City works to keep Calgarians on the move past construction

The City of Calgary is working with the construction industry to make it easier and safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists to get past and around construction--a great way to improve the streetscapes of our Centre City and the result of a Notice of Motion from Mayor Nenshi and Alderman Druh Farrell.

City works to keep Calgarians on the move past construction

Calgary’s downtown core is a hotbed for major construction projects. As we approach the busy “construction season”, Council and City Administration have taken a closer look at how to keep traffic of all kinds on the move. The Calgary Transportation Plan (CTP) provides direction on supporting multiple modes of transportation for all travellers, including motorists, pedestrians, cyclists and those with limited mobility.

With a significant focus on pedestrian traffic in the CTP, and to ensure sidewalks remain clear and unobstructed, The City and our external construction partners, such as the Calgary Construction Association (CCA), have made strides in addressing the need to keep sidewalks open and accessible for pedestrians. Additionally, a newly created collaborative review process has allowed internal City partners such as Roads and Development and Building Approvals to work together at an earlier phase of planning to better serve the transportation and safety needs of Calgarians.

The City has been working closely with developers and construction companies over the last year, and all agree that pedestrian access is critical, especially on key routes. One option The City offers is more flexibility on the timing of work, and in some cases, relaxing the noise bylaw to allow for late night construction.

“We’ve made great strides in finding alternative measures to preserving our pedestrian network, which can be seen all over city centre,” says Mayor Naheed Nenshi. “Calgary is going to continue to grow and with that comes construction, however we still have a responsibility to Calgarians to keep them safe and keep them moving.”

Construction projects lasting for extended periods of time often obstruct multiple sidewalks. In such a highly concentrated pedestrian area as Calgary’s downtown core, The City recognizes that this can be quite an inconvenience for the travelling public.

“Pedestrian safety and convenience are priorities for Council,” says Ald. Druh Farrell. “ I'm encouraged to see industry and The City working together to provide better access to public sidewalks during construction.”

Gord Elenko, Manager of Traffic Engineering for Roads, says it’s not good enough to push pedestrian traffic out onto the roadway and block a traffic lane. While that maintains access for pedestrians, it negatively impacts cyclists and motorists and creates potential safety hazards.

“The City recognizes sidewalks are an essential part of our transportation network, especially in the downtown core and Business Revitalization Zones,” he said. “This is why we've made it a priority to better maintain accessibility to pedestrian walkways surrounding a construction site, without compromising anyone’s safety.”

Currently there are 20 long-term, major construction sites in the downtown core where sidewalks have required on-street detours or overhead hoarding structures to maintain an open walkway.

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- Release cross-posted from City of Calgary Newsroom

Mayor Nenshi Reads Pete the Cat

Grab the kids, pop the corn, sit back, and enjoy!

Mayor Nenshi's latest edition of Mayor Nenshi Reads is made in partnership with the 2013 Calgary International Children's Festival (with the video assistance of the Calgary Stampede). The book is Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes written by Eric Litwin and illustrated by James Dean.

Unlike some of our previous videos of Mayor Nenshi Reads, this features the vocal "talents" of Scott, Josh, and Daorcey from Mayor Nenshi's team.

- Posted by Daorcey (who is learning to be groovy)

Help wanted: How should we use the $52 million?

This month, I wrote a special column in the Calgary Herald just about the public conversation we need to have about how to use the $52 million tax room. Here is the full text of that story: 

I need your help.

Your city council has just launched a public conversation on what to do with the $52 million that you've heard about.

First, let me explain where the $52 million - what is referred to as provincial "tax room" or a "tax surplus" - came from. Currently, about 60 per cent of the property taxes you pay go to the city for operations (everything from the police department, fire and 911, to road maintenance and parks and recreation facilities). The other 40 per cent goes to the province, and they annually send us a bill for their amount.

The city passed its 2013 budget in November 2012. The province, after its own budget in March, actually asked for less money than we expected.

This means that, within the budget passed last November (and with tax bills being printed and set to go out), we have $52 million annually more than we expected. While it's not a huge portion of our $3-billion budget, it is a lot of money.

So now we're asking you what you think we should do with it.

Under council policy, this money cannot be used for day-to-day (or operating) expenses, which we must fund through property taxes and user fees. However, we can use the $52 million for the kinds of things we often ask the province to help pay for: one-time (or capital) expenses to build things or for reducing our debt. We could also reduce taxes.

This is a remarkable opportunity for Calgarians. We have five great options, and all would enhance Calgarians' quality of life. All reflect priorities you've told us are important to you.

The options are:

- "Let the buses roll!" A new dedicated capital fund for Calgary Transit would allow us to build a number of the unfunded capital priorities in the RouteAhead plan. This could include new dedicated transitways in southeast and north-central Calgary, as well as a transitway between northeast Calgary and the University of Calgary, better connections to Mount Royal University, and a new transitway on 14th Street S.W. from Woodbine to MRU and downtown.

It would also allow us to reduce LRT crowding and improve reliability by accelerating purchases of new LRT vehicles.

This option is the only one that would leverage funding from other governments (we estimate that every dollar spent here could attract $1.50 from the provincial and federal governments), but it will likely increase operating costs in the future, which would have to be covered from cost cutting elsewhere, taxes, or fares.

- "Give business a break!" While Calgary's residential property taxes are the lowest of any major city in Canada, our non-residential taxes are more in the middle of the pack. In fact, the non-residential rate (paid by businesses like stores, offices and factories) is almost four times the residential rate. In other words, for every dollar a resident pays in property tax, a business pays $3.91 (to be exact). Applying this money to reducing business taxes would reduce that ratio to 3.67. While it's not a huge amount, it would reflect our commitment to a competitive business tax regime.

- "Revitalize our communities!" More than 90 neighbourhoods in Calgary are over 50 years old. Currently, we maintain and improve these neighbourhoods as needs become critical and money becomes available. This option would invest in maintaining and improving things like streets, sidewalks, street lights, parks and neighbourhood recreation centres on a community-by-community basis, starting with older areas and eventually cycling through all Calgary neighbourhoods.

- "Drop the debt!" Calgary's debt stands at $3.4 billion. While we think this level of debt is manageable, annual interest payments eat into our annual operating budgets. Reducing the city's debt and our annual interest payments could save taxpayers about $3 million per year for other priorities, but would not build anything new.

- "Give it back!" Calgary still has the lowest property taxes of any major city in Canada. We're proud of that advantage. Putting the money back in your jeans means you can spend it on priorities that are important to you, but it means we can't aggregate the funds to build public projects. Applying the $52 million to property taxes would mean a savings to the average household of about $10.50 per month.

Council will make a decision in July, and we'd love to know what you think before then. Please visit calgary.ca/52million to join the discussion, contact 311 with your opinion, or join us for a series of face-to-face events, including a live debate with each of the options being championed by one of the aldermen - and Brett Wilson asking tough questions! That debate will be on May 28 over the lunch hour at the Devonian Gardens.

This conversation is an important one, and shows that we as a community can come together and have serious discussions about serious issues in a way that respects all points of view--and can be a little bit of fun too.

I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

- Mayor Naheed Nenshi

How should we use $52 million for Calgarians?

Today City Council announced a new public engagement asking Calgarians how The City should use the $52 million of provincial tax room.

“This is a significant amount of unbudgeted money,” said Mayor Naheed Nenshi. “We've debated five options in Council—all of which reflect the priorities of Calgarians—and this is our opportunity to do engage with citizens to hear what they think before Council makes a decision in July.”

City Council wants all citizens to give input on all or any of the five options. There are three ways citizens can get their input to City Council:

• Online at calgary.ca/52million
• Attending face to face opportunities at five different locations in Calgary over the next two weeks (schedule below)
• Calling 3-1-1

City Council is also preparing a public debate at the Devonian Gardens on Tuesday, May 28 from 11:45am-12:45pm.

Currently, about 60 per cent of the property taxes citizen’s pay goes to The City for operations including the police, fire, 911, road maintenance, parks and recreation facilities. The other 40 per cent goes directly to The Province.

City Council approved the 2013 budget in November 2012. The Province, after its budget in March 2013, actually requested less of their estimated portion of 40 per cent than had been anticipated.

That means that, with the same budget approved last November, The City now has $52 million more than expected. Council policy states that this money cannot be used for day-to-day operational expenses, but may be used for capital projects, which The City often asks the province to help fund, or debt reduction.

City Council came up with five options for using this tax room that will provide value for Calgarians. They are:

1. “Let the buses roll!” Creating a new dedicated capital fund for Calgary Transit
2. “Give business a break!” Reducing the tax rate for businesses
3. “Revitalize our communities!” Investing in maintenance and renewal of older neighbourhoods
4. “Drop the debt!” Reducing the City’s debt and our annual interest payments
5. “Give it back!” Lowering the taxes that homeowners pay

City Council will carefully review all feedback and use the information in helping them to decide how to use the $52 million when Council meets in July.

Please visit calgary.ca/52million for more information.

$52 Million face-to-face engagement opportunities:

Wednesday, May 22
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Bankers Hall
+15 North Bridge

Wednesday, May 29
11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Stephen Avenue

Friday, June 31
2 – 6 p.m.
Northland Village Mall
Centre Court

Saturday, June 1
9:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Chinook Centre
Centre Court

Saturday, June 1
1:30 – 5:30 p.m.
South Centre

Sunday, June 2
11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Sunridge Mall
Centre Court

City adds hundreds of on-street parking spots downtown

From 2011 to 2012, the City of Calgary Roads Traffic Engineering and the Calgary Parking Authority have added 437 on-street parking spaces to the downtown core and surrounding areas including Kensington, the Beltline and 17 Ave. The number of spaces added in the last two years is the equivalent to building another Convention Centre Parkade.

“Visitors and citizens need convenient, short-stay parking to access the downtown and surrounding areas,” said Mayor Naheed Nenshi. “Increasing the number of on-street spaces in these areas helps support our business community and contributes to a vibrant downtown.”

	TOTAL
	Stalls Added	Stalls Removed	Net Stalls
Downtown	243	4	239
Kensington	18	0	18
Beltline	95	61*	34
17 Ave	30	0	30
4 ST	9	0	9
Inglewood	26	0	26
Bridgeland	4	1	3
Research Park	12	0	12
Centre ST North	0	0	0
Victoria Crossing	0	0	0
TOTAL	437	8	371

*58 of these stalls were partially removed as a result of the 10 Ave SW bike lane which restricts parking during rush hour only (Monday to Friday from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm).

“Transportation has added angled and off-peak parking to maximize the number of on-street parking spaces,” said Mac Logan, the City’s General Manager of Transportation. “Available parking is an important component of our transportation infrastructure.”

Calgary has a total of 6,396 on-street ParkPlus System™ spaces, with 4,284 in the downtown core and Beltline area alone. Adjustments to on-street parking stalls were mainly caused by long-term construction activities and curb adjustments to the road following construction.

“In partnership with Traffic Engineering, we have been able to add 437 stalls in response to customer requests for more on-street parking,” said Troy McLeod, GM of the Calgary Parking Authority. “Our online parking occupancy feature allows customers to locate on-street parking before leaving the house.” 

The City’s Traffic Engineering establishes how on-street space is used and works with the Calgary Parking Authority to make the best use of street space.

- cross-posted from Calgary City News Blog

Calgary launches 311 app

311 is expanding its services through the launch of the 311 Calgary mobile app. It is an app that provides Calgarians with an on-the-go connection to City Services.

“The 311 Calgary mobile app is only one of the steps we're taking to improve interactions with citizens, “said 311 Citizens Services Manager, Terry Pearce. “Online and mobile applications improve access to services, which means stronger government partnerships and better customer service.”

In 2005, The City of Calgary was the first municipality in Canada to launch a 311 Operation Centre. Continually adding services over the years, 311 has grown beyond a traditional call centre to include 311 online and now a mobile application. Each improvement provides Calgarians with another way to connect with The City anytime, anywhere and on any device.

Today, citizens or visitors can contact The City in a matter of minutes. When citizens and visitors spot a pothole, a streetlight issue or a pathway concern, they can snap a photo, describe the issue and use their smartphones’ GPS to detect the location.

Using the auto-generated service request number, citizens can also track the status of their requests. They can also view up to 100 of the most recent requests and choose to monitor issues that interest them.

“The addition of the mobile application to 311 services gives citizens another choice to connect with The City,” says Customer Service & Communications Director, Jacob George. “There are 17 services available on the 311 Calgary mobile app and we are in the process of making more available soon.”

“Our city thrives because Calgarians do their part to make Calgary a better community,” says Mayor Nenshi. “The 311 Calgary mobile app is an extension of the partnership between citizens and their local government to keep Calgary at its best.”

The information and photos Calgarians provide will help City employees assess, prioritize and efficiently respond to citizen requests. This type of collaboration ultimately leads to the transformation of government at all levels.

Instructions on how to submit a service request using the 311 Calgary mobile app can be found here.

Visit calgary.ca and download the 311 Calgary mobile app.

- from The City of Calgary Newsroom

It's healthy to talk about Calgary's growth

I write a regular column in the Calgary Herald. Here is the full text of my May story: 

What a couple of weeks it has been in municipal politics. Not only did city council pass the new ethical guidelines I've long been working on, and embark on an unprecedented public consultation about how best to use this year’s tax surplus from the province, we also had some high political drama.

By now, most of you have seen the video released by Global News, which showed a meeting where a few individuals detailed what appeared to be a plan to take control of your city council. “You don't need the mayor,” they said, “as long as you've got eight votes.”

The parties in the video seem to be upset about the direction of the city in relation to residential development. Neither of them has been directly involved, to my knowledge, with any of the many consultations we've held with their industry, nor have they brought any of their concerns to us. So, it’s not entirely clear what they are upset about.

There have been some attempts to paint this as an urban versus suburban split, and that is simply not true. On the video, we hear that your mayor and council will not allow there to be more than 2.5 bathrooms in new homes, and that we will cap the number of cars you can own. Both allegations are, of course, ridiculous.

While planning and development issues take up about 20 per cent of what city council does (we also run a police service, a fire department and a transit system, while building and maintaining roads, parks and recreation facilities, to name only a few), they are important.

For a long time, subsidies to growth on the fringe of the city meant more than 100 per cent of population growth occurred in new neighbourhoods. We were slowly hollowing out the city from the middle, and all taxpayers were paying the price.

This city council has cut the subsidy in half, and has attempted to cut red tape for all development. As a result, the industry is doing very well, and prospective homeowners have more choice in more neighbourhoods. Still, about 95 per cent of our growth is now happening in new neighbourhoods.

In fact, I recently received an e-mail from a senior member of the development industry who said that, in his 34-year career, the city process has never worked as well as it has on his recent major files (including a new suburban neighbourhood). There’s still a great deal more work to do, which is why improving our planning process is one of my top priorities.

But you know what? The difference of opinion — who’s right and who’s wrong — doesn't really matter. We can and do have a healthy debate about how this city grows, and an election campaign is a great time to continue it. Everyone has the right (I would say: the responsibility) to get involved in the political process, regardless of their concerns.

This involvement, though, needs to be transparent, ethical, and, above all, legal.

Our rules on campaign finance in Alberta are very weak, and I have been fighting for many years for clean and fair elections. Certainly, the rules need to be strengthened and I will run the 2013 election as I did in 2010, as though tougher rules are in place.

But everyone needs to abide by the current rules, as weak as they are.

In the video, we have what appears to be an admission of at least one violation of campaign rules in the 2010 election. It seems that a company provided the maximum allowable donation in cash to a challenger in Ward 7 and supplied him with company trucks.

Unless those drivers were personally paying the insurance, maintenance and gas on those company trucks, this seems to be a donation-in-kind under the law. This would mean, if true, that the company donated more than the legal maximum.

Second, the video raises some questions about the role of the Manning Centre in the upcoming municipal election. While the Manning Centre is a tax-exempt non-profit (not a charity), the Manning Foundation is a registered charity that issues tax receipts and cannot be involved in any way in partisan politics.

Did any of the donors of the $1.1 million mentioned in the video receive a tax receipt, and, if so, for what purpose were these funds used?

Even if no tax receipts were issued, I believe that a tax-exempt non-profit should not be directly benefiting any specific campaign, particularly if the donors to the non-profit have already donated the maximum amount to the campaign.

In the video, it’s said that the donation was given “in order to bring Preston (Manning) on board” and that the Manning Centre has hired an employee to work “on behalf of this group.” Most charities and tax-exempt non-profits, in my experience, would refuse donations with even the appearance of strings attached.

Political drama aside, we mustn't lose sight of what we’re all trying to do here: build an even better Calgary through public debate, decisions and action. We won’t always agree, and we may not all always be happy, but we should always work together, out in the open, to get where we want to go.

- Mayor Naheed K. Nenshi