Calgary Minute: Transit Sponsorship, Film Team, and Garbage Plan Dumped

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

This Week In Calgary:

• There will be a Combined Meeting of Council on Tuesday at 9:30 am. The Consent Agenda (the things they don’t debate) is quite large and includes the Terms of Reference for the Foothills County - City of Calgary Intermunicipal Committee and the Rocky View County - City of Calgary Intermunicipal Committee. Also on the agenda are multiple land use amendments.
  
  
• The Infrastructure and Planning Committee meets on Thursday at 9:30 am. No agenda is available yet.
  
  
• The City is creating a small pilot team whose job it will be to make it easier for film crews to work in and around Calgary. According to the City’s General Manager of Operational Services, the team would “further grease the wheels” when it comes to providing opportunities for the industry. As a first order of business, the team will be tasked with creating a list of places that could double as filming locations, highlighting what they might be used for.

Last Week In Calgary:

• Calgary Transit has partnered with TD Bank in a five-year sponsorship deal. Starting in January, the free fare zone - a section of the CTrain line along 7th Avenue - will be renamed the TD Free Fare Zone. Unfortunately, the City is refusing to disclose the financial elements of the deal. Mayor Jyoti Gondek said that it will provide Calgary Transit with enough revenue to offset the operating costs of the fare-free zone, but for all we know, the City could have spent more money on staff time over the 5 year (yes, 5 year!) negotiation process, than they will receive in revenue. This is why transparency is important!
  
  
• The City unveiled a mock-up of its new Green Line Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs). The new models have a low floor, which will allow the city to build lower, more accessible stations. They will be longer than existing models - each car will have 73 seats and can hold about 100 more people than the current cars. The mock-up had to be shipped from the Spanish manufacturer and travelled through seven countries to get here - we can’t imagine that was a cheap endeavour. It will be displayed in the summer for the public to see. Don’t like it? Too bad. There are already 28 on order.
  
  
• The Community Development Committee decided against making changes to black cart garbage pickup. The previous Council wanted to explore charging less for households who create less garbage. Implementing a “variable set-out” process to accommodate those households would end up costing too much, according to Council. The pilot project was estimated at $4 million, with city-wide implementation coming in at an additional $5.5 million. Annual black cart collection costs would also increase by $1.7 million annually. Council will discuss the issue at an upcoming meeting.

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