Eliminating pedestrian deaths and why Calgary needs hipsters, too
Also: fixing civic budgets, stray horses and a high-security Mr. Sub
Originally published March 19, 2019 on the Local newsletter. Subscribe now.
A quick question before we get underway:
If you had a choice, when would you like to receive this newsletter? Both day of week, and time of day. Weekends? Evenings? Yeah, let me know.
OK, here we go!
Cities need more power to balance budgets
Right now my city of Prince George is looking at borrowing about $32 million to do basic maintenance of civic facilites, while my parent’s hometown of Dawson Creek is considering cutting the number of police officers and library staff to keep taxes down. While much of the ire for these sorts of things is directed at municipal politicians, Gaetan Royer argues we should look to how other countries structure municipal taxes (and revenue generation) for an example of how things could run better.
Montreal wants to eliminate pedestrian and cyclist deaths, and is cutting speed limits to do it
Part of the city’s overall Vision Zero campaign.
Calgary’s moment of choice: How the city can break its mould but preserve its soul
CBC Calgary is republishing a whole series on how the city is changing, and this particular instalment was interesting to me for the introduction of the term “arriviste city” as deployed by Harry Hiller, an urban sociology professor:
“An arriviste city is a city that has broken out of its old mould and is becoming something new,” he wrote, in an analysis of Calgary’s identity. “It is still in process and has not arrived at an end state but what is significant is that it challenges the old urban hierarchy to which other Canadians have developed their stereotypes.”
How often have you had friends visit from out east and say, “Wow, Calgary isn’t what I expected!” That’s the mould being broken. That’s the mental image of the city morphing from simply “Cowtown” to something more complex.
There’s also a defence of hipsters and their importance to emerging metropolitan areas — something also explored in an Economist piece subtitled “The virtues of Anywheres” which argues if you want to attract young professionals, you need to embrace the existence of craft brewing and industrial-feeling coffee shops that litter the world.
Canada set to lose 9,000 churches (and why that matters even if you aren’t religions)
Churches stopped being just churches quite a while ago. Instead, they are “for Girl Guides and political meetings, weddings and funerals, piano lessons and programs for the homeless.” My parent’s church is used as a meeting place for some of the older people who live in its neighbourhood, and I have gone to numerous punk shows in a downtown church that opens itself up for such events. So even if religious use is down, the role a church plays in a neighbourhood remains vital, and their loss is of concern.
Should city council meetings be held in the morning or at night?
This is an interesting one. I’m going to bring up Dawson Creek again, because in the last election the person challenging the incumbent for the mayor’s position had moving elections from Monday mornings to evenings in his platform, because he argued that the daytime meetings prevented people with jobs from attending. It seems this argument is being made by some in Hamilton in an effort to keep the evening meetings, but Lloyd Fergus, the councillour proposing moving meetings to the morning brings up a fair point: “I just don’t think you make good decisions after 10 or 11 o’clock.”
See also: This Twitter thread from Robin Mazumder on the challenges of participating in civic discussions
Oversized mascot watch: Calgary’s Dinny the Dinosaur to undergo $200K makeover
Something tells me tracking the comings and goings of various civic mascots will be a recurring feature for this newsletter. This week it’s the need to reinforce the neck and left rear leg of a brontosaurus built in 1935 for the Calgary Zoo.
“The 12-metre tall, 36-metre long statue is one of three public art pieces in the Calgary Heritage Authority inventory — the other two being the exterior murals at the Glenbow Museum and the Brotherhood of Mankind statues outside the former Calgary Board of Education building downtown.”
Swatted hives and stray horses in Saskatchewan
A few years ago in Prince George, a swarm of bees caused a partial city block to be evacuated. It turned out there had been a little-publicized hive program happening on the roof of city hall. Anyways, for that reason and many others, there will be no bee hives on the roof of Saskatoon’s city hall.
Also, in a good example of problems that only rural communities have: stray horses.
A single stripmall in Saskatoon has had four armed robberies in a month — but none at this Mr. Sub
Interesting insight into being a business owner in a high-crime area.
No, Drake is not responsible for 5 per cent of Toronto’s tourism economy
This is an older one, but I saw the claim going around Twitter again and this piece for Yahoo Finance does a good job of explaining how we can (and cannot) figure out what’s causing a city’s economy to succeed.
Elsewhere:
Some community-oriented stories from outside of Canada worth reading:
New York Times Opinion: Go Home to Your ‘Dying’ Hometown
One of the underrated joys of living in a smaller community is the ability to affect change.
The Guardian: How to get more women cycling in cities
“The different decisions men and women make about cycling are not only based on issues of convenience or comfort. People’s perceptions of safety influence how, when, where and why they travel.”
CityLab: A global review of public transit seat cover designs
I recently became fascinated with the design choices that go into the seats found on buses and subways (so many zigs and bright colours!) and I’m glad I’m not alone.
Alright, that’s it for this go-round. If you know someone who you think would like this, feel free to pass this along or share on social media.
Andrew
