The Herald's 'Project Calgary'

Wooster · #1 Posted **Oct 9, 2011, 6:26 PM**

This is the Herald's 100 day series - a massive undertaking by Tom Babin and Tony Seskus.

Project Calgary will give new perspective on Calgary's neighbourhoods

By Tom Babin, Calgary Herald October 8, 2011

What would make your neighbourhood better?

It’s a simple question, but the answers are not. The answers come wrapped in expectation and are coloured by perception, history and experience. Still, the question should be asked. Without it, our city will never improve.

That’s why we’re posing it. It’s what’s driving Project Calgary, a new initiative of the Calgary Herald that kicks of today and runs for the next 100 days. In hundreds of ways, we will seek answers to that question, and we want your help.

At the heart of Project Calgary lies an ever-growing archive of data that we have spent months compiling. In nearly 50 different areas, we have collected data on Calgary’s 200 individual neighbourhoods that collectively shed never-before seen light on community life in the city. We have crime statistics, housing data, affordability indexes, and measures of neighbourliness and much more. Want to know how much parkspace your community has compared to your best friend’s? We’ve got that. Want to know where your neighbourhood ranks on an index of coffee shops? We have that too. Worried about growing enclaves of poverty, or the plight of seniors living alone? We have data that can shed light.

Over the course of the project, all of that data and more will be made available to everybody, as spreadsheets or in more easily understood maps and interactive charts, on our website. It’s a project of open data, so we want you to take it, interpret it, post it on your blog, share it with your friends on Facebook, and tell us what you think...

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Project...#ixzz1aJJTqC9A

Wooster · #2 Posted **Oct 9, 2011, 6:28 PM**

Nenshi: Calgary's neighbourhoods are great, but we can make them better

By Naheed Nenshi, Calgary Herald October 9, 2011 8:08 AM

What makes a good community?

This is a question that I have been grappling with for many years (long before the honour of serving as your mayor) and it’s something that your City Council works on every day: making sure every community is a great community.

This isn’t rocket science; I remember when, as a volunteer, I worked on imagineCalgary—the process to develop a long-term vision for our city. One of my jobs was to sift through the responses of 18,000 Calgarians describing their ideal city.

There was remarkable unanimity amongst the responses. When people were asked what kind of a neighbourhood they valued, they said they wanted to live in a place where they could walk to the store. A place where their kids could walk to school. Where kids grow up surrounded by neighbours who are different from themselves, so that they understand that everyone is not the same. Where it’s easy to get to and from work and play. Where that second, third, and fourth family car are a choice, not an absolute necessity to live a decent life...

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Ne...#ixzz1aJJoWL5A

Wooster · #3 Posted **Oct 9, 2011, 6:30 PM**

How walkable is your neighbourhood?

Thousands of Calgarians say they want to live in walkable neighbourhoods. More communities are being built that way, but the city still has a long way to go, say experts.

By Tony Seskus, Calgary Hearld October 9, 2011 12:09 PM

Leigh Peters’ daily commute is never slowed by traffic, road construction or unexpected detours.

When she has to dash to the grocery store, meet friends for dinner or shop, Peters rarely goes hunting for the car keys.

Instead, the resident of Cliff Bungalow burns energy — not gasoline — as she runs errands around her inner-city community. She even jokes her favourite java stop is so close she doesn’t own a coffee maker.

“I don’t drive very much,” says Peters, 35, working in her yard on a sunny afternoon. “I just like being close to work downtown without having to drive and the river paths around here are excellent.”

Peters lives in what’s considered to be one of Calgary’s most “walkable” neighbourhoods, the kind of place where she can live much of her life without a car.

That may seem a rare thing in Calgary, a relatively young North American city largely engineered for the automobile...

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/wa...#ixzz1aJKNNb7C

Wooster · #4 Posted **Oct 9, 2011, 6:39 PM**

Calgary's 100 most walkable communities

Calgary Herald October 9, 2011

100 most walkable communities in Herald's Walk Score tables

CLIFF BUNGALOW 95.75

CHINATOWN 93.75

LWR MOUNT ROYAL 92.75

DOWNTOWN CORE 91.75

HILLHURST 89.5

EAU CLAIRE 89.25

BELTLINE 88.5

DOWNTOWN WEST 85.25

CRESCENT HEIGHTS 84

SUNALTA 82.75

MISSION 81.75

MANCHESTER 76

MOUNT PLEASANT 75.25

TUXEDO PARK 74.25

CAPITOL HILL 73

ROXBORO 72.5

BRIDGELAND 72.25

EAST VILLAGE 72.25

INGLEWOOD 71

SOUTHVIEW 70.25

BANKVIEW 68.5

SOUTH CALGARY 68.5 PARKHILL/STANLEY PK 67

WINSTON HGHTS/MOUNT-

VIEW 66.75

SPRUCE CLIFF 66.5

ELBOYA 66.25

WINDSOR PARK 65.5

RICHMOND 65.25

SUNNYSIDE 65.25

FOREST LAWN 63.25

RAMSAY 62.5

KINGSLAND 61.75

KILLARNEY 61.5

RENFREW 61.25

ALTADORE 60.25

GLENBROOK 59.75

UP. MOUNT ROYAL 59.75

BRENTWOOD 58.75

COLLINGWOOD 58

HNSFIELD/BRIAR HL 58

ROSEMONT 57.25

THORNCLIFFE 57.25

BRITANNIA 57

RIDEAU PARK 57

SHAGANAPPI 56.5

CAMBRIAN HEIGHTS 56.25

RUNDLE 56

GLENDALE 55.75

BANFF TRAIL 54.5

FOREST HEIGHTS 54.5

MARLBOROUGH 54.5

MONTGOMERY 54

RANCHLANDS 53.75

RUTLAND PARK 53.75

ALBERT PARK 53

BOWNESS 52.25

MAYLAND HEIGHTS 52.25

FALCONRIDGE 52

LINCOLN PARK 51.75

HIGHLAND PARK 51.25

MARLBOROUGH PARK 51.25

ROSEDALE 51

CNTRY HILLS VILL 50.75

FAIRVIEW 50.75

GREENVIEW 50.75

BEDDINGTON HGHTS 50.25

CHARLESWOOD 50

HUNTINGTON HILLS 48.75

GLAMORGAN 48.5

ELBOW PARK 47.75

SCARBORO 47.25

WILDWOOD 46.5

ERLTON 46.25

ROSSCARROCK 46.25

ACADIA 45.75

HAYSBORO 45.5

LAKE BONAVISTA 45.5

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS 45.5

ARBOUR LAKE 45

VARSITY 45 CASTLERIDGE 44.75

COUNTRY HILLS 44.5

MCKENZIE TOWNE 44.5

WEST SPRINGS 44.5

SIGNAL HILL 44.25

DALHOUSIE 44

WILLOW PARK 44

HARVEST HILLS 43.75

KELVIN GROVE 43.5

POINT MCKAY 43

PENBROOKE MEADOWS 42

BRIDLEWOOD 41.75

MIDNAPORE 41.75

DEER RIDGE 41.5

HIGHWOOD 41.5

PARKDALE 41.25

BAYVIEW 40.5

DOUGLASDALE/GLEN 40.5

HAWKWOOD 40.5

RIVERBEND 40.25

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Calgary...#ixzz1aJMWGu54

Wooster · #5 Posted **Oct 10, 2011, 4:59 PM**

Project Calgary: Best and worst for walkers downtown

By Tom Babin, Calgary Herald October 10, 2011 10:25 AM

If any place in Calgary can be seen as walkable, it should be downtown. Walkability is an urban concept, after all, and one of the city's images of pride is Stephen Avenue bustling with people on foot.

The city has identified walking as something to be encouraged. In the new Calgary Transportation Plan, one of the goals it "making walking a convenient, year-round option for more Calgarians."

But if you talk to people who live and work downtown, they often complain that the area's pedestrianfriendly image doesn't meet reality. Yes, there are amenities galore, and short distances between them, but crumbling sidewalks, narrow walkways and disruptive construction projects abound.

Downtown redevelopment presents an interesting question. Construction projects often include plans to improve walkability by widening sidewalks, improving the pavement and making streetscapes more friendly to people, but in areas lacking those improvements, decay is setting in...

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Project...#ixzz1aOnyTkGM

Wooster · #6 Posted **Oct 11, 2011, 4:15 PM**

New Calgary developments bringing walkability to the suburbs

People want to be able to walk from their homes to retail, builders say

By Tom Babin, Calgary Herald October 11, 2011

CALGARY — When Allen and Gail Lane lived in Jasper, they were in the habit of getting across town in minutes, on foot or on a bike.

Now that they’re shopping for a home in Calgary, they want a neighbourhood where they can do the same.

So why were they spotted recently toting smiles and a realtor, not in some urban streetscape, but in the city’s deep, deep south? They were in Walden, a new community south of Highway 22x, and were eager to talk about walkability.

“That’s why we’ve liked this area. A lot of the houses we’ve looked at are close to Fish Creek Park or other parks, so we can just hop on our bikes and go. You don’t have to drive,” Gail pointed out. “And the shopping centre to go get your groceries is not that far away.”

“Three minutes,” Allen piped in with a laugh. “I timed it.”

Drive virtually any direction toward the city’s borders, past the rolling waves of single-family homes, and you’ll come upon what’s being touted as a new kind of suburb. Inside the familiar sales brochures featuring beautiful families and golf-green front lawns you’re likely to see a different kind of word: Walkable.

Walkability is one of the sales pitches for the developers of Waldon, SkyView Ranch and a handful of new communities being developed at the city’s outskirts.

It may not seem like much, but after more than a decade in which proponents of livable communities fretted that Calgary’s breakneck suburban growth was creating car-centric communities — a concern many developers dismissed as inaccurate and misleading — neighbourhoods are now being built around main street-inspired shopping centres and transit hubs that are easily reachable on foot. And they aren’t doing it out of a sense of civic duty or environmentalism. It’s what consumers want, they say, and it can be profitable...

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Calgary...#ixzz1aUTXEMWN

kw5150 · #7 Posted **Oct 11, 2011, 10:42 PM**

Oh goodness.....the comment sections......

War on cars? lol, whatever. Give your head a shake people! Its called improving a bunch of our pedestrian infrastructure that was designed for a city of 400,000.

Welcome to the inner city! I live here. You dont.

Im just being facetious in the line above.

EDIT: If no one know what i am psycho-babbling about in the lines above, I was reading the comment sections and cant believe how some people feel about things in this city......so closed-minded.

Wooster · #8 Posted **Oct 13, 2011, 4:49 PM**

Most walkable neighbourhoods: Beltline bustles with some big-city hustle

By Tony Seskus, Calgary Herald October 13, 2011 8:05 AM

Sushi bars, bridal shops, nightclubs, art galleries, homeless programs, historic sites and yoga studios — a stroll through Beltline is unlike any other in Calgary.

It’s got a big-city feeling that’s bustling, vibrant and even gritty, sometimes within a single block.

“It’s one of the few places in Calgary where one can live without a car quite easily and it’s probably the best place to do it,” said Rob Taylor, an area resident since 1983 and community president.

“It’s fun to go outside and watch what’s happening when there’s a variety of people and a variety of things going on.”

On a sunny weekday afternoon, the streets are indeed alive.

Office workers, hipsters, a panhandler and two police officers walking the beat all momentarily share the busy corner of 10th Avenue and 1st Street S.W.

They are among the thousands of pedestrians who use Beltline’s sidewalks each day.

It’s little wonder that when the Herald used walkscore.com to get a sense of Beltline’s walkability, it rated “very walkable.” That means most errands can be run on foot...

Read More:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/travel/...915/story.html

Wooster · #9 Posted **Oct 13, 2011, 4:50 PM**

Least walkable neighbourhoods: Rocky Ridge, Royal Oak rankings hit a dead end

By Tom Babin, Calgary Herald October 13, 2011 8:05 AM

For somebody representing the purported worst of Calgary, Erin Stabbler is very hospitable.

The president of the Rocky Ridge/Royal Oak Community Association in northwest Calgary opens the door with a smile, collects herself, and agrees to set off on a stroll through the most unwalkable neighbourhood in Calgary. That’s according to Walk Score, the website that measures walkability by using an algorithm that tracks distances to neighbourhood amenities like grocery stores, retail spaces and restaurants. In the Herald’s analysis of Calgary communities using Walk Score, Rocky Ridge brought up the rear with a score of 4.5. Royal Oak was a little better at 11, but both communities were labelled “car dependent.”

But walkability, Stabbler says, is in the eye of the beholder. She’s heard all the arguments against suburbs like hers before — they are car-centric, disengaged havens for front-drive garages — but she has other ideas. Stabbler argues that there’s more than one way to look at walkability, and, armed with her two preschool blonds in flip-flops, her leashed dog Ozzy, and Ozzy’s business wrapped in the torn-out pages of a reporter’s notebook (she forgot the waste bag), she lays out an argument like a suburban Jane Jacobs.

“We’re lacking in a few areas. But I don’t think of my neighbourhood as unwalkable, and I don’t think any of my neighbours would say that either,” Stabbler says as we set out on the sidewalk along a long, gently curved street. “There are things that aren’t taken into consideration.”

Exhibit A: Her back lane is a green space centred with a paved pathway. A two-minute stroll brings us to a duck pond. Her kids tear around like they own it. “I can sit in my backyard and not even hear traffic,” Stabbler says. “This is almost like a nature walk.”

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/busines...#ixzz1agJRBlDq

polishavenger · #10 Posted **Oct 13, 2011, 5:12 PM**

Its odd how somebody cant differentiate between least walkable, vs unwalkable, and that they dont realize that "not hearing traffic" doesnt really count towards how conducive your neighborhood is to walking as a mode of transportation for day to day living.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wooster

Least walkable neighbourhoods: Rocky Ridge, Royal Oak rankings hit a dead end

By Tom Babin, Calgary Herald October 13, 2011 8:05 AM

For somebody representing the purported worst of Calgary, Erin Stabbler is very hospitable.

The president of the Rocky Ridge/Royal Oak Community Association in northwest Calgary opens the door with a smile, collects herself, and agrees to set off on a stroll through the most unwalkable neighbourhood in Calgary. That’s according to Walk Score, the website that measures walkability by using an algorithm that tracks distances to neighbourhood amenities like grocery stores, retail spaces and restaurants. In the Herald’s analysis of Calgary communities using Walk Score, Rocky Ridge brought up the rear with a score of 4.5. Royal Oak was a little better at 11, but both communities were labelled “car dependent.”

But walkability, Stabbler says, is in the eye of the beholder. She’s heard all the arguments against suburbs like hers before — they are car-centric, disengaged havens for front-drive garages — but she has other ideas. Stabbler argues that there’s more than one way to look at walkability, and, armed with her two preschool blonds in flip-flops, her leashed dog Ozzy, and Ozzy’s business wrapped in the torn-out pages of a reporter’s notebook (she forgot the waste bag), she lays out an argument like a suburban Jane Jacobs.

“We’re lacking in a few areas. But I don’t think of my neighbourhood as unwalkable, and I don’t think any of my neighbours would say that either,” Stabbler says as we set out on the sidewalk along a long, gently curved street. “There are things that aren’t taken into consideration.”

Exhibit A: Her back lane is a green space centred with a paved pathway. A two-minute stroll brings us to a duck pond. Her kids tear around like they own it. “I can sit in my backyard and not even hear traffic,” Stabbler says. “This is almost like a nature walk.”

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/busines...#ixzz1agJRBlDq

Wooster · #11 Posted **Oct 14, 2011, 2:11 AM**

Project Calgary: East Village a lab for ideas on walkability

By Tony Seskus, Calgary Herald October 13, 2011 7:13 PM

CALGARY — Not so long ago a stroll through Calgary’s East Village could be a pretty grim hike.

Crumbling sidewalks, dimly lit pathways, poorly marked crosswalks and shadowy streets — they all contributed to the pitfalls that awaited visitors.

Combined with the criminal activity once so pervasive in the neighbourhood and you had all the makings of a no-go zone for most Calgarians.

So when the city decided to overhaul the neighbourhood on City Hall’s east side, thousands of hours were devoted to making it a place people would actually want to explore on foot.

Today, the neighbourhood showcases some of the clever strategies that go into making walkable communities, from the positioning of mailboxes to elevated intersections to the addition of urban braille.

“Walkability was a big key in just about everything we did,” says Chris Ollenberger, who led redevelopment of the area when in charge of Calgary Municipal Land Corp.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Project...#ixzz1aiaW4ZX2

Ramsayfarian · #12 Posted **Oct 14, 2011, 1:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by polishavenger

Its odd how somebody cant differentiate between least walkable, vs unwalkable, and that they dont realize that "not hearing traffic" doesnt really count towards how conducive your neighborhood is to walking as a mode of transportation for day to day living.

I'm more concerned about her opening her door with her mouth. But is it her fault for not knowing or the fault of whomever is asking the question for not explaining what they mean by walkable?

/edit
Never mind, I just read the whole article.

freeweed · #13 Posted **Oct 15, 2011, 5:42 AM**

Looks to me that much like the word "organic", the term "walkable" is being perverted to a specific ideological end.

Personally I don't see what's wrong with either definition of "walkable", but it would be nice if people would realize that words have meanings. You can't just redefine something and then harsh on someone for not understanding your new meaning.

Jimby · #14 Posted **Oct 15, 2011, 12:56 PM**

"like a suburban Jane Jacobs" - no, not at all. What a stupid statement.

Bigtime · #15 Posted **Oct 15, 2011, 1:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimby

"like a suburban Jane Jacobs" - no, not at all. What a stupid statement.

If Jane Jacobs was anything like suburbia-mom in the article Manhattan would have ended up covered in freeways.

Wigs · #16 Posted **Oct 15, 2011, 5:54 PM**

^yeah she totally would be married to Robert Moses

Wooster · #17 Posted **Oct 15, 2011, 10:49 PM**

Calgarians seeing value in trading car for nicer neighbourhood
October 15, 2011

When Andrew Bizon, a Calgary engineer, was looking to buy a home, he did some interesting math.

If his busy family of four could live with one car rather than two, they would have an extra $400 to $500 a month for the mortgage, he figured. To make that happen, he would have to commute in other ways, a problem solved with his bicycle.

So with the money saved by functioning as a one-car family, Bizon was able to buy a nice house in South Calgary, an older neighbourhood he loves. It has great amenities, he says, and is close enough to his downtown office that he can walk or take public transit if need be.

“The fact that we are not a two-car family allowed us to put more money into a house,” Bizon says. “Suddenly you’re not paying that extra $400 to $500 a month — that’s almost a second mortgage.”

Bizon’s arithmetic is the kind that drives the Housing and Transportation Affordability Index, a formula developed in the United States as a way of offering homeowners a different way of assessing the costs of living in their neighbourhood. At its heart, the index brings another factor into the usual income vs. housing-cost equation. That factor is transportation.

It may seem like a no-brainer — that cars cost money is a surprise to nobody — but in the U.S., the index has challenged the old mantra of “drive until you qualify,” which reflected homebuyers who would drive away from cities and stop when they reached a suburb they could afford. By taking the cost of transportation into account, that cheap suburban housing might not be as attractive as more expensive communities better suited for walking or transit...

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/busines...#ixzz1atSuFUOH

Wigs · #18 Posted **Oct 17, 2011, 1:41 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wooster

Calgarians seeing value in trading car for nicer neighbourhood
October 15, 2011
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/busines...#ixzz1atSuFUOH

Wooster, I love this series of articles. However I have to stop reading the ignorant comments that people leave behind. That is quite aggravating

Being a member of this message board I tend to forget that not everyone thinks like I do or a majority of us on SSP.
/endrant

Keep on posting them!

RiverRat · #19 Posted **Oct 17, 2011, 3:51 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wooster

Calgary's 100 most walkable communities

Calgary Herald October 9, 2011

100 most walkable communities in Herald's Walk Score tables

CLIFF BUNGALOW 95.75

CHINATOWN 93.75

LWR MOUNT ROYAL 92.75

DOWNTOWN CORE 91.75

HILLHURST 89.5

EAU CLAIRE 89.25

BELTLINE 88.5

DOWNTOWN WEST 85.25

CRESCENT HEIGHTS 84

SUNALTA 82.75

MISSION 81.75

...

ELBOYA 66.25

WINDSOR PARK 65.5

RICHMOND 65.25

SUNNYSIDE 65.25

FOREST LAWN 63.25

RAMSAY 62.5

...

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Calgary...#ixzz1aJMWGu54

Wow, 65 for Sunnyside compared to 80's and 90's for all the surrounding neighbourhoods.

Walkscore must not recognize the trails through Mchugh Bluff and the bridge to Prince's Island.

Sheesh... all those pedestrian pathways are ruining my neighbourhood's walkability.

devonb · #20 Posted **Oct 17, 2011, 4:43 AM**

So says the woman in Rocky Ridge/Royal Oak too