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Urban Development and Proposals Discussion

FCC1982 said:
Preach it brother - totally agree!!
The proposal needs a lot of work but the concept is promising.
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Definitely seems a bit slapped together - which might be okay for this level of scheming. This early concept made some strange choices such as placing facilities well into 24th Ave N ROW with no accompanying rationale, as well as maintaining unusually large set-backs along Crowchild and other areas. More strange choices with an after-thought tower-in-the-park concept of high-density to the south end of the site. Also replace Father David Bower arenas because .... why? I get it's a concept, but they are also trying to sell their vision and it seems a bit rushed and incomplete to me. Mind you, we don't have access to their other materials so maybe this was all addressed.
 
Devil's advocate from a purely libertarian perspective: why pay for any of these? None are public goods (non-excludable and non-rivalrous). All are cool things to have, but is it government's role to provide them? (In fairness, with this argument, libraries nor transit would be public goods either). We need to have a very honest discussion of what benefits these venues bring, and what level of public investment is justified.

But I am a cynic. This debate will likely come down to "Well, I like sports, and we should pay for sports" and "Theatre is higher art and sports are brutish and stupid."
 
If Calgary is going to be a true destination city for the world ... other than 10 days of the year for Stampede .... then this is what is needed to appeal to most demographics:
1. World class convention and hotel facilities
2. Professional sports teams and facilities (in our case it will be limited to hockey, lacrosse and CDN football for years to come).
3. Facilities to hold any and all 'world tour' concerts or other major events.
4. A vibrant arts & culture scene with modern venues.
Ideally all of these elements are situated within easy proximity to each other. When these all come together...dining, other entertainment options and MF residential will most certainly fill in the gaps as more and more people are drawn to the core.
Three of the four proposals address this need.
If Calgary truly has a vision to fulfill this..... then watch out, here we come !!! :D:D:D
 
I'm quite torn on prioritizing these projects, fulsome cost benefit analyses seem to be missing. For example, the BMO expansion would be okay but are there actually big events we are missing? What would the expansion mean in terms of added shows, capacity, and hotel stays? I really like the idea of expanding and updating Arts Commons but I have the same questions, are the current facilities at capacity? I know they've mentioned modernizing the facility but can that be done without expanding? What kind of plays or shows or visitors does expanding give us? I've heard enough about the arena but honestly aside from more concerts I don't see any other benefits for the citizens of the city. Not that it's a small benefit to get all the shows that currently bypass us. The field house is a weird one, we are a metro area of more than 1.5M and we don't have a field house, it's crazy, Edmonton has two, Winnipeg has one. As a fairly sports focused city I don't understand how it's not been built. The most confusing part is that the city just opened the two largest YMCA's in the world but we can't do a field house, there must be something I'm missing.

That all being said here's my list and the reasons:
1. BMO expansion - Thought this one was already approved so I get the feeling it's too late to stop it anyway
2. Arena - I'm tired of talking about an arena and if you do the BMO expansion then it makes sense to do them together and keep the east village energy going into vic park
3. Arts Commons - because...
4. Field house - it the city can find the $ to build to two massive Y's without prioritizing a field house it must not be that important.
 
I've always been okay with putting money towards those types of things mainly because I use them personally. I'm indifferent about the public vs private ownership situation. I'm okay with money going to a venue involved with a private company as long as I use it. Same of course for a public venue. My reasons are somewhat selfish, but that said, I'm also okay with money going to venues I don't use. In most cases these venues have some tangible and intangible benefits. In order to attract quality people, or keep existing quality people from leaving a city needs some quality venues.

I have a feeling you're right about what the debate will come down to. I have friends, coworkers and family in both camps. Some who like the arts and say that arts are educational and thus should be funded while sports aren't. I have others who say that more people will use an arena than would an art gallery or opera house, etc..

retrofiturbanism said:
Devil's advocate from a purely libertarian perspective: why pay for any of these? None are public goods (non-excludable and non-rivalrous). All are cool things to have, but is it government's role to provide them? (In fairness, with this argument, libraries nor transit would be public goods either). We need to have a very honest discussion of what benefits these venues bring, and what level of public investment is justified.

But I am a cynic. This debate will likely come down to "Well, I like sports, and we should pay for sports" and "Theatre is higher art and sports are brutish and stupid."
Click to expand...
 
The 2023 World Petroleum Conference is a perfect example of what we are missing out on. Calgary is bidding on it but would have to cap the number of delegates @ 5000 as the BMO expansion may not be completed by then. Houston is hosting 10,000 next year. What chances does Calgary have for 2023 for what would have to be a diluted conference???

City council ... quit your dithering and get on with it!!!
 
Mountain Man said:
Is there any talk about a new Baseball stadium as part of all this? The one we have is even shittier than McMahon!
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Without a pro or semi-pro team, there is no need for one. As much as I would love to see baseball back in Calgary, the prospect of that happening is virtually nil.
 
A testament to the investment that has gone into the core in transit, walking and cycling over the past 20 years. Huge progress! An important part of the story in the City Centre + surrounding communities (e.g. LMR, Mission, Beltline, Sunnyside, Bridgeland etc.) grew from 51,000 in 1996 to 75,000 in 2018. That's a lot of new trips picked up on the cordon counts.
Central-Business-District-Cordon-Count-web-graph.jpg
 
Surrealplaces said:
An article regarding the new proposal for Arts Commons
https://calgaryherald.com/news/loca...case-for-ambitious-412-million-transformation

View attachment 172210View attachment 172211
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Yeah... please no. Calgary has a few public spaces that are great and olympic plaza is by far one of the brightest shining examples in the city. I would hate for it to be torn down for this even though the design isn't half bad. It'd be great if this place was to go some place else in the city. Maybe they should build it in one of those nice, empty parking lots. There's lots of those all around the city.
 
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