CivicCamp

Walking the Talk Ain’t Easy

Cheri M — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 23:11:11 +0000

As a resident of Brentwood with a recent appointment to keep up at Crowfoot, I had the luxury of leaving my wheels at home, walking to the Brentwood station and taking the NW leg of the LRT to get the job done. But as I finished my chore and made for home, I was struck by the fact that the pedestrian route I was following was anything but luxurious. In fact, it was rather bleak.

The first leg of my journey as I headed back towards the Crowfoot LRT station took me down an alley between Safeway and Rona. I found myself mostly surrounded by loading docks and blank concrete walls – no Jane Jacobs eyes on this street - but at least I had a sidewalk to trudge on.

At the end of the alley, I approached the bustle of civilization again, as evidenced by several cars and a restaurant which surely had people in it, even if I couldn’t actually see them.

Next I entered an intersection with several lanes of traffic approaching from all sides. Although you can’t see it in the photo, on my left was a lone teenager with shoulders hunched, looking like he was enjoying the walk almost as much as me. If you squint really hard and put your nose up to the screen, you might be able to make out the intrepid cyclist coming towards us on the opposite sidewalk. These are the only people I encountered on the streets in my 10 minute walk.

Leaving the teenager and the cyclist behind, I now headed down a stretch where I would pass multiple car dealerships, a restaurant, a funeral home and a car wash, giving new meaning to the term “mixed use”.

I rounded a bend in the road and my destination came into view. Another half block and I would be able to scoot up the steps to the station.

Thwarted. The sign that’s obscured in this photo told me the steps I had spotted from a distance are for transit employees only. Another sign in the foreground told me this area was designated for drivers dropping people off. Idling beside it was one of those massive two storey trailers that transport automobiles. By this time I was beginning to wonder if pedestrian access had been considered at all when the station was planned. Doesn’t anyone walk to the LRT?

I trudged on and spotted a pedestrian crosswalk, so clearly it had occurred to someone that the odd person might approach the station on foot. The crosswalk is located right next to the car wash. Of course. What else would you find adjacent to an LRT station but a car wash?

Finally, I breached the ramparts of the station and boarded the train for Brentwood but on the way home I wondered how could it be that we had built an LRT station where the last thing anyone would want to do is walk to and from it. This is not an environment that says “Leave your car at home, the walk will do you good”. This is an environment that says “Are you nuts? Why would you walk when it’s so much easier to drive?”, an environment where only the most determined – or those who have no choice – tough it out on foot.

Rapid growth that is planned around the needs of drivers in cars rather than the needs of people at street level has not served us well in Calgary. It has left us racing to catch up, laying tracks out to suburbs that are already fully built and have been functioning for years around the automobile. Suburbs that have, in fact, been fully dependent on those automobiles since the day they were built. As we head into the election this fall, surely we all need to be thinking harder about the implications of that fact when it comes to building flexible, livable neighbourhoods and a resilient city as a whole. We would do well to challenge all candidates to share their big picture, visionary thinking, not just at the mayoral level but at the aldermanic level as well. And we all need to start looking a lot further down the road when it comes to planning how our city grows.

The Costs of Growth in Calgary

Cheri M — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 21:33:57 +0000

Late Monday evening, Council started into “Financing Municipal Infrastructure”, a report on who should pay for the costs of growth in Calgary and how. But the discussion ended almost as soon as it started, when the report was referred to the Standing Policy Committee on Finance & Corporate Services scheduled to meet later that week. Sensing that what was unfolding deserved attention, on my own time and dime I scrambled to read the reports and clear an afternoon to attend the Finance committee meeting.

First, some background as I understand it. Every few years, the City and development industry must negotiate agreements governing the funding of infrastructure and services for new areas. The current agreement lapses at the end of this calendar year and so, following a City/Industry forum last year, a working group was created to address three specific issues: closing the capital cost gap, addressing timing and risk, and finding long term solutions. The most urgent of these is closing the capital cost gap.

Currently, water and sewer infrastructure for new suburbs is paid for entirely by the City with the costs borne by all of us via our utility bills. So, Calgary’s exponential expansion of its footprint is echoed in the expansion of the City’s debt and we – you, me and everyone who lives here – are struggling to pay for it all. According to the City, either we find a new way to pay for this infrastructure or cap all new growth at the edges immediately.

Cap new growth: words that no one who makes money developing land in Calgary wants to hear. And let’s be clear, the industry makes money. And let’s also be clear, there’s nothing wrong with making money on developing land in Calgary per se, but the debt load being shouldered by citizens as a result of the current business model is not financially sustainable.

Let’s also be clear that this is not an issue of pitting established inner city neighbourhoods against newer suburban neighbourhoods as some have tried to paint it. This is an issue for every citizen of Calgary. We can no longer afford to artificially support the development industry’s business model, even though the jobs/taxes generated by the industry are an important part of our economy. We can no longer subsidize the price of new housing stock when so many existing communities lack key infrastructure such as recreation centres, libraries and adequate transit. We can no longer allow debt to expand exponentially with Calgary’s footprint, leaving ourselves unequipped to deal with upkeep of aging infrastructure and necessary services like snow-clearing. And though it may have pained committee members to extend a long meeting even longer, several citizens – also on their own time and dime – waited hours for their five minutes of airtime to make these points and more.

To their credit, the reps of the suburban development industry who presented at the meeting acknowledged that changes are needed. Although they initially balked at the report, upon being painstakingly walked through it by one alderman, they had to admit that they agree with most of it. They conceded that their industry must share more of the costs and risks of developing new suburbs, that the development levies that pay for water and sewer must, indeed, go up. They also conceded that the levies need to double to cover costs which, by the way, will bring us in line with our neighbour to the north, Edmonton. And that even though these levies will be significant, increasing densities in new communities under the Plan It Calgary model, passed by a unanimous Council last year, will lower “per door” costs.

Still, the industry said that the report should be delayed until the fall – which effectively means after the October election dust settles – and some aldermen were intent on giving them that time. The report was only forwarded to an upcoming Council meeting by the narrowest of votes. But in the end, the job got done. The report now moves on to the July 19 Council meeting. This will be a meeting to watch. As one alderman said Wednesday, “we have to do something now and we’re limited to the tools we have now.” Who on Council will vote to accept the report and get on with difficult but necessary changes? And who will vote for more time for the industry to establish its negotiating position on the timing and phasing of the levies that all parties say must go up? I know I’ll be watching.

Ignoring Forest Lawn

Filomena — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 04:41:52 +0000

About once a month or so, I head to the best place that I know of in the city to re-stock my pantry of ethnic cooking ingredients—International Avenue in Forest Lawn. I’ve taken their Around the World Tour in 35 Blocks and I know where I need to go to find injera bread and sumac and orange-blossom water and Sao Jorge Cheese. It’s not the community where I grew up but I know it because many Portuguese immigrants moved there when first coming to Calgary and I used to go there to visit my extended family.

So what has changed in the 40+ years since my childhood? Without a doubt, the area is more diverse. What used to be the mall known as Portugal Plaza is now called Little Saigon and with the Latin, Indian, German and African businesses, it is indisputably Calgary’s multicultural heart. I applaud the efforts of the International Avenue BRZ in commissioning artists to paint murals that not only celebrate this diversity but also highlight Forest Lawn’s history. There are half a dozen colourful murals scattered along the avenue including one lovely swirling fish mural on a school yard chain-link fence. To add to the visual landscape changes, there is signage upon entering the avenue, new boulevards and sidewalks and an attractive clock at the west end of 17th Avenue. And trees! I love the addition of trees and feel that the street could use even more. From Alison Karim-McSweeny, the executive director of the International Avenue BRZ, I’ve also learned about other design initiatives in conjunction with the U of C (co-authored by Civic Camper, Gian-Carlo Carra) and what changes are in store with the addition of road-level LRT along 17th Avenue. Many of our Civic Camp 1.0 and 2.0 topics for discussion have already been explored by the BRZ and they’ve developed a process of engagement which connects the various stakeholders: the surrounding community associations, the aldermen, social services, police and the diverse business interests.

But there is also decay and an overabundance of pawn shops and money lending stores which, if I’m honest, make me feel altogether uncomfortable about the potential for crime. The Safeway grocery store, the first major grocer along the strip, looks decrepit and in need of dire attention and other buildings could use maintenance and a little upkeep. And there are too many neglected parcels that need to be re-developed. And, by and large, Calgarians from other areas of the city still do not travel into Forest Lawn with any frequency. With an array of choice restaurants one street can boast, I was dismayed to see, one Saturday evening, how few of them had full houses of patrons. There is also the sinking feeling that Forest Lawn is simply being ignored by many Calgarians and by our City Hall. We’ve looked at East Village re-development and now there’s West Village re-development but not nearly as much investment east of Deerfoot Trail.

At Civic Camp 2.0, I sat with the break-out group that discussed Vibrant Urban Villages and what the composition of that looks like. As we shared which communities we represented, one woman in my group noted how few of us campers come from East Calgary and that generally Calgarians have woefully neglected Forest Lawn. I’m not sure but I’m guessing that she’s probably right about the low number of Civic Campers from Forest Lawn or communities further east. And while a future C-train corridor is an indicator of municipal change to come, I wonder if we’ll ever see a restoration/revitalization plan like those in other areas of the city. Again, this is my “outsider’s view” and I would welcome comments from Forest Lawn residents or even encourage recruiting more Civic Campers that reside in our more diverse communities. Call me idealistic, but I think that collectively we stand to benefit when we care about all of the communities where Calgarians live and work and play.

A Comprehensive Bike Strategy

Cheri M — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:11:27 +0000

One of the liveliest conversations we’ve ever had on our online CivicCamp discussion group was one that unfolded last month. It all started when a CivicCamper shared a two minute video on bicycle rush hour in Utrecht. Replies began popping up immediately and over the course of a couple of weeks, messages were posted on cycling gear, bike models, safety stats, route-finding challenges and the city’s overall approach to making Calgary safe and accessible to cyclists. Turns out the discussion was timely. On Monday, June 7, council will vote on working up a comprehensive biking strategy for our city over the next year, one that:

“identifies actions The City will take in the short, medium and long term in order to make Calgary a bicycle-friendly city for all – a city where cycling is a great option for transportation and recreation purposes.”

But, as with so many of these things, the path to such a vote is convoluted and complicated, hence this blog post to lay out what is unfolding (as far as I understand it), how we can participate as it unfolds and why it’s important that we participate at every opportunity.

This has been a long time coming in Calgary. Many bike groups have worked hard for years, trying to convince council of the need for bike infrastructure changes and long-term bike infrastructure investment. Some members of council have long supported such investment and others have been slow to take up the cause but, finally, a motion passed at council in March of this year to have admin scope out what should happen next. The scoping report was presented to Land Use, Planning and Transportation last month and next week it’s coming to council for a vote.

This is one of those times when those who want change - everyone from daily commuters to occasional and recreational riders – need to speak up and let council know that this comprehensive cycling strategy is long overdue. We need to support the Aldermen who have shown leadership and nudge those who have not yet grasped the importance of making active modes of transportation like biking a much higher priority. Do you envision a network of dedicated cycling lanes, physical barriers between bikes and cars, efficient commuter routes, bike-sharing programs? Speak up! Council needs our feedback. Call your Alderman’s office, send an email to all members of council, drop in at Monday’s council meeting if you can.

But wait, there’s more. Once this motion passes at Council, we have an opportunity to do more than just write emails and passively watch meetings unfold because this motion comes with a recommendation for an external stakeholder committee that will:

“advise administration on the development of the cycling strategy. The committee will consist of representatives from various cycling organizations including, but not limited to, Calgary Pathway and Bikeway Advisory Council (CPAC), Bike Calgary, Calgary tour de nuit Society and Elbow Valley Cycle Club (EVCC). The committee will also have members from the general public that are not affiliated with any cycling organization.” (bold type added)

This means that interested citizens can apply for a spot on the committee to advise admin on cycling infrastructure. Imagine the message it would send to Council if hundreds of citizens applied. So often I hear people say they want to see things change but they don’t know what to do about it. Well, this is what you do for starters: speak up and, if possible, step up. And then demand to be heard and included more often.

Building Better Neighbourhoods

Cheri M — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:10:11 +0000

I found an article on How to Build a Better Neighbourhood via Twitter this morning and it made me think of a simple little iniative that we started (and blogged about here) in my own neighbourhood of Brentwood last year. MONday – Meet Our Neighbours Day - was first imagined by Brentwoodian and CivicCamper Kirsten Horel who longed to see more neighbours outside and talking to each other. So she doodled a little graphic, wrote a short announcement for the community newsletter and invited folks to take a spin around their block.

Just last night, Kirsten showed up at my door with her husband, Doug, and we headed out, bundled up in scarves and mitts. It’s May, for cryin’ out loud, but we’re nothing if not hearty here in Calgary. Some of us are outgoing and thick-skinned, too, which helps. Regular strollers and dog-walkers intent on studying sidewalk cracks and avoiding eye contact may be tempted to give us a wide berth when first spoken to directly but most warm to it when the MONday concept is explained.

Has it been successful? I wish I could tell you that the streets are teeming with neighbours on MONday evenings but they aren’t, at least not yet. But I can tell you that we usually don’t get very far with the walking once the talking starts. Little knots of people form, sometimes right in the middle of the street, then passers-by pause and people even come out of their houses to join the conversation. A couple of MONdays ago, a group of 10 of us spent an hour chatting and laughing on a beautiful sunny evening – seven of them were neighbours I had never met. Last night, same thing – we ran into one neighbour walking with her daughter, spotted another in his driveway, the woman next door with two kids joined in and we spent a half hour, first making introductions, then visiting as if we’d all known each other for years, all within sight of my house.

It doesn’t take much to build a better neighbourhood but first and foremost, we need to at least find, if not create, ways to connect with each other. People are hungry for it. I know this because of what happens every MONday that we venture out in Brentwood and start conversations. If you’re hungry for it, too, why not give it a try on your own block? You just may find yourself building a better neighbourhood as a result.

If you would like to introduce MONdays to your community, Kirsten is willing to share her artwork. Email us at ‘civiccamp at gmail dot com’ and we’ll send you the file.

CivicCamp and the 2010 Calgary Municipal Election

DJ Kelly — Tue, 18 May 2010 16:03:12 +0000

Following CivicCamp’s efforts around the PlanIt debate, many individuals and organizations have been looking to CivicCamp to provide leadership around the 2010 Calgary Municipal Election. The Governance Cabin accepted this responsibility and have committed to undertaking the following projects leading up to the October 18, 2010 election day.

CivicCamp will be an honest broker for the 2010 Calgary Municipal Election. We will be non-partisan and not favour one candidate over another. Instead our goal is to increase citizen engagement by helping eliminate traditional barriers to becoming an informed voter.

What is CivicCamp doing for the 2010 elections?

1. About the Candidates.

CivicCamper Grant Neufeld has created CalgaryDemocracy.ca, an online portal where voters may learn more about all the candidates, find contact details, and submit information that may be missing. CivicCamp will continue to support CalgaryDemocracy.ca by helping keep the site current and by directing all voters to it as their primary source of candidate information.

2. Candidate Surveys.

For the first time ever in Calgary voters will help decide what questions should be asked of candidates. Voters are encouraged to visit civiccamp.uservoice.com to suggest questions and to vote for questions you would most like to have answered. This will ensure the CivicCamp survey reflects the thoughts and concerns of Calgarians as a whole, rather than only one special interest group.

These crowd-sourced questions will be provided to candidates on nomination day and will be used during election forums. All answers from candidates will be posted on our website once they are returned.

3. Candidate Forums.

CivicCamp is committed to organizing a candidate forum for the mayoral and aldermanic races during the lead up to the election. Requests for venues have recently been sent out to community associations, however if you have a venue you’d be willing to provide, please contact Peter Rishaug at prishaug@shaw.ca. Organizing 15 forums in a two and a half week period will be no easy task, so if you would like to volunteer at one or more of forums please contact Jody Rechenmacher at jodyrechenmacher@gmail.com.

Stay tuned to CivicCamp.org for the dates of each forum.

4. Campaign Issues of Concern to CivicCampers.

CivicCamp will shortly be sending surveys to CivicCampers to gather information about what issues matter to them. The results of this survey will be made available to all candidates and voters to read about what CivicCampers would like to see candidates do during and after the election.

Please spread the word and visit CivicCamp.org/2010election for more information as it becomes available.

Register for Cities and Towns in Transition

Cheri M — Mon, 10 May 2010 22:42:58 +0000

You’re invited to attend the 2010 People and Place conference:

Cities and Towns in Transition

June 4-5, 2010

An exciting two days of dialogue, skill building, and path-finding to move us toward sustainable and resilient post-carbon communities.

Global citizens are coming together to create exciting new futures. Cities and towns around the world are charting a transition to more sustainable communities, economies and lifestyles. They are addressing emerging and critical issues such as peak oil, climate change, social and economic injustice by integrating design, governance, economic development, spirituality, leadership, capacity building and community development, and our relationship to nature and each other.

To explore the evolving relationships of people to the places they inhabit, this is an event to bring together voices from around the Calgary Region to discuss how we transform our cities and towns.

Friday June 4:

A day of inspiring dialogue and challenging presentations on following themes:

Transition Towns
Sustainable Cities: The Portland Model
Global South Models

Click here for the list of Speakers as they are confirmed.

Saturday June 5:

Morning: Local and regional initiatives panel and reflection and action groups
Afternoon: Transition in Calgary – a series of skills workshops, dialogues, and field trips to choose from. Click here for information on how to become a Session Leader.
Evening: A social event to wrap up the conference hosted by local community group

Registration: conference registration opens May 14

Location: The conference starts at the University of Calgary on Friday and moves to Hillhurst-Sunnyside on Saturday. For details see the website or call 403-244-0777.

Sponsored by: Faculties of Social Work and Environmental Design at the University of Calgary.

Support Public Education in Election 2010

Cheri M — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 01:20:21 +0000

The last few weeks have seen plenty of ink spilled over candidates for aldermanic and mayoral races but when we go to the polls in October, we’ll also be asked to vote for school trustees.

The CBE is hosting an information night to encourage citizens to run for the office of school trustee, volunteer for a trustee candidate’s campaign and vote. The May 12 event includes a panel discussion on the importance of voting featuring The Herald’s Licia Corbella and information on the responsibilities of a Public School Board Trustee. For full details on the event, click here.

If anyone has information about a similar event for the Calgary Catholic School District, please email us at civiccamp at gmail dot com.

People & Place: Cities and Towns in Transition

Cheri M — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:24:45 +0000

CivicCamp will be participating in Cities and Communities in Transition, a two day workshop scheduled for June 4 & 5, 2010 at the University of Calgary. We’ll have more details for you soon but, meanwhile, for an in-depth introduction to this topic, you might want to consider the following spring block course at U of C.

People & Place: Cities and Towns in Transition

Spring 2010 Block Course

May 17-19, 27-28 and June 4-5, 2010

Social Work 699.56 – Environmental Design 683.10

In the light of emerging and critical issues such as peak oil, climate change, and social and economic injustice, citizens in cities and towns around the world are coming together to create exciting new processes to chart a transition to more sustainable communities, economies, and lifestyles.

The course will introduce students to the rich body of place-focused work from a host of disciplines, including geography, anthropology, social work, environmental design, and ecopsychology.

The focus of this course will be Cities and Communities in Transition. We will be working closely with local practitioners of sustainability, while drawing on the new Transition Towns movement, the Greater Edmonton Alliance, and other citizen-based movements and sustainability initiatives in other cities, such as Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, and Curitiba (Brazil). The course will culminate in a 2-day workshop on Cities and Communities in Transition in June 4-5, 2010.

Please register ASAP to avoid disappointment.
for more information: Noel Keough; nkeough@ucalgary.ca; (403) 220-8588

Send a Teen You Know to Teen Voice Calgary

Brent McConnell — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:48:01 +0000

The first Teen Voice Calgary conference is being held at the Village Square Leisure Centre on March 13th from 10:30 to 2:30. The youth (17 & under) will be responding to the question, “If there is one thing you could change about Calgary, what would it be?” They will form groups by common-interest to develop their response, summarizing their discussion and possibly an action plan, to event participants and a special guest panel at the end of the day.

Teen Voice Calgary’s purpose is to provide a space for Calgary’s youth to speak and be heard as citizens and civic leaders. Some teens may be happy to have their voice heard by people who can make a difference. Other teens may want to go a step further, taking action through initiatives of their own design. We aim to engage teens to become active citizens in their communities and city. More info at www.teenvoice.ca. Space is limited. Register now!

Teen Voice Calgary is unique because the teens will take the lead while being supported by CivicCamp, an extensive network of committed citizens who have a passion for Calgary and connections with their communities. The adults facilitate, supporting the youth when they seek assistance to communicate and realize their civic projects. We are training a teen leadership corps to operate as independently or with as much support from CivicCamp as they need to host special events and facilitate their own network of engaged citizens.

Teen Voice Calgary in non-partisan. Our inaugural event is generously supported by CivicCamp, the United Way, Sustainable Calgary and City of Calgary Recreation. Its activities adhere to the ethical guidelines and principles of sustainability outlined in the CivicCamp charter.