Calgary Minute: More Spending, More Secrets, and the Guidebook Returns

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

This Week In Calgary:

• There's another busy week scheduled at City Hall, starting with a Special Meeting Of Council at 9:30 am. Council will be receiving a Green Line Project update and reviewing Amendments to the Green Line Board Bylaw. Both of these items will be held in secret, so who knows what's going on, but the media have reported on the existence of the meeting already, which normally means it's something big. Maybe the Green Line got cheaper? Haha, just kidding!
  
  
• On Wednesday at 9:30 am, there will be a meeting of the Standing Policy Committee on Planning and Urban Development where the Guidebook for Great Communities will be debated. The City has proposed some changes based on the huge negative reaction the Guidebook received, but it remains to be seen whether the changes will be substantive. They've changed the name of the document too - it's now the Guide for Local Area Planning. Also on Wednesday at 2:00 pm there will be a meeting of the Green Line Board (maybe we'll find out the secrets from the Monday meeting?), while on Thursday at 1:00 pm there will be a meeting of the Calgary Planning Commission.
  
  
• Finally, with the 2021 Calgary election approaching fast, we're holding a fundraising drive to help us raise the money we will need to provide our supporters and all Calgarians with information about the candidates and issues that will affect the election. If you can afford to chip in $10 or $20 to help us interview candidates, track Councillor voting records, research policy issues, send surveys, and transmit this information far and wide, please consider making a donation.

Last Week In Calgary:

• Council voted 10-3 to do what they know how to do best; spend even more of your money. The City's Greater Downtown Plan comes with an immediate price tag of $200 million for more Councillor pet projects, rising to more than a billion dollars in the next few years. We wouldn't normally quote the same journalist twice in two weeks, but Chris Nelson really is on a roll: "This Greater Downtown Plan aims to turn Calgary into Copenhagen, where we’d all spend our lives on e-scooters and public transit while admiring the treetop canopy overhead as the last vestiges of that nasty oil and gas industry wither and die."
  
  
• After the City announced yet another surplus, this time a massive $219 million, we launched a campaign to change how City Hall deals with this issue of always collecting more in taxes than needed. We think government should only take what they absolutely need, not as much as they can get their hands on, and any surpluses should be returned to taxpayers. In fact, ideally, we'd like to see a system implemented to ensure this happens automatically. If you agree, you can sign our petition here.
  
  
• The provincial government announced further restrictions in "hot spots" of the Province where active cases are high. These "hot spots" include Calgary, meaning indoor fitness, gyms, sports training, sports games, and all indoor sport and recreation is banned again. The Province also introduced the ability for some municipalities to introduce curfews for their City. Thankfully Calgary doesn't yet have enough cases per capita to allow Mayor Nenshi to decide whether you're allowed out of your house or not!

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