Calgary Minute: Vacancy Rates, Restrictions Easing, and Stephen Carter Out

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

This Week In Calgary:

• It’s a busy week at City Hall with several meetings scheduled to take place. The Intergovernmental Affairs Committee will meet on Tuesday at 9:30 am. No agenda has been posted for this meeting. The Community Development Committee will meet on Wednesday at 9:30 am to hear an update on COVID-19 health measures as well as discuss an amendment to the Public Behaviour Bylaw that aims to address street harassment.
  
  
• The Audit Committee will meet on Thursday at 9:30 am. No agenda has been posted for this meeting. The Calgary Planning Commission meets on Thursday at 1:00 pm to discuss several land use amendments.
  
  
• The Green Line Board will meet on Thursday at 1:00 pm. In case you hadn’t heard, the project is at risk of going over budget (again, again, again). Maybe they’ll finally decide to just cancel the project altogether - we’re not holding our breath though!
  
  

Last Week In Calgary:

• Stephen Carter is no longer Mayor Jyoti Gondek’s Chief of Staff. As Gondek reached 100 days in office, Carter was let go. He suggested that the decision was not a mutual one, and both Councillors and City staff have made accusations of bullying and harassment against him. Who will be in charge at City Hall now?
  
  
• City Council is pondering their response to a potential easing of restrictions by the Province, considering how they can retain their own restrictions. In a Facebook Live video, Premier Jason Kenney said he would consider blocking municipalities from “improvising” and imposing their own restrictions. If the Restrictions Exemption Program is removed, the City would see its vaccine passport bylaw automatically ended, though the mask bylaw would still be in effect. We have a great idea - how about every level of government ends their restrictions and mandates, as soon as possible!
  
  
• Calgary’s downtown vacancy rate dipped slightly in the final quarter of last year - from 29.9% to 29.7%. Apparently, that’s cause for optimism. Commercial real estate services firm Avison Young says that in the same time period, more office space was leased than vacated. This was the first positive absorption of office space in the last 22 months. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for this trend to continue.

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