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Water-cooler discussion thread

Mountain Man said:
Sunshine added another 250 spots in their parking lot to start the year, but that's not a long term solution, especially if they want to expand. I think the decision long term was a parkade at the base of the hill, but that would be a total shit show at the end of the day.

Louise has expansion plans as well, but I think with the overflow they are good to keep expanding with current parking capacity.
Click to expand...
Sunshine is likely to go with transportation demand management than anything else - slowly charging more and more for parking.

A parkade is just too much per spot for 10 days a year of surge capacity - the incentives to build it in on hill expansion as part of a parks canada process would need to be huge.
 
JustDandy said:
Lets do an employment roll call

What you do for work?
Where are you based?
Why Calgary?

i'll start

I'm a hotel and condo developer professionally, and am also a real estate investor
I'm based in Vancouver
I'm a UofC graduate so gradually I have an interest in Calgary.
Click to expand...
I know I'm late to this discussion ( I rarely check this thread!) but anyways here's my two cents:

Born and raised Calgarian, lived here my entire 32 years and only moved out as far as Cochrane for about a year. Grew up on the East side of the city around Penbrooke/Forest Lawn and Mayland Heights.
I have always been fascinated with architecture and design which led me to Emporis, SkyscraperPage and then finally here!

Took the AT program at SAIT but had trouble finding work so I went back to school to do the Urban Studies degree along with UrbanWarrior which I completed last year.
In between going to school I've had odd jobs, never could land one in the design field so I settled at my current job, which is maintaining tropical plants in offices downtown.

Wasn't sure what was next until I got into planning for this coming term, so I'm pretty excited about that!
 
Is there a spot for development wish lists?

Just a random comment but I would love to see a good mixed use project for the 7900 block of Bowness.
There's an approx 47,000 sq m area that never seems to really have the activity it deserves

1652725048493.png


Then add some density to the east of it along Bowness road between it and the Bowness mainstreet area.
Anyone living in that strip would be max a 6 min walk from one of the two retail areas.

I know a block or two of the homes on the south side are low income housing so it would be good to have a lower income unit component to the new builds

Something like this (Red current commercial areas, Pink future main street expansion, blue higher residential density)

1652725460876.png


🤷‍♂️
 
Does anyone know how I could find statistics on what percentage of Calgary jobs are based in each neighborhood? I'm specifically looking to find the percentage of jobs based in downtown versus elsewhere.
 
jhappy77 said:
Does anyone know how I could find statistics on what percentage of Calgary jobs are based in each neighborhood? I'm specifically looking to find the percentage of jobs based in downtown versus elsewhere.
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That downtown number would be hard to measure the last two years what with the 'work from home' mandate. Even now, downtown based companies are wrestling with these decisions
- what jobs require full time presence in the home office
- what jobs can be performed from home, permanently
- what jobs require some time spent in the office, with the balance of time working from home
Those decisions are going to vary from company to company depending on the nature of the business, and expectations of their customer base. Employees have leverage now on whether they want to work from home.
 
jhappy77 said:
Does anyone know how I could find statistics on what percentage of Calgary jobs are based in each neighborhood? I'm specifically looking to find the percentage of jobs based in downtown versus elsewhere.
Click to expand...
Statscan has these numbers but you have to pay for them.
 
I've noticed that too. The combination of anti-homeless measures, lingering COVID restrictions, and other poor decisions make the CORE a really unpleasant place to be. Its hours are bad. A lot of doors are locked. Random walkways are roped off. It's incredibly annoying to try to move between floors (bad spacing of escalators plus slow and packed elevators). And there's no places to sit. It's no wonder the mall is struggling to retain retailers. They really need to start rethinking how that mall operates in order to accommodate the growing residential population in the greater downtown area.
 
I agree with everyone here, they really need to put some more benches and inviting spaces in The Core.
I’m sure homeless issues factor into it but geez, they have enough security personnel around the mall that it shouldn’t be a problem. Heck you can’t even take a picture in there without security coming over to stop you.
 
The CORE and the downtown association have devoted a lot of effort to make their places less attractive to people, and then they're wondering why they don't have people coming to give them business. It's baffling. I was thinking about meeting up with some friends at a favourite restaurant that doesn't have a patio; I can't safely do indoors, and the fresh air is lovely anyways this time of year. I had the brain wave that we could get our food to go, and then stopped because I realized there's nowhere outside to sit and eat a meal because they've taken all the seating off of Stephen Ave. Great job downtown business association, more revenue lost.
 
I get a general sense of cluelessness from the CDA and the downtown property owners they represent. Remember that time the CDA granted a permit for Billy Graham Ministries to set up a proselytizing trailer on Stephen Ave during Pride Week? Their opposition to bike lanes? Total cluelessness. I really hope there is a generational change underway at the CDA and the other influential boards/orgs that control much of the downtown.
 
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