Sensible planning, safety key issues
Reeling in crime takes centre stage for council hopefuls in downtown area
Calgary’s Beltline community at the core of Ward 8 is where the action is in the city — whether citizens are walking home, visiting its many restaurants, bars and shops, or travelling through its bustling streets.
It also keeps Calgary’s finest hopping.
Indeed, public order is one of many concerns Peter Oliver, president of the Beltline Neighbourhoods Association, says is foremost on the minds of voters in the ward.
“Generally, people here would welcome the idea of more beat cops and more police presence to help keep things in check,” Oliver said.
He also is happy to see Ward 8 candidates speaking about community reinvestment and making life more livable for those who call Beltline home.
“As much as the cycle tracks are politicized, they really are an important part of how people get around here.”
Ward 8 is a diverse district encompassing much of the downtown core and neighbourhoods south and west along the shores of the Bow River.
In Bankview, another Ward 8 neighbourhood, community association president Nathan Berko says now is the time for the city to refresh the neighbourhood’s local redevelopment plan.
“It’s over 30 years old,” he says. “Parts of it we really want to maintain and protect — there’s parts we definitely want to change. But it really does seem like planners don’t have a current guidebook for sensible planning for our community.”
That, he says, results in new developments that aren’t a good fit for the community.
Boundary changes that go into force on election day mean changes to Ward 8.
The ward’s eastern edge now terminates at 4th Street S.W., while the southern borders drop down Glenmore Trail and 50th Avenue S.W., encompassing the neighbourhoods of Lincoln Park, Currie Barracks, Altadore and Britannia.
The redrawn borders also mean Mission and the Stampede grounds are in Ward 11.
Increasing safety and walkability is key for candidate Carter Thomson, a shopkeeper.
“I would be absolutely relentless in as far as trying to co-operate with the various agencies to make citizens feel safe,” he said.
“There are just so many problems with addiction and homelessness. People are sleeping where they don’t belong and getting into things that they’re not supposed to be getting into. People don’t feel safe walking to the bus. They don’t feel safe around the transit stations.”
Project manager Karla Charest, who is also vying for the Ward 8 seat, says greater scrutiny of tax spending is needed to ensure public safety.
“It’s easily accommodated, given the chamber of commerce has already come out and said we’re overspending by $750 million in operation costs,” she said, adding that target-hardening of downtown condo buildings — particularly with exterior key lockboxes — will take a bite out of property crime in the downtown core.
While economic downturns mean belt-tightening at city hall, incumbent Evan Woolley says policing should never fall victim to austerity-related funding cuts.
“Domestic violence, over the past three years, has gone up significantly,” Woolley said.
“Petty crime, car break-ins, garage break-ins, home break-ins, these are all up. It’s obviously more complex than that, but we need to ensure that our police have the resources they need to do their job.”
The machinations of municipal politics are nothing new to candidate Chris Davis, a planning and development lawyer who previously worked in the city’s law department. Davis says keeping order in such a diversely developed ward is an extraordinary challenge.
“As a fiscally conservative candidate, I’m challenged by a department saying in advance of the budget process, ‘We need this money,’ ” he said.
“In terms of a value-for-money proposition, and looking at making touch choices, I think policing is going to be one of our priorities. We’re going to have to roll up our sleeves and really look at making tough choices.”