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Let me paint an image: Calgary metropolis corridor is like that one pal who loves throwing dinner events however forgets there aren’t any chairs, no meals within the fridge and the roof is leaking. And now they’re speaking about rearranging the seating chart (rezoning) with out addressing the truth that the partitions are crumbling, and the toilet faucet hasn’t stopped dripping for the reason that final ceremonial dinner (fixing infrastructure).
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However earlier than we rush to throw all of Calgary’s zoning legal guidelines into the blender and hit “purée,” can we please concentrate on a number of manifestly apparent infrastructure wants first? Our water infrastructure is leaking, our roads are stuffed with holes and our companies are being minimize. Let’s do a deep dive.
Let’s discuss rec centres. Ever been to 1 within the night? It’s like looking for a parking spot at Stampede Park on a Saturday night time. You stroll in and it’s wall-to-wall packed. They’ve been overused for a really very long time now.
We’re set to develop by a further million within the subsequent 10 years. We’re already ready in line at 6 a.m. to register for swimming lessons.
Our soccer fields? Overbooked. Hockey rinks? An endangered species. We’ve bought youngsters practising at ungodly hours, dad and mom in a frenzy and but, someway, we’re being requested to dream of a denser, multi-use, rezoned future.
Let’s handle the group centres — these group hubs which are imagined to be the heartbeat of neighbourhoods.
Proper now, a few of them are extra like deserted time capsules, providing a patchwork of companies as they wrestle to outlive. If we’re severe about constructing vibrant, denser communities, we want to ensure we’ve extra than simply houses — we want areas the place individuals could be a group.
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How about some actual funding in fashionable, versatile group hubs the place individuals can meet, create and join? Rezoning with out revitalizing group centres is like increasing your visitor checklist with out cleansing up the get together house.
Subsequent, libraries. Libraries are the brand new group hangouts, providing all the things from tech workshops to toddler storytime. However very similar to all the things else in Calgary, they’re bursting on the seams. Typically standing room solely, and that’s earlier than we add a number of thousand extra individuals to each neighbourhood.
Calgary wants libraries greater than ever. However what occurs whenever you’ve bought a vibrant new inhabitants and so they can’t discover house to attend a workshop, seize a guide or go browsing to a pc? Let’s spend money on our libraries in order that they continue to be the very important group assets they’re imagined to be.
Subsequent up, social infrastructure. You recognize, the important companies that assist susceptible populations, promote group engagement and usually maintain our metropolis from devolving right into a Wild West sequel. Think about rezoning hundreds of recent models with out increasing mental-health companies, shelters, and inexpensive housing applications.
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We’re already stretched skinny when it comes to assist companies, and extra density with out elevated assets could be like including an additional storey to your home with out checking if the inspiration can deal with it. Spoiler alert: It might probably’t.
I get it. Rezoning sounds tremendous progressive. Blended-use neighbourhoods, decrease housing costs (perhaps), walkable communities — all of it appears like an city planning dream.
However right here’s the kicker: If we don’t first repair our crumbling infrastructure, increase our social assist programs, construct extra sports activities services and, sure, enlarge our libraries, then we’re principally making a metropolis the place everybody lives in a shoebox with nowhere to stretch their legs — bodily or metaphorically.
Calgarians need their water system to be dependable, have inexpensive leisure companies, good transit and public security.
A four-year tax freeze received’t “minimize” it.
Sarah Biggs is a political strategist based mostly in Calgary. She is a accomplice at Olsen+Biggs Public Affairs.
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