Along Green Line path, candidates call for speedy build
As mayoral candidates argue over the future of Calgary’s Green Line, candidates in wards along the route’s path say they’re eager to see the 46-kilometre LRT project move ahead soon as possible.
“I don’t think it’s something you can kind of just write off right now and say, ‘let’s stop it,’” said Cesar Saavedra, who is running in Ward 9 against incumbent Gian-Carlo Carra.
Saavedra said that he’s supportive of the current Green Line plan, aside from a few concerns about station design, and that the planned stations make sense for Ward 9 communities such as Inglewood, Ramsay and Ogden.
“To scrap that would be a blow to what the communities have been told,” said Saavedra.
Last week, mayoral candidate Bill Smith described the Green Line as a “boondoggle” that requires a rethink. The Green Line is slated to connect the city’s deep southeast to north-central communities, with the first phase running from 16 Avenue in the north to 126 Avenue in the southeast at a cost of $4.6-billion.
Mayoral incumbent Naheed Nenshi called Smith’s suggestion reckless, irresponsible and uninformed.
The Green Line alignment was approved by council in June, and includes a four-kilometre tunnel under the Bow River and downtown, running from 20 Ave N to Macleod Trail. Smith has suggested that the city should focus on building either the north or south part of the line instead.
Smith has sent mixed messages on what he plans to do with the Green Line. The policy page on Smith’s website was recently updated and no longer includes his original statement on the Green Line “rethink.”
“It makes no sense to spend this much capital on a project that does not reach the new hospital or the suburbs,” Smith’s website originally said.
That line was deleted over the weekend and replaced with this sentence: “I will work to maximize that $4.5 billion to make sure that on opening day, the line can best serve the most number of Calgarians, in the most efficient and cost effective manner.”
In the far southeast, Shane Keating, the Ward 12 incumbent and Green Line champion, bristled at Smith’s “rethink” comments.
“We’ve talked to literally everybody who should be involved and should have a say,” said Keating. “If you’re going to ignore all of that, then who are you actually going to listen to — other than yourself?”
“It’s just a totally uninformed thought process,” added Keating, who also shared his thoughts in a Facebook post.
Keating said Smith’s position is divisive, and threatens to undo years of bridge-building between southeast and north-central communities.
“What he’s done is he’s said, ‘Well, the heck with unification of the north and south along the Green Line,’” said Keating. “‘What we’re going to do is we’re going to start a battle between the north and south and see who wins.’”
Blair Berdusco, who’s running against Sean Chu in Ward 4 (which is north of 16 Ave, where Phase One of the Green Line will end), said that ideally, the first phase would go all the way north. But she noted that city hall consulted and planned extensively to arrive at the final alignment.
“I think they went with what made the most sense for this point in time,” said Berdusco.
“I’ve also spoken to people in Thorncliffe whose homes will be affected. Honestly, some of them are even happy to see that it’s going to take a little longer so that it can be done well and ensure that the community isn’t negatively affected.”
“It’s not that it’s never going to come further north. I’ve said this since I started running: it’s going to be a day-one job of the new council to start looking at where the funds for the next stations [north of 16 Ave N] come from.”
Further north in Ward 3 where no incumbent is running, candidate Jyoti Gondek said there is deep frustration about Phase One ending at 16 Ave.
“Not only were our communities designed at a time when planning principles were heavily focused on separating where you live from everywhere else,” said Gondek. “We are now doubly suffering that fate, because the newer communities in the south—with their really good planning practices—are getting rewarded for those. We can’t win.”
Despite these frustrations, Gondek expressed reservations about putting any pause on the project, because of the possibility of losing provincial or federal funding. Putting the central portion of the line on hold would also create problems, she added. “Then you’ve delayed everything.”
“My biggest concern is why we have not moved quicker on assembling the lands along Centre Street that we have known for 30 years that we would need to bring the line up north. That should have been happening.”
