Calgary Minute: Neighbourhood Streets, Smoking Ban, and Climate Debate Delayed

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

This Week In Calgary:

• On Tuesday, at 10:00 am, there will be a Regular City Council meeting. The purpose of this meeting is for Council to act in its capacity as Shareholder of various wholly owned subsidiaries of the City while those subsidiaries hold their Annual General Meetings.
  
  
• On Wednesday, at 9:30 am, there will be a meeting of the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee. The Committee will hear an update from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities as well as discuss a formal submission to the Local Elections Authorities Act consultation regarding conduct of elected officials, candidate eligibility, and privacy of voter information. The Calgary Planning Commission will meet on Thursday at 1:00 pm to discuss several land use amendments and development permits.
  
  
• The City is seeking feedback on a Cultural Plan and a new Area Redevelopment Plan for Chinatown. Residents have until June 20th to provide their feedback. The plan can be viewed online here.

Last Week In Calgary:

• We had a significant policy victory last week! Debate on the “Calgary Climate Strategy - Pathways to 2050”, carrying a cost to taxpayers of $87 billion ($175,000 per household!), has been delayed until a July 5th meeting of Council. The 99-page net-zero strategy includes such “plans” as ensuring 100% of all vehicles registered in Calgary are zero-emissions vehicles, all new buildings are built to a net-zero standard, and 60% of all trips taken are done by walking, wheeling, or transit. A new municipal climate tax was listed as a method of funding this “plan.” Still, a delay is not enough. We need to have it cancelled entirely. We’ve started a petition - please sign it if you do not want the City to implement this expensive and wasteful plan.
  
  
• Council debated an amendment to a City bylaw that would have banned smoking and vaping in city-owned parks and pathways. Some Councillors argued that such a ban would constitute government overreach. We agree. Ultimately, City Council voted 10-3 against the amendment.
  
  
• A City Committee voted in favour of a new traffic policy. If Council approves the plan at an upcoming meeting, the City’s traffic calming policy could be replaced with the new “Neighbourhood Streets Policy.” Remember last year when Council lowered speed limits to 40 km/h, but rejected suggestions it was just an interim step to lowering them further to 30 km/h. This plan suggests lowering them to 30 km/h. Insanity. We'll have more to say on this soon.

-----

Donate:

Common Sense Calgary doesn't accept any government funding and never will. We think you should be free to choose, for yourself, which organizations to support. If you're in a position to contribute financially, you can make a donation here.

-----

Share:

If you're not in a position to donate, we understand, but if you appreciate our work, you can help by spreading our message. Please email this post to your friends, share it on Facebook or Twitter, and help make sure every Calgarian knows what's really going on at City Hall.