Calgary’s lack of innovative and diverse options led me to search elsewhere for the city life I wanted

[Silence&Motion]

I'm late to this thread, but here are a few thoughts about the article.

1. It's rather vague but it clearly touches on some points that many people already believe.
2. The point about feeling out of place as a Black woman is important. Calgary is a diverse place, but if you want to live in the more urban, walkable neighbourhoods, they have very little racial diversity. I like living in Marda Loop, but the one thing I don't like about it, is that there are so few POC. My biracial kids go to a school that is almost 100% white. It's also true that the inner cities of other metros tend to be less diverse than the suburbs. But in a city like Toronto, where >50% of the population is POC, that means even the less diverse neighbourhoods are still quite diverse.
3. In terms of arts and culture, by many objective measures Calgary lags well behind cities of similar sizes. There are some interesting things happening in this city, but we are definitely in a brain drain situation with regard to this sector. That is, there are many reasons for budding artists and musicians to leave Calgary and few to move to Calgary. As @darwink notes, this could be changed with enough effort and money.

Finally, @Surrealplaces, surely YourBoy's comments about Canada being a "shithole" because it is "tainted" non-Europeans merits a suspension. This is not legitimate political debate. There is no place in this forum for these kinds of viewpoints.

 

[UrbanWarrior]

Lol are we turning into the Canada section of SSP just because of one weaselly racist dipshit?

Edit: I guess my wording there is also very “Canada section SSP” but I stand by it regardless. Feel free to delete my comment.

 

[YourBoy007]

Ight, I guess I'll jump in one last time.

Resorting to attacking me and calling me a "racist" cause I'm making some decent points is childish. You want me to be suspended because you disagree with me. I simply pointed out why each ethnicity is in its own separate community here in Calgary. Then I questioned why every place needs diversity. Then I took examples from Japan; a nation you wouldn't dream of trying to change as a foreigner. Overall, I discussed problems that come with mass immigration from all around the world. I don't know what reality you guys live in, but with everything, problems arise.

It's scary that we've become so focused on identity politics that we can't have a real discussion anymore and that the conversation turns to name-calling and then explaining how someone's views aren't racist, sexist, xenophobic, etc. It's the same conversation over and over again and then the point gets lost. It's exhausting. It's insane.

Anyway, this is an infrastructure forum. Imma go back to discussing that.

 

[Disraeli]

There's a lot of people who couldn't possibly run a full marathon, but you're not going to find out about them if you only interview people as they cross the finishing line. It seems weird that you'd only accept an opinion on whether the cultural scene in Calgary is welcoming to newcomers by only asking people who have invested in that scene for decades and been successful in engaging in it.

Except that I wasn't talking about whether Calgary's cultural scene is accessible and nor was the author of the article.

 

[DougB]

Shouldn't be a surprised that young people left Calgary post 2015....the job market was horrible.

This article seems to have been written by someone from the Liberal Party of Canada's communications department: all identity all the time

 

[FriendlyDrunks]

Shouldn't be a surprised that young people left Calgary post 2015....the job market was horrible.

This article seems to have been written by someone from the Liberal Party of Canada's communications department: all identity all the time

Ha I moved here in 2015 from Van.

 

[JustDandy]

For what its worth, when I moved to Calgary in 2008 dt was dead. I made a point of going down there to purchase at some of the same stores that were close to my house (shoppers or the like) and lots of people i met thought I was crazy. The point i always tried to make was that my purchase would add to that stores day sales showing demand. When viewed from 10,000 ft like lots of retailers do, my little contribution would hopefully go noticed and encourage businesses to have longer hours, or open more stores etc in the areas I wanted them to be in.

Sometimes building vibrancy isn't something that can be just asked for by the government, but requires individual actions to help foster it. Vibrancy isn't something the government can create, it takes a community to foster it.

 

[Surrealplaces]

For what its worth, when I moved to Calgary in 2008 dt was dead. I made a point of going down there to purchase at some of the same stores that were close to my house (shoppers or the like) and lots of people i met thought I was crazy. The point i always tried to make was that my purchase would add to that stores day sales showing demand. When viewed from 10,000 ft like lots of retailers do, my little contribution would hopefully go noticed and encourage businesses to have longer hours, or open more stores etc in the areas I wanted them to be in.

Sometimes building vibrancy isn't something that can be just asked for by the government, but requires individual actions to help foster it. Vibrancy isn't something the government can create, it takes a community to foster it.

Good point. It's the same for me. I only go to the Best Buy or Canadian Tire in the Beltline, even though there are others closer to me. Usually I'll try to get my groceries in the Beltline, Sunnyside, EV or Mission. The more success these stores have, the more the core can keep improving.

 

[BKha]

Ight, I guess I'll jump in one last time.

Resorting to attacking me and calling me a "racist" cause I'm making some decent points is childish. You want me to be suspended because you disagree with me. I simply pointed out why each ethnicity is in its own separate community here in Calgary. Then I questioned why every place needs diversity. Then I took examples from Japan; a nation you wouldn't dream of trying to change as a foreigner. Overall, I discussed problems that come with mass immigration from all around the world. I don't know what reality you guys live in, but with everything, problems arise.

It's scary that we've become so focused on identity politics that we can't have a real discussion anymore and that the conversation turns to name-calling and then explaining how someone's views aren't racist, sexist, xenophobic, etc. It's the same conversation over and over again and then the point gets lost. It's exhausting. It's insane.

Anyway, this is an infrastructure forum. Imma go back to discussing that.

I have Chinese relatives that have lived in Japan, it’s not a country you want I live in if you’re not Japanese.
I’m not sure it’s best even for Japanese people. Don’t they have like the highest suicide rate?

 

[BKha]

I find these types of articles frustrating for a few reasons.
We need to get away from the Richard White boosterism, but for constructive criticism to be useful it needs to be valid and on point.

Making broad generalizations that Calgary is overtly racist or a quadrant of Calgary is racist or that social circles and cultural groups are too white isn’t helping your own cause. Don’t ask for tolerance if you’re not tolerant or realistic yourself. She’s only adding fuel to people who are borderline xenophobic.

Second point, don’t complain about Calgary not being urban enough if you’re going to live in the burbs and complain about being stuck in Deerfoot rush hour traffic. The people who want an urban experience make the very simple choice of pursuing that lifestyle. It’s not difficult.

The author had the opportunity to present good constructive criticism, but instead blew her credibility through her own hypocrisy.

 

[O-tac]

I think Calgary needs to work on adding more urban nodes far away from the city centre. This was the idea of Seton originally, but I have no idea how successful it is. The developers that make our city have no interest in this though, they want their cul-de-sacs and power centres and any suggestion they change is met with fierce resistance. Unfortunately I think the majority of our suburbs are just too new to have built the kind of culture some people are looking for.

I've lived in Auburn Bay across from Seton since its inception (11 years ago). In that timeframe the only real cultural additions to the area have been the YMCA and the theatre. The archway at the entrance is also nice and makes for a decent placemaking feature. Everything else is disappointing and generic retail and ugly shoebox condos. They haven't even landscaped the grand central park. It's literally just a shitty field. I know that we've been hammered by recession since 2014 but the lack of progress retail wise leads me to believe that Brookfield is only interested in easy to lease chains and big fish tenants. In the same timeframe Westman Village and the other retail in Mahogany has attracted two local brunch places and other independent restaurants and coffee shops (Bro'Kin Yolk, Diner Deluxe, Analog), a high end steakhouse and other more diverse amenities. Seton on the other hand just opened a new phase with the only tenants so far being a Booster Juice and a weed shop. The former MEC location is now some physiotherapy place (not retail) and the other two large bays include a Dollarama and now a Pet Smart (after a decade of that bay sitting empty). There's no progress on the High Street. There's still dirt lots sitting undeveloped directly on Seton Way. The vision of urban centre seems to have been left by the wayside for generic suburbia. For brunch you have Starbelly or Ricky's and coffee is Second Cup or Tim's.

 

[Cowtown]

I've lived in Auburn Bay across from Seton since its inception (11 years ago). In that timeframe the only real cultural additions to the area have been the YMCA and the theatre. The archway at the entrance is also nice and makes for a decent placemaking feature. Everything else is disappointing and generic retail and ugly shoebox condos. They haven't even landscaped the grand central park. It's literally just a shitty field. I know that we've been hammered by recession since 2014 but the lack of progress retail wise leads me to believe that Brookfield is only interested in easy to lease chains and big fish tenants. In the same timeframe Westman Village and the other retail in Mahogany has attracted two local brunch places and other independent restaurants and coffee shops (Bro'Kin Yolk, Diner Deluxe, Analog), a high end steakhouse and other more diverse amenities. Seton on the other hand just opened a new phase with the only tenants so far being a Booster Juice and a weed shop. The former MEC location is now some physiotherapy place (not retail) and the other two large bays include a Dollarama and now a Pet Smart (after a decade of that bay sitting empty). There's no progress on the High Street. There's still dirt lots sitting undeveloped directly on Seton Way. The vision of urban centre seems to have been left by the wayside for generic suburbia.

I was at Westman village not too long ago, and I like how it's turned out. Too bad there wasn't more of that kind of development in the new areas.

 

[O-tac]

I was at Westman village not too long ago, and I like how it's turned out. Too bad there wasn't more of that kind of development in the newThere's still no excuse for Brookfield's terrible retail options in Seton though.

There are other areas near Westman that are also worth emulating that are much less expensive to build and exclusive. This street a block over for example: https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8984076,-113.9402837,3a,75y,190.14h,80.68t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s6kw9lG1h1pCkmUBDc7lo2w!2e0!6shttps://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?panoid=6kw9lG1h1pCkmUBDc7lo2w&cb_client=maps_sv.tactile.gps&w=203&h=100&yaw=26.605064&pitch=0&thumbfov=100!7i16384!8i8192

Not only does it have a sort of high street feel, but there is at grade retail in the Sandstone condos at the end (left side). Brookfield was touting this for their High Street but there's been nothing so far.

 

[Mountain Man]

Too bad about Seton, not really surprised though. University District still seems to be the clear winner with creating a more urban node in the burbs. UD does have the benefit of being in an older area with an existing population to support the area.

 

[O-tac]

Does Strongbow from SSP post here? He would know best what Brookfield's plans / delays are with Seton. The high street might redeem it but there appears to be zero focus on that right now. Seems like building out the SFH's in the south and more Rohit condos everywhere else is the priority. They built two new retail buildings in the big box section. There's a Mormon temple by the high school now too. No community centre yet. Two nice parks in the south for kids but the central park by the rec centre is still barren. The kid parks are very nice but since there's nothing else around they are always packed.