Potential for neighbourhood pot park upsets residents
Weeks after the City of Calgary announced four locations as potential public cannabis consumption sites, a local community association says it was caught off-guard by the proposal and that residents aren’t happy about it.
“When the proposal was announced, we started to be contacted a lot by the people in the community,” said Brian Beck, president and board chair of the Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association.
“We were caught off-guard — usually we hear of these things through a planning process from the city. In this occasion, although there was some back and forth, it was press-released, if you will.”
Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra was the only city lawmaker to put forward the sites: two in Inglewood, one in Bridgeland, and another in Ogden.
The locations are at 11th Avenue S.E. between 11th and 12th streets, 9th Avenue near 22nd Street S.E., Murdoch Park on 7A Street N.E., and 80th Avenue at Ogden Road S.E.
Beck and his community association held an impromptu town hall meeting Thursday night, where the majority of about 150 people attending were against its location, he said.
“I thought it was good because it was a very polite and constructive conversation,” he said.
“What we did as a format thing was to quickly pull together a lot
What we heard at the town hall was ... everyone (but one) at the meeting staunchly opposed to the site.
of the facts at the beginning of the town hall. What we heard at the town hall was ... everyone ( but one) at the meeting staunchly opposed to the site.
“We will try to gather feedback and relay it along, so, in this case, we’ll be passing along a lot of negative feedback.”
There were signs of discontent in Murdoch Park earlier in the week, with posters installed in the space bearing such messages as “Pot in the park? Don’t doob it!” and “Weed rather not.”
However, the signs had been removed when a Postmedia photographer went looking for them Saturday afternoon.
Beck said they were found in a dumpster nearby.
“I assume someone in the name of free speech decided to take them down,” he said.
Carra tweeted in August the four proposed sites met localized criteria to minimize effects by keeping them 100 metres from playgrounds and 30 metres from homes, among other considerations.
He also emphasized they’ll be subject to public consultation and that if such spaces meet with disfavour, it won’t be difficult to readjust them.