CentreCity

Focus on Safety in the Centre City

The City is joining forces with the Calgary Downtown Association to hold a Focus on Safety Lunch & Learn session for businesses in the downtown core and Centre City area. It will be held at the ConocoPhillips Theatre in the Glenbow Museum on Wednesday, April 8, beginning at 11:30 am.

The noon-hour meeting, featuring a presentation from the Centre City Safety Impact Team, is an opportunity for businesses to learn more about safety initiatives currently underway in the Centre City and to find out more on their role as a business partner and stakeholder concerning public safety.

The CORE's new Skylight

 

Ongoing renovations at the CORE to transform the downtown shopping centre including installing the largest skylight of it's kind.

Turn off the lights

Earth Hour is here again. 

 

The City is partnering with WWF-Canada for Earth Hour 2009 to encourage Calgarians to take part by turning lights off at 8:30 p.m., Saturday, March 28th, 2009.

Parks touted for empty building sites

Well the economic downtown has certainly taken its toll on Calgary’s booming beltline. 

While numerous projects are still going ahead, there is an increasing number of developments that have ceased construction (or are close to it), which means that there are now also several abandoned worksites doting the inner city. 

And The City is trying to figure out what to do with these holes.

The New Science Centre

 

They made this announcement a few weeks ago, but I just came across this video recently.  So in case you missed it, here is the new Science Centre.

Welcome to Animal Farm

So because its Friday, here are a couple of entertaining stories to give you some food for thought (literally) for the weekend on the possibility of urban agriculture. 

The barnyard is about to make an urban comeback in Canada, at least if these folks get their way.

First, the Toronto Star ran a story on a plan proposed by a Dutch company to radically transform farming practices.  Instead of rearing pigs on a farm, where the numerous pens take up an incredible amount of land, why not stack them?   The result is a 40 story skyscraper occupied entirely by swine.  

Beltliners applaud Mustard Seed approval

Calgary’s Mustard Seed Street Ministry got its development permit approval last week (Mar 6) from the Calgary Planning Commission (CPC) for a 224-unit affordable housing development on 10th Ave and Centre St. SE.

And so far, the community response to the decision has been positive.

David Low, Executive Director of the Victoria Crossing BRZ, expressed congratulations to the Mustard Seed. “It’s a good example of what can be accomplished when you get together as neighbours to get the best thinking possible out on the table. All of us should be proud that we took a leadership role to go beyond what the planning process dictates.”

Heritage Beneath Our Feet

The focus of the next exciting Community Heritage Roundtable will link archaeology and heritage and, to phrase it differently, to consider the heritage beneath our feet. 

We will be hosting a panel discussion with a wide a range of perspectives represented.  What is the role of communities, developers and the City of Calgary in this interesting aspect of our heritage?

The little things do matter

Over these last several months of winter, I have often found myself wandering through the +15 walkway system in search of lunch or on my way to a meeting in another building.  

Though not terrible when the sun is shining and spotted with the odd piece of public art, I find many of the +15 walkways are particularly dreary and uninspiring--especially on days like yesterday when the skies are overcast. 

Having grown accustomed to this fairly common scene (left), you can then imagine my surprise when one afternoon on my way to a meeting at City Hall, I wandered into this space instead:

Plan It Open House

Plan It Calgary is hosting five open houses throughout the City in March, including one in the inner city, to give Calgarians an opportunity to see the new Draft Municipal Development Plan (MDP) and the Draft Calgary Transportation Plan (CTP).

Over the next 60-70 years, Calgary is expected to grow by another 1.3 million persons. Plan It Calgary has identified how and where this growth could be accommodated to ensure Calgary remains vibrant, healthy, prosperous, and sustainable.

Everyone is invited to attend to view the Plan It materials, listen to the presentations and ask any questions they may have.