Now I understand Calgary for the culture it is, its a city of single family homes where kids can play in the backyard and so on. But as Calgary transforms into a big city, it just isn't feasible to keep on having these 2500 sq ft lots. Hey, Calgary might have been that way for years, but the city and its population is changing, and the suburban sprawl just isn't going to work. I agree with DS here, but man did he ever present it in a pretencious manner.
Calgary expanding out rather then up will be Detriot. The old attitudes of those thinking they can do whatever the hell they want without consequence - whether they care about it or not - is a little dumb founding. And these are probably the same attitudes that don't like to see a $25M spent on a bridge; instead, they want to see $25M highways going out to there 2500 sq ft lots. The end result is we're going to see Calgary be one big, boring, ugly POS city.
I have to agree with Muta here, build communities more efficient. I've read alot of Mutas posts the past month, and his idea (not exactly revolutionizing or anything) of building a more beutiful, efficient city is exactly what Calgary needs. We need to see a certain % of people in the downtown. We need to have more efficient communities to cut down on the among of car usage. We need to try and find ways to be more efficient with how we burn up fuels, ref: Deerfoot flood of SUV's and 2 ton trucks. With better proportioned population density, hopefully we can start seeing a more effectively used, efficiently run, and increased frequency of public transit. I remember years ago, idaes were thrown out there to shut down the traffic in the downtown - in some way shape or form, I would love to see the downtown lighten the amount of traffic and supplemented by public transportation in some way.
What I would like to see is property taxes go up to help compensate for all these major roads. People who think they have some sort of fundamental right toown 3000 sq ft of land and pay low taxes just dumbfounds me. Since services have to go out of their way to cater to these spatial-needy sprawlers, then they should have to cover the cost of it.
As for condo's being crappy, small places. Laugh. Ok I understand why young families would want homes, and thats fine. But lets not pretend living in a condo is like suffering under some sort of communist regime. I have friends living in condo's that are living like kings. Their gated community has a common clubhouse area with 2 BBQs, granite tabes, a patio with 3 pool table rec rooms beside a swimming pool and hot tub on one side of the rec room, and a showhome-type kitchen-bar on the other. Upstairs is a private theator tenants can rent for a small group, with 25 leather recliners and a mini bar to dine at while watching movies on (guess, approx) 15 ft x 25 ft screen and surround sound.
http://www.forrent.com/apartment-com...1000051684.php