Calgary Minute: More Public Art, More Tax Hikes, and More Wasteful Spending

Calgary Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Calgary politics

This Week In Calgary:

• Council's summer break continues. Council won't reconvene until September, which means there are no upcoming council or committee meetings on the docket.
  
  
• The City is accepting applications for volunteers to sit on 18 different Boards, Commissions and Committees. We're not entirely sure we'd recommend doing so, given Council's penchant for ignoring these Board's recommendations, but if you're still keen here are the details of which positions are available, and how to apply.
  
  
• The City is also seeking feedback on new public art installations on International Avenue, but the only input allowed is suggestions on *where* the art should be placed. There is no way to suggest that now might not be the best time to be spending even more money on public art.

Last Week In Calgary:

• More than a week after Council signed off on the arena deal, Postmedia released a review of the feedback collected by the City and found that a majority of Calgarians who shared their feedback in the days leading up to council’s decision on the arena deal were opposed to the project. While many proponents of the mega-project, including the Mayor, boasted about a successful consultation process, citing how over 5,200 Calgarians participated, is it really consultation if the feedback is ignored?
  
  
• The Calgary Chamber is calling on Council to raise taxes on residents. While they worded it very carefully, make no mistake, the "tax shift" they are calling for is actually a massive tax hike. Here at Common Sense Calgary, we don't support "shifting" taxes from businesses to residents. We've done ample research showing that City Hall's spending addiction has outpaced population growth and inflation for years, resulting in an unsustainable level of spending and our current tax crisis. The real solution isn't to pit residents against businesses, the solution is to get spending levels under control, and cut exorbitant taxes for both residents *and* businesses. After all, more money in Calgarian's pockets is good for business too.
  
  
• Speaking of irresponsible spending (and we could probably do a weekly email just on that): Council has decided that the Beltline Aquatic and Fitness Centre will shut down on Jan 1st, citing "changing citizen preferences" and "limited and declining participation". But if that's the case, why did taxpayers pay for a major renovation of the facility just *10 months* ago?
  

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