Saturday, November 5, 2016

Nenshi for 3rd Term

You'd be hard pressed to find one person who would say Mayor Nenshi's time as mayor has been an outright bust. The ones you would find are angry people who aren't quite straight. Yes, some misgivings, and perhaps some hubris, but overall he's been a good mayor for Calgary. He's announcing a third term. It's a civic election where about 1/3 of eligible voters come out, so chances are he's a shoe-in. I'm fine for another term, but at some point we may want to look at, as a city, at mandated term lengths. 2-3 terms max. You have career Councillors (I'm thinking of some from down SOUTH), who've been on staff for a GENERATION. Just a thought.

Monday, October 31, 2016

Happy Halloween

Here's a quick snap I found on the Peace Bridge.

http://imgur.com/gallery/EEJZKUV

Monday, September 26, 2016

YYC Cityscapes

I like city-shots of YYCs downtown. here's another with the northern lights, awesome.



http://www.codyjames.ca/wp-content/uploads/Calgary-Photographer-23-1.jpg

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Have you seen this mouse door in Riley Park?

http://i.imgur.com/w31hGOF.jpg

I've seen it, and it's recently been repaired. A cool little find in a nice inner-city park. What other things have you found in your neighborhood park? I remember another park in Lynwood where a few trees were painted (not the greatest to do that) but it was for a disc golf course for neighbours....

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

'Oops' Bike Lock

This picture hit the front page of Reddit
it was shot in downtown Calgary. Turns out it's probably not as innocent. Bike thieves dot his all the time until they can return at night and saw off your bike lock and take two bikes home.... If you get in this predicament you can call the police and they'll come to hopefully cut the lock off....

Monday, June 13, 2016

Bow to Brookefield to Bow

The Bow building in Calgary is about to be eclipsed by the Brookfield tower, making the latter the tallest building in Western Canada. Here are pictures from one looking at the other. Bow to Brookefield
View post on imgur.com
Brookfield Looking South
BrookField Place South Crane

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

No Uber in Calgary? Boo hoo

The notion of Uber finally entering into the market in Calgary was an exciting new opportunity for consumers to have an alternative to the archaic and dysfunctional taxi system. The only problem since the service tried rolling out with no rules (And nobody wanted that) was the lack of policy behind the innovation. That shift came as Council changed the livery rules and opened the door to Uber and Lyft related services. http://www.calgary.ca/CSPS/ABS/Pages/Livery-Transport-Services/Thinking-about-driving-for-Uber.aspx Uber's response? Not good enough and they won't be rolling out in Calgary till they get their way https://newsroom.uber.com/canada/en/response-to-calgary-city-councils-proposed-ridesharing-bylaw/ Like a spoiled brat on the playground, they are taking their toys home until they get their way. The rules in place are for consumer protection, and they are not onerous by any means. Uber as try the same tactic in other cities and held out until he got there way. This Is not a way to do business and although it took time for the City to get on board and break the taxi monopoly, it has happened so take it or leave it. The new rules are merely consumer protection and don't seem unreasonable.

Friday, February 12, 2016

Via Rail from YYC to Banff?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/train-passenger-banff-calgary-1.3445936 There is a rumor swirling around that VIA rail Will reintroduce their train service between Calgary and Banff. Unlike relatively populated Europe, there is very little training service in Canada. VIA used to have a passenger train station in Calgary but that hasn't been around for ages. The idea would be to open up passenger rail service between two cities and hopefully open up park usage to those without cars. WIll it work or will our car happy city ignore the new service? It will certainly be an option for tourists to take a quick get away to the mountains. As those without a vehicle increase, one can see the possibility that a rail service would makes sense, but there needs to be a critical mass of customers.