Calgary Minute: Stadium Splurge, Bus Buys, and Stage Three Soon

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

This Week In Calgary:

• Another busy week ahead for Council with four meetings scheduled starting with a Combined Meeting of Council today at 9:30 am where they will discuss the temporary face-covering bylaw, the North Hill Local Area Plan, the Belvedere Area Structure Plan, the Financial Task Force (the group that's only allowed to recommend tax increases, and not spending cuts), and more.
  
  
• On Wednesday, there will be a Standing Policy Committee on Utilities and Corporate Services meeting at 9:30 am where they will discuss the City's environment strategy, the City's climate resilience strategy, the City's investments in sustainable infrastructure, and more.
  
  
• On Thursday there will be a meeting of the Audit Committee at 9:30 am followed by a Gas, Power and Telecommunications Committee meeting at 1:00 pm. A Business Advisory Committee meeting that was planned for Friday has been delayed until July.

Last Week In Calgary:

• Alberta hit the 70% first-dose target that meant that the two-week waiting period before Stage 3 started. Coincidentally, that threshold was hit on June 17th, meaning most provincial restrictions will cease on July 1st. The Province hasn't yet officially clarified what they mean by "most restrictions", so we'll keep you updated.
  
  
• Politicians are sparing no expense on the "buses of tomorrow", with Calgary's first electric bus order totaling $6 million for 14 vehicles. It's important to note that, despite costing almost half a million dollars each, these 14 vehicles aren't even proper full-sized buses, they're just mini-shuttle-bus style vehicles. Next on the City's agenda? Securing and installing charging stations. That's right, these are the iPhone of buses - exorbitant prices, and no charger included!
  
  
• The McMahon Stadium redevelopment debacle continues, with a new design being released that includes no room for any parking. From a fieldhouse to hotels, to pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, it's got everything except for the one thing that most people will need to be able to actually use it, and you can bet Calgarians will pay top-dollar to subsidize it all, . Are we still pretending this isn't a deliberate design choice by the City at this point? Oh, and, there are no estimates on the timeline or final cost for the project yet. Well, that's one way to avoid being late and over budget!

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