[David A]

I am shocked how much hate and mocking towards Edmonton there is on Calgary’s Reddit. People there literally think we live in caves.

I'm not surprised. People I have met from Calgary are pleasant and nice, but if you mention Edmonton they often turn very nasty.

It is as if our very existence somehow offends them. I don't think they ever really got over Edmonton becoming the capital and after all this time there is still this big resentful chip on their shoulders.

 

[David A]

What are the chances of Servus moving their HQ from the far-flung suburbs to downtown? Heaven knows there's enough space vacated by the big banks (looking at you, Scotia Bank and the tower that is now Rice Howard Place).

The big eastern banks can't seem to see beyond Toronto and its housing bubble they helped create that might finally be deflating.

To appropriately name and hopefully shame a few more bad offenders - there is no Royal Bank branch in the building that had its name on it before, of course the old BMO building that they promised would be their Alberta regional office is now an empty lot, with a just a shell of a branch remaining in the building next door.

I wish these large banks would do more for our downtown, but sadly I think they are mostly focused on the city where they have their head offices in.

As a small business owner I prefer to support local business when possible. They often have more of a sense of community.

 

[CaptainBL]

It’s that time of year again where everything is brown and dirty and dusty.

On the drive in to downtown today, from the 23ave overpass to whyte ave all the way up 105st hill into downtown there is nothing but garbage littered all over the boulevards stuck in the bushes.

There is no reason why the city cannot commit a group of individuals to cleaning as soon as possible especially given the weather we’ve been having.

AND on top of that with the Junos coming in a few weeks we really need to step up with so many visitors coming to downtown.

It was absolutely disgusting driving in and city admin would be smart to clean that up asap.

Are we going to have to wait until May for this garbage to be picked up and the streets to get swept?

 

[TAS]

It’s that time of year again where everything is brown and dirty and dusty.

On the drive in to downtown today, from the 23ave overpass to whyte ave all the way up 105st hill into downtown there is nothing but garbage littered all over the boulevards stuck in the bushes.

There is no reason why the city cannot commit a group of individuals to cleaning as soon as possible especially given the weather we’ve been having.

AND on top of that with the Junos coming in a few weeks we really need to step up with so many visitors coming to downtown.

It was absolutely disgusting driving in and city admin would be smart to clean that up asap.

Are we going to have to wait until May for this garbage to be picked up and the streets to get swept?

Copy paste that message to Coun. Stevenson as a minimum or if you want faster reply, Coun Janz.
They may also say please send to 311.
Could also email city manager - Andre actually gave me a call on an issue I wrote in about.

A lot of the cleanup in this city is also done by volunteers, but they don't usually start this early.
Personally, I always pick garbage along railway tracks north of high level on April 18 to do my part - there's a story behind why that date but I won't get into it haha.

 

[David A]

I don't know, the things that our councilors currently go on an on about. Meanwhile they seem to not pay much attention to or have any interest in the basic services.

I had hoped the current bunch would smarten up a bit from the last bunch, but it is not looking good. Citizens are getting really grumpy about a lot of things and if they don't get their act together soon, I have a feeling that despite some of their grandstanding, they will have short political careers. The city really needs to become more proactive, but I don't know if they have it in them. It seems like a very bureaucratic mentality (ie. do nothing and ignore the problems until it becomes a crisis).

The city blames the province, downtown business blames the city, and the province blames the city, when in fact they are all responsible for the state of things and need to work together to fix it, not blame each other. All their finger pointing is getting a bit annoying. Enough of this.

While I am glad the Juno's are coming, I also feel it may be like company showing up early unexpected when we are in our sweatpants and haven't washed our face yet. All those guests might go home with a less than stellar impression and go back and spread the word about the sad state of things here. So, it could do more harm than good.

If the city and business could get together to temporarily do something with much of that empty space in the mall, maybe pop up sites for local performers or to highlight local business, that might help a lot. However, again that would involve the city being proactive and I am not sure the bureaucrats currently running the show there are actually capable of that. It would also involve the city and business to work together and the finger pointing to stop for a bit. Maybe that is too much to ask or hope for.

 

[TAS]

This story doesn't seem to jive with info you shared. Maybe they can offer free parking because their rates are so high otherwise? I don't know. Or maybe their downtown is only more lively like you said it was when parking is free? Or is higher priced parking dt not much of a deterrent there for people?

Calgary's downtown parking rates third highest in North America

A new report says that parking in downtown Calgary is more expensive than in any other Canadian city.

calgaryherald.com

 

[Avenuer]

This story doesn't seem to jive with info you shared. Maybe they can offer free parking because their rates are so high otherwise? I don't know. Or maybe their downtown is only more lively like you said it was when parking is free? Or is higher priced parking dt not much of a deterrent there for people?

Calgary's downtown parking rates third highest in North America

A new report says that parking in downtown Calgary is more expensive than in any other Canadian city.

calgaryherald.com

Those parking rates are also for private spaces so they can charge whatever they llike. There's nothing stopping Oxford or Manulife from charging nothing or cents per hour for their spaces if they wanted. I'm sure the City of Calgary spaces are on par with the COE rates, if not higher.

 

[Gronk!]

Lloyd Sadd Insurance is moving their head office from 124 Street into Bell Tower. They already have some space on the 19th floor.

Downtown Revitalization Coalition on LinkedIn: On behalf of the entire DRC, WELCOME! We're thrilled to have you in the…

On behalf of the entire DRC, WELCOME! We're thrilled to have you in the heart of our city. Alexandra Hryciw Anand Pye Kalen Anderson Lisa Baroldi David Young…

www.linkedin.com

A positive news article for the downtown Debbie Downers

'It takes risk to build great things': Hundreds of insurance workers bound for downtown Edmonton

In what is being seen as a major boost to Edmonton's city centre, Lloyd Sadd Insurance is moving from 124 Street to 101 Street along with about 220 employees.

edmonton.ctvnews.ca

 

[IanO]

This story doesn't seem to jive with info you shared. Maybe they can offer free parking because their rates are so high otherwise? I don't know. Or maybe their downtown is only more lively like you said it was when parking is free? Or is higher priced parking dt not much of a deterrent there for people?

Calgary's downtown parking rates third highest in North America

A new report says that parking in downtown Calgary is more expensive than in any other Canadian city.

calgaryherald.com

Apples and oranges.

 

[TAS]

Apples and oranges.

What do you mean?
You brought up parking rates in Calgary, no?

 

[IanO]

I did indeed, but that report speaks to a very different time.

 

[TAS]

I did indeed, but that report speaks to a very different time.

From the article:

"Since the pandemic and rebound, the number of vehicles entering downtown has dropped by about 18,000 — not enough to bring down the price."

 

[IanO]

I get what it is saying, but a weekday lot/space analysis versus a weekend shopping spot is not comparable.

 

[David A]

I get what it is saying, but a weekday lot/space analysis versus a weekend shopping spot is not comparable.

That is a very good point. Maybe to elaborate on this a bit, due to the decline of people coming to downtown for work, it is hard for the remaining retail businesses to remain viable just on the diminished Monday to Friday business. I am sure the exact numbers are different in various cities, but the concept is the same.

So, a proactive idea would be to encourage people to travel downtown to shop on the weekend, particularly Saturdays. Having to pay for parking deters people from shopping downtown. I realize it is not the only problem, but it is one thing the city has more control over and can easily change. I suspect currently they are not making much on it after paying for the cost of patrolling, etc... If the city took a leadership role on this, they may be able to encourage owners of some private lots to join in.

Something like two free hours on Saturdays could encourage more people to come. Of course, like any idea you never know how well it will work until you try it, so it could be done on a trial basis (say a couple of years). If it doesn't seem to have much effect, probably not much lost, but it could make a big difference to some struggling businesses in a struggling area.

 

[David A]

Here is something I just read with five ideas about what we can do. I'm not advocating for every idea here exactly as stated, but I feel it is well written and gives us quite a bit to think about and consider.

One part that particularly resonates for me is where is says If Edmonton really hopes to continue to be a vibrant, growing, prosperous city, downtown needs to be part of that. “There are no strong regions that don’t have strong cores,” says Tracy Hadden Loh.

Edmonton’s Downtown Needs Ideas. Here are Five | Urban Affairs

We look at cities across North America to determine what’s essential to resurrect a failing downtown

urbanaffairs.ca