtown" continues & I often read disparaging remarks in news columns & forums on the net.  The election of Nenshi changed that opinion. 

The morning after the election, newspapers across Canada gave unusual column time to the successful win by Mr Nenshi.   You see, Nenshi is from Toronto.  He's also the son of two immigrants.  Mr Nenshi is also brown AND he is also Muslim.   There is some speculation that he is gay. 

I was admittedly nearly salivating while reading the news in the Toronto Star and other like minded newspapers that often portray Calgary as redneck.  How could this be?  Redneck Calgary had voted in a young, brown, Muslim mayor.  Such an happening was the equivalent of Texas electing a vegan lesbian for governor.  The rest of the country seemed stunned.  How could such a thing happen?  For those of us living here we already knew the answer.  Calgary is NOT redneck.  It's a young, growing & somewhat cosmopolitan city trying to shed it's hick stereotype from the past.  

To add more icing to the cake, Toronto elected Rob Ford as mayor.  While this comment might upset his supporters, Mr Ford is the epitome of the negative stereotype of a redneck. His platform "Stop the Gravy" was as typical as they come from politicians.  A simplistic motto for a complex city that has many problems.  Nenshi was well mannered & articulate.  Rob Ford is loud & bellicose.  They are polar opposites in all respects except one: both are fiscally conservative.   Months later when Nenshi visited Toronto, I found is amusing to see how the local media scrambled to meet him.  Here was the CBC and The Star squealing in glee to interview Nenshi, ignoring that Nenshi IS a fiscal conservative.   If anything is shows you that Canadians are open to fiscal conservatism, it just needs to be done by a person with manners & class.   Are you listening Mr Harper? 

I'm not sure how Nenshi will fare as mayor but I know one thing.  He has changed the perception of Calgary to those who don't live here.  I remember reading comments in newspaper forums where people commented they would now consider moving to Calgary because of the mayor.   A stereotype takes a long time to break, but this was/is a great start.  

The Purple Revolution Part 1

Prior to the 2010 civic election, I recall sitting in a Denny's style restaurant with a friend I'd known since high school.  We were discussing politics & the coming election in Calgary.  Long time mayor Dave Bronconnier had stepped down & the current favourites to win the mayor's seat were Ric McIver, a long time alderman & Barb Higgens, a media personality from CTV Calgary.  

The person I was sitting with commented how she hoped that she had met Nenshi & hope he would win.  I commented that his support was in the single digits & he was unlikely to even register with the voters. 

As the election neared the unlikely happened; Nenshi started getting support.  At the time I was living in the north area of Mission on 17th Ave.  The day of the election, I set out to walk downtown & the corners had "Vote Nenshi" scribbled in chalk on the sidewalk. The same was written on the walls of buildings, at bus stops & on every other public place one could write in chalk & do it without fear of getting fined.

After work I headed over vote.  My polling station was on 18th Ave just up the street from where I lived.  I arrived to find a line that came out the door and headed down the street.  The typical municipal election gathers little interest to voters but today it was clearly the opposite.  I set out to wait in line, finally getting inside after about 45 minutes to vote.  I knew something was up. 

Nenshi won, beating out second place Ric McIver by over 28,000 votes.  Calgary entered a new era in politics and a new era in Canada.  

5.5 years

I was watching TV the other night and stunned to see a photo I recognized on TV.  It was one I'd posted on this blog about Sobey's Urban Fresh in Edmonton.  I realize I've neglected this blog for several years now.  Life gets busy and it gets hard to find time to write.

I sat and read the blog and realized it had been over 5 years since I returned to Calgary.  What I had no mentioned prior is that I'd lived here several other times, including growing up in public school, later leaving in high school during an oil bust. 

Much has changed since I moved back to Calgary and most of it for the good.  Reading my former posts I am reminded how much my opinions change over time & how much has happened in life.  Here I thought I had a dull life as I sat around studying, exercising & working. 

I'll start by updating significant changes to Calgary first.