 | Saturday, March 13, 2021
By Scott Dippel
Reading this online? Sign up to get this delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. | | Protecting taxi drivers | | |  | City administration officials say they will work to develop strategies to deal with racist incidents involving Calgary cab drivers. (Brian Burnett/CBC) | | | Council's committee on community and protective services heard on Wednesday that half of the taxi drivers who took part in a public engagement process have often or sometimes experienced racism while on the job.
The information was gathered during the city's review of its livery transport bylaw.
Drivers say most often they were called names, insulted or heard racial slurs from their customers. The drivers suggested the city could help them by creating more public awareness of the problem.
As well, they said the city could issue fines or penalties after checking the in-cab video of racist incidents and require the posting of signs or stickers in taxis which clearly spell out that such abuse will not be tolerated.
Administration officials said, now that they have greater knowledge of the problem, they are going to work with the city's anti-racism teams to develop strategies on how to deal with the issue. They are already looking at adding information to the city’s online training presentations to help drivers learn how to address racist incidents and safely de-escalate situations.
Coun. George Chahal said such training is a good idea but it's only a start.
"More needs to be done to combat racism," said Chahal. "We need to educate the public that this is not acceptable and that this behaviour will not be tolerated."
He would like to see the city direct that ride-hail services be just like taxis, and be required to have video cameras recording what's being said and done inside the vehicle. Chahal said this would help crack down on racist behaviour.
Read More | | |  | (City of Calgary) | More Green Line shakeups | At this week's meeting of the Green Line board, there was a discussion about the recruitment efforts for two new positions for the LRT megaproject.
A chief executive officer and a chief operating officer will be hired.
The CEO will report to the Green Line board. An external firm, Boyden, has been retained by the city to find this person.
The winner of the competition will technically replace Michael Thompson, currently the acting general manager of the Green Line. Once a CEO is in place, Thompson will go back to his job with the city's executive leadership team, where he will be the new GM of infrastructure and engineering services.
Speaking of changes, it was belatedly revealed this week that Allan Neill has left the Green Line team. He was the managing director.
Neill quietly departed last September and it's being described as a voluntary decision.
He was introduced to council in June 2019 as the replacement for Paul Giannelia, who departed in November 2018 under circumstances never explained by the city. Giannelia was in the position for just seven months.
Meanwhile, there is still no word on a provincial funding agreement for the Green Line, which will clear the way for construction on the southeast leg of the line to begin this year. | | | | |  | (Scott Dippel/CBC) | Archives to the rescue | Two weeks after it was taken down for some extra care and attention, a 1952 portrait of Queen Elizabeth was returned to the council chamber on Monday.
While conservators were busy making minor repairs to the oil on canvas painting, archivists finally located documents which prove the city does actually own the portrait.
Letters show that in 1953, then mayor Don Mackay was at a conference in Montreal and saw some paintings of the young royal. He requested the artist, Pamela Edwards, send a couple of examples to Calgary so city council could choose one for display in the council chamber.
Council chose the regal portrait of a bejewelled monarch and the painting has been part of the chamber's landscape ever since — both in old city hall and in the current one.
At the time, the artist wrote she was willing to accept something less than her normal fee of $1,000, given that the painting was for public display. A receipt or cancelled cheque has not yet been located, but if one exists, chances are the sleuths in the city archives will find it.
Read More | | | | | | A clarification | In last week's edition of Council Matters, it was mentioned that Coun. Jeromy Farkas couldn't find a colleague to second his motion regarding possible assistance for the YMCA Eau Claire.
In fact, Coun Sean Chu did second the motion but council voted 9-5 against adding the motion to the meeting agenda. Either way, the motion was not debated.
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