Quote:
Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos
Well, the city has that right. They have it right now. They have a mandate to make sure the city actually works, and doesn't just cater to "what someone wants". To make it work, they are going to have to stop building freeways and sending garbage trucks and pipes out past the horsey-jumping place one way and Airdrie the other. It just can't go on like this. It doesn't make sense to just build out and out and out and out. When does it end?
|
The city has the right to stop developing itself outward, but the city can't stop sprawl either. If the city stops, then people who want the suburban lifestyle just move to Airdrie, Okotoks, Cochrane, Chestermere and Strathmore. The city can't stop it, and the city can't stop people from commuting into Calgary. Highways are provincially controlled. If the city stops growing out, all it will find is that the above mentioned cities will grow into it instead. And instead of Calgary getting the tax money from those residents, the cities and the MDs get it.
Calgary grows out because that is what the residents want. And the residents are willing to pay the associated tax burdens to support it. Calgary is going to continue to grow out until it bumps into other communities. I guess the midly good thing about that is that it is already happening. The city is walled off to the SW by the T'suu Tina reserve, and is rapidly connecting with Airdrie, Chestermere and Okotoks.
The city is starting to do good things about growing up rather than out, especially with the mandate of high density around all C-train stations, but there is no point in complaining about the city growing out, because it isn't the city that's responsible. It's the people.