 | Saturday, May 29, 2021
By Scott Dippel
Reading this online? Sign up to get this delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. | | Farrell decries city's values | | |  | Coun. Druh Farrell says the condition of Calgary's affordable housing stock compared to its roads, bridges and tunnels is a graphic demonstration of the city's values. (James Young/CBC) | | | Councillors had a look at the 2020 infrastructure status report this week. It will be just one of the documents relied upon to develop the next four-year capital budget, which will go to city council in the fall of 2022.
Ward 7 Coun. Druh Farrell said she's appalled to see the condition assessments of Calgary's affordable housing stock versus its roads, bridges and tunnels. One hundred per cent of the city’s affordable housing is rated in poor condition. Transportation infrastructure? Less than 10 per cent is rated poor or very poor.
"We obviously care about some things over other things," said Farrell in Wednesday's utilities and corporate services committee meeting. "I would say that demonstrates our values more than any other graph we can show."
The GM in the deputy city manager's office, Chris Arthurs, agreed there isn't balance between the two categories. She said investments in affordable housing had little support from other orders of government in recent decades, while the city has succeeded in getting federal and provincial money for transportation projects.
Arthurs said there's now a renewed emphasis on affordable housing from other governments, so the condition report should change in the coming years.
Ward 1 Coun. Ward Sutherland said Farrell was comparing apples and oranges.
He pointed out developer levies and money from other governments, as well as city cash, have been used for transportation infrastructure. He also said that allowing roads and bridges to decay can compromise public safety and result in higher spending to repair or replace them.
"Is affordable housing important? Absolutely. But to match one against the other in my perspective isn't a balanced approach," said Sutherland.
Farrell, who is not seeking re-election this fall, suggested it will be up to the next council to improve the situation.
"It looks like we care more about our vehicles than we do about the people who live here," she said. | | |  | Calgary's civic partners, like the Calgary Zoo, have seen huge drops in visitor numbers and anticipated revenues during the pandemic. (Brooks DeCillia/CBC) | ‘A tale of woes’ | With financial help from the city and others, Calgary's civic partners are hanging on through the financial storm caused by the pandemic.
This week, the 18 partners brought their annual reports to city council's community and protective services committee. The day-long meeting is usually a sleepy affair, but this year nine of the partners reported the pandemic had a severe impact on their operations and their bottom line.
Well-known facilities like the Calgary Zoo, Heritage Park, Telus Spark and Fort Calgary have been closed at times. They've seen huge drops in visitor numbers and, of course, millions of dollars in anticipated revenues never materialized.
"A tale of woes is a nice way of putting it," said Ward 8 Coun. Evan Woolley, who chaired a portion of the meeting. "We have seen some of these partner organization's business models completely collapse."
City council did provide $5 million in additional grants to the partners last year to help them get through the pandemic. But Woolley said the way many of the organization's pivoted speaks to the strength of their leaders and boards.
With all meetings cancelled, the Telus Convention Centre served as a temporary homeless shelter for several months last year and it's now a mass vaccination clinic. Heritage Park offered curbside meal pick-ups. The zoo switched to timed entries and one-way paths for smaller numbers of patrons. The science centre booted up new online offerings and virtual camps.
The city provided nearly $108 million in operating support to the partners last year. Council has approved nearly $115 million for them for 2021.
The bottom line is none of the partners is closing permanently due to the pandemic. Woolley said that's good news because they're all important parts of Calgary's story and its ability to attract tourists and newcomers alike into the future. | | | | |  | The new $80 million Platform Innovation Centre and parkade opened on Wednesday. It has 503 parking stalls and a host of other features. (Scott Dippel/CBC) | City’s new $80M parkade opens | No one could have predicted when construction started on the new Ninth Avenue S.E. parkade two-and-a-half years ago that its opening day would happen during a pandemic. But here we are.
The Platform Innovation Centre and Parkade, as it's now known, opened for business on Wednesday. The price tag is well above the usual cost for a place to park 500 cars. But this parking garage is different.
Besides vehicle parking, there's room to lock up 99 bicycles (both paid and secured bike parking as well as free racks), electric vehicle charging stalls and a sport court on the first floor where players can shoot baskets, rain or shine.
There is also 50 thousand square feet of office space, which later this year will become home to Platform Calgary's new technology incubator hub.
The city agency has 50 partners signed up to take advantage of the space. Platform says new companies and jobs will be emerging from this parkade in the years ahead.
Moe Houssaini with the city-owned Calgary Parking Authority said, pandemic aside, the East Village needs this facility.
"Although parking has been impacted in the downtown core recently, this location offers options to visitors of the Calgary Public Library, Studio Bell — the home of the National Music Centre — and the shops and restaurants in the community," said Houssaini.
He added it's also close to the Saddledome and Arts Commons.
The higher cost of the building is due to the fact the parkade was built so that, in the future, the entire complex can be converted to office or residential uses. For now, it's a distinctive looking parking garage with some features you don't find in most other parking places.
Read more. | | And then there were 17 | This fall's municipal election is still months away, but besides the long nomination period, it has already recorded another distinction. This year's mayoral ballot will have at least as many candidates as the modern day record set back in 2001.
There are now 17 candidates who have submitted their nomination papers and the required $500 deposit.
Grant Prior joined the candidates list this week and Jeff Davison has officially revised his nomination situation. He had originally submitted his papers to seek another term in Ward 6, but earlier this month he announced he is joining the mayor's race.
Oddly — or perhaps in the spirit of transparency — Elections Calgary still shows him on the Ward 6 list of candidates, although the city has now added the word "withdrawn" under his name.
The nomination deadline is September 20, so those wanting to run still have plenty of time to join the race. | | | 7 more municipal stories you shouldn't miss | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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