We frequently hear that Calgarians are apathetic, don’t want to get involved, just want to make money in Calgary and then leave. Certainly there’s some truth to those accusations. The government decisions that most directly affect our daily lives are the ones made at the municipal level, yet in the 2007 municipal election voter turnout was just 33%. If you think that was bad, in 2004 it was even lower: only 19%.
But there’s another side to Calgarians. Many of us do get involved in volunteer work for charities, our children, our communities and other civic causes. Occasionally citizens get involved in local development issues, sometimes out of self-interest or fear, sometimes out of a desire to create a better city for everyone. And from time to time citizens across the city come together and mobilize to fight for big changes that will fundamentally shape the future of the city. In the 1960s there were two such battles, one over the future of the Bow River corridor and another over the future of Nose Hill.
In the mid 1960s the City and the CPR had planned to move the CPR tracks to the banks of the Bow River and couple those tracks with a massive freeway into the downtown. That plan was about to become reality when citizens rose up and stopped it, creating instead a beautiful river park and pathway system. Also in the 1960s, plans were afoot to develop Nose Hill. When citizens learned what was to become of one of their favourite recreation areas, they became politically active and stopped development. The end result was the establishment of Nose Hill Park, today widely considered to be one of the city’s gems.
Calgarians have shown that they can mobilize when critical decisions arise. And when they do mobilize, they can be very effective in shaping the future. This year several critical decisions will be made that will shape the future of Calgary and the surrounding region for decades to come. The new municipal development and transportation plan for the City of Calgary, PlanIt, will come to City Council for approval in June. The Calgary Metropolitan Plan of the Calgary Regional Partnership will also be considered by CRP member municipalities this summer. These, as well as many other smaller but still significant decisions, will shape the future of the Calgary region.
Do we sit by and let special interest groups decide what sort of future we will have? Or do we create an organization that will be a strong voice for the citizens of the city and region, a voice that reflects our role as the most important stakeholders in the future of our city and region? This is what CivicCamp is all about. Join us. Get involved. Get active!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Great read Bryon. Nose Hill and the 9th ave freeway through downtown and Inglewood are great examples of community grass roots action for the betterment of the city. My favorite is still John Bronwlee and the residents along Memorial Drive rising up to quash the expansion of Memorial into a 6 lane express way. What a disaster it would be have been to have the CPR on the south bank of the Bow and a 6 lane expressway on the north. Regardless of the past, PlanIt is our future. I can honestly say that I had little hope for the initiative up until about 3 weeks ago. PlanIt’s press had been bad, citizens seemed apathetic toward it and it looked like it would end up being watered down. Then UDI brought in Randal O’Toole to speak in the city and there were numerous articles in both the Sun and the Herald about their fight against Plan-It. Calgarians were quick to see through Mr. O’Toole and UDI as people looking out for their own financial interest, protecting a form of development which outdated, benign, unsustainable and not in the best interest of the city. The civic response in favour of PlanIt has been nothing short of amazing, even the media seems to have changed its negative spin in the last few weeks, and now CivicCamp. I look forward to having a chance to be a part of the next wave of civic action which I firmly believe will have lasting impact on out city. I also look forward to meeting as many of you as I can, 125 is a lot to meet in one day =)
Where are the photos?
Also: link to the Twitter feed?
Thanks! A
Hey Ashley
The twitter feed available by clicking on the “From Twitter” header above this comment and to the right (under the photo).
And the new photos are in the box, ironically, above the twitter feed …
I hope that was helpful (though I suspect it not have been – sorry!)