Quote:
Originally Posted by 4X4
I thought it was fairly clear that the intention was not so much a festival, but to get more foot traffic and biking and rollerbladers out. I recall them saying they hoped some street hockey games would spring up as well. And of course, they hoped that some local businesses would have a presence as well.
I really don't get why some of you are so outraged by this. To me, this is like those friday or saturday nights where you invite over a few friends just to hang out and then more and more people come and it becomes epic.
All these comments about how it failed miserably make no sense. It wasn't supposed to be a barn burner. It was supposed to take over the street with people not in cars. Obviously, that is the biggest piss off to most of you, but it was also the whole point of the closure. To take over one of our nicest streets for four days. And for it to hopefully evolve into something really cool (hence the four consecutive Sundays).
I just don't get why some people are so pissed. The other lanes were open. Cars got through. What's the big deal? Were you guys late for church because of it? Yeesh.
I don't remember anyone complaining about the Red Mile. And the first few wins were just a few people. And it got bigger and bigger and bigger and became epic. I'm sure someone will reply that there was a purpose to it and there's none here, but if you like wandering around in a sea of people on a summer afternoon, do you really need a theme? Bow River Flow can mean just about anything.
I, for one, hope that they get all four Sundays next year and that this idea doesn't die because a few people are outraged by the sheer idea of it, even though it absolutely doesn't affect them AT ALL.
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I think one of the issues that people have is the sheer ######edness of closing down a major road so that people could get outside.
In a city with as many parks, and with the quality of those parks, to just shut down Memorial Drive as an excuse to get people outside is ridiculous.
There are great parks on either side of Memorial drive. Those are the kinds of places you want to get people out to.
I was inclined to get outside yesterday so I went to Bowness park, becasue it is a great place to get outside and go for a walk with my friends and their dogs. The eastbound lanes of a major thoroughfare next to a line of slow moving traffic is not the kind of place I'd want to hang out, let alone take pets or children.
To me it's the absurdity of closing a road so you can get peple to enjoy the outdoors, something Calgary (especially that part of it) is not lacking in opportunites to do. Then to gloss it over by throwing together a festival, is just silly.
The Alderman of this city should be doing more to promote our cities great greenspaces, not trying to get people to go for a stroll down a strip of asphalt.