Times, they are a-changing

How long do you have to blog for before you can/will consider yourself a blogger? I’m not sure, but over the holidays I put on my marketing cap, got a little bit introspective on myself, did a bit of thinking about what this blog is really about.

As you can see from the description over there on the right hand bar (for viewers reading this at blog.djkelly.ca and not in a reader) when I started blogging a couple months back I knew what I was interested in but not necessarily what I was going to write about. Well it looks like politics is in the lead if it were a race – that probably won’t change but I’ll certainly try to beef up the other areas in the next couple months. But the real question I pondered was: what does everything I’ve written about have in common?

I think it is the last line in that blurb about “It's all from my point of view in Calgary though. That much I know.” I think it has been and know it will continue to be.

So I’ve decided to renew that commitment by flexing my creative muscle (which like the ones in my arms need a trip to the gym badly) and add an image to the banner at the top of this blog. What’d you think? If you’re viewing this in a reader you’ll have to come to blog.djkelly.ca to see it. Obviously.

The image comes from the Calgary Urban Initiative and is a rendering of what the Calgary downtown will look like from Crescent Heights in 2011. Although with project delays and construction cost increases the image will probably be more truthful in about 2013 or so…

The original image came from the Calgary Downtown Association and was altered by Devin Henry. You can find the CUI blog post with this image here, and another version from Stampede Park in this post here.

I like the image because it reminds me Calgary is changing and everyone had best hold on for the ride over the next few years.

But if the new banner up there or the City’s newly released 10 year plan don’t convince you of that, perhaps the recent news that every classroom in Calgary is now wireless will. That is real change that you will be able to see; change that will clearly benefit Calgary’s future.

Breaking ground downtown: A new Canadian trend?

In an earlier post I talked about Vancouver's newly announced $71 million plans to update their downtown east side into an arts campus with state of the art performance spaces and the like.

I meant to mention this at the time, but it just so happens that one day earlier Montreal made a similar $120 million announcement. This time the announcement is all bout revamping their city's arts district - a one square kilometre area that will be redubbed Le Quartier des Spectacles. The space will include the Place des Arts and be home to almost every festival Montreal is famous for including Just for Laughs and the Montreal International Jazz Festival.

Wow. Can you imagine having something like that in your city? The area is almost guaranteed to become the heartbeat of the city. With buskers, acts and stage shows ongoing there will always be something to see in that area of town. Plus with the influx of people visiting you know the street level shops will be bustling, restaurants will be busy and everyone in Montreal and around the world will be talking about that spot. Certainly that's Montreal's vision. (Heck, the "Lighting Plan" alone is worthy of the world's attention.)

Apparently the people behind Evergreen in Toronto were listening at the same time too because earlier today they announced a $55 million project to redesign the city's old Don Valley Brick Works into a world-class green space, complete with heritage buildings and arts programs. The new Evergreen Brick Works will be an urban space unlike anything seen in any other city.

These three projects are the kind of visionary thinking we need to see more of in Canada. Especially Calgary.

So, I reiterate my impatience to see more movement on the Athabasca University, Calgary Board of Education, SAIT Polytechnic, University of Calgary, and University of Lethbridge sponsored Urban Campus Initiative being proposed for Calgary's own downtown east side. It's going to take a lot of work to get this project going, but the time is now - before the boom slows to the point the project stalls.

Certainly this is what the world is looking for, and we had best provide it if we want to consider ourselves world-class.

I don't think $38 million invested in Calgary's park system is going to do it. (Even though it is a much deserved way to honour our veterans.)

Breaking ground downtown: A Tale of Two Cities

Well this sure sounds familiar.

While Simon Fraser University, Vancouver and the British Columbia government are putting their money where their mouths are by undertaking a massive downtown arts education campus, Calgary's similar Urban Campus Initiative appears to have stalled.

The two projects seem similar except there appears to be more of an arts focus in Vancouver and the Calgary project looks like it leans more in the direction of focusing on community. The goals appear to be very much the same however with both having heavy community and arts angles.

So why has the SFU project suddenly picked up steam while the UofC/Bow Valley College/SAIT/University of Lethbridge/Athabasca University/Calgary Board of Education project doesn't look like its even updated its website since June 2006? (No seriously, this isn't a rhetorical question. Not like: isn't involving so many red-tape heavy institutions just asking for trouble?)

Why has such a great project pulled up lame before even getting into the start blocks? According to the CBC report on the Vancouver project the lynch-pin was the Government of British Columbia's investment. Meantime, the Urban Campus website states Calgary city council agreed to turn the land over if the Alberta provincial government invested. And...? Is this where the hold up is?

I guess it looks like it will take some serious digging to find out what's going on here in Cowtown.