Calgary Minute: Rezoning Hearing, Safety Pilot, and the Blue Sky City

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

This Week In Calgary:

• This morning, at 9:30 am, there will be a Public Hearing regarding the proposed city-wide rezoning. According to reports, there are 5,500 written submissions from residents comprising 13,000 pages of public feedback. About 650 people are already registered to share their thoughts.
  
  
• A meeting of the Community Development Committee, originally scheduled for Wednesday, is cancelled. The Committee will next meet on May 22nd. On Thursday, at 1:00 pm, there will be a meeting of the Calgary Planning Commission. No agenda is available for this meeting yet.
  
  
• Calgary is under a Water Reduction Advisory due to anticipated dry conditions this summer and residents are being urged to conserve water immediately. Suggestions from the City include limiting outdoor watering to four hours a week, avoiding watering after rain, using drought-tolerant plants, and reducing shower and laundry times. The City also plans to implement a staged outdoor watering schedule through an updated water utility bylaw in June.

Last Week In Calgary:

• Calgary introduced its new brand, "Blue Sky City”. This replaces the previous slogan, "Be a Part of the Energy," adopted in 2015. The new brand is supposed to "reflect Calgary's diversity, evolution, and unity" and cost an eye-watering $4.8 million dollars. Utterly outrageous.
  
  
• The City of Calgary reported a $238 million surplus, attributed to higher-than-expected investment income and supplementary revenue. The surplus represents 5.2% of the City's budgeted expenditures. Council voted during budget deliberations in November 2023 to allocate $100 million of the anticipated surplus to priority projects like housing, public safety, and transit. The remaining $137.7 million will be transferred to the fiscal stability reserve, following Council approval. Concerns were raised by some Councillors about the City's continuous surpluses and the need for better fiscal planning and risk assessment to avoid unnecessary tax hikes, but the majority of Council wanted to be able to keep spending up large with our over-paid taxes!
  
  
• The Calgary Fire Department has initiated a pilot project to enhance the safety of its personnel by installing blue lights on selected fire vehicles. This decision, inspired by a proposal from a senior firefighter and supported by Councillor Jennifer Wyness, aims to improve visibility, particularly during operations along busy roads and in low-light or adverse weather conditions. The pilot has received provincial approval for a one-year duration and will involve 11 engines and one rescue vehicle, all of which frequently respond to incidents in high-traffic areas like Deerfoot Trail. The lights, which will be mounted on both the front and rear of the vehicles, will only be activated when the vehicles are stationary at a scene, ensuring they alert motorists to the presence of emergency responders.

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