Quote:
Originally Posted by The Familia
To me it seems Calgary has lost a lot of its Can-Do attitude it once possessed in the late 80's. We were the little-city-that-could and punched our way to the top by obtaining such things as the Olympics and building a world-class (at the time) arena. The whole city was united and really strived for the best. I find too many people in this city don't care about the growth and appearance of Calgary anymore. The transient population doesn't care about the city. They want their money and then they will leave. I'm glad that the tide appears to be turning somewhat with projects like the Peace Bridge, East Village, BOW tower, new library, and music center. The crying that surrounds these projects though is disheartening. Time to regain our swagger and aim high.
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I don't know if I agree with this. I think the city has come along way in defining what type of city it wants to be and aiming high. There are so many projects that have been embraced by the people here, among those you mentioned, like the Bow building, East Village, River Walk, the green corridor, etc., and the people have more to be excited about on the horizon!
I think most Calgarians have just matured when it come to what makes the city great, and what it takes to make a great city. We focus now on quality of life, street-scapes, parks, public art, and public/free goods rather than the monoliths of years past. We have also become more discernable on what and how we expect the government to spend our money.
This is not aimed at you but I can't help shake the feeling that the people criticizing opponents of CalgaryNEXT as "small-minded" or "small-city oriented" as a bit of a reverse.
Small-city people are the ones who think a city needs a grand vision of something. A monolith or some defining event to establish credibility. They think that to be a Paris/NY, you need an Eiffel Tower / Empire State Building; but the opposite is true. What people love about those cities, what makes them world class is the streetscapes, the density, the vibe of the place. CalgaryNEXT (in whatever form) won't change that in Calgary.