I think the only thing that upsets Calgarians more than traffic congestion,  is “optional” traffic congestion.  But what makes Calgarians absolutely livid, is when that congestion is  created by using taxpayers’ dollars.

This is the case with the upcoming Bow River Flow that will, if successful, see the closure of Memorial Drive on August 22.

Having a tourism background, I readily admit that festivals like this add to community vitality, however, I also recognize the importance of this major east-west connector. (This year it is especially critical as many Calgarians use it to avoid the LRT construction on Bow Trail and 17 avenue).

The Aldermanic Committee charged with supporting community events also approved $10,000 of taxpayer money for this “human powered  transportation festival”.   ($8,500 cash plus approximately $1,500 in donated services).

Why we would spend taxpayers’ money to create more traffic congestion is beyond me so I met with the bike organizers to see if we could find a better solution.

I questioned why they had to close Memorial and asked if Kensington or 10th Street might be a viable option. But the answer was “they needed to send a message to Calgarians”.

I think Calgarians have endured enough “messages” and really just want to get their city moving again.

Further, I have discovered this application disregarded several rules, including consecutive year funding and the applicant’s withholding of unspent funds from the previous event.

Some will criticize me as not supporting festivals and others will claim it is a meager $10,000, however, every time Council approves one of these ventures, it chips away at our ability to provide the core services Calgarians expect from their city.

Like snow removal, police officers and fire stations.

But more than the small amount of money, I believe that to consciously add to Calgarians’ existing frustration with traffic, especially when route options are few, is inexcusable.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 1st, 2010 at 1:02 pm and is filed under Survey Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.