Is Alberta turning into a total social cesspool?

[ok, ok,....I get it]

Originally Posted by maverickeastwood

Cowboy...your a pretty smart guy. lemme see if I can clarify. You have people coming from all corners of the country...at times the world, to work and live here. In turn, you have different ideas, cultures, cliques and attitudes (regional, provincial and global). This could very well make for a melting pot of something that could not taste very well or something that could taste very good. I've seen much good come from people here, but at the same time, I've seen some pointless maliciousness and unprovoked evil (for the lack of a better word).

mmmmmmm are you from here......English much?

[Russic]

Perhaps I'm looking a little too deep into the original post, but when somebody creates a thread like this it always comes off (to me) as a real tidy way of saying "I don't like immigrants".

Perhaps if you feel Calgary is a crime laden hellscape on account of the immigrants then you should try and live in a city like Regina that boasts the lowest % of immigrants in Canada. With a stat like that i'm sure they have a very low crime rate.

[Got Miikka?]

Originally Posted by Daradon

You are what you make of it...

I agree with this overall; but I will add, if you can't 'make it' what you want, you can always leave in search of greener pastures. Find some place that feels more like you.

[mikey_the_redneck]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Look at a city like Montreal, live there for a few months and the difference will knock your socks off. In the summer, every day of the week, on the weekends, etc. there are always amazing festivals, huge gatherings, parties, live music, performances, dance parties, or even just thousands of people getting together in a big public park to play with bongos.

Yes but here in Alberta we have jobs to go to every day. We cant just sit around like a bunch of hippies and play bongos while Alberta pays our bills because we are poor........

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by mikey_the_redneck

Yes but here in Alberta we have jobs to go to every day. We cant just sit around like a bunch of hippies and play bongos while Alberta pays our bills because we are poor........

This is the exact attitude that stigmatizes life in Alberta - we spend 23 hours a day working, with hardly any time left in the day to relax.

It's great that we have a high standard of living here because all we do is work, but when are we going to be able to enjoy the same cultural events that a place like Montreal holds? Here, cultural events seem to have to be pre-planned and marketed weeks in advance to draw attendees. In Montreal, people just congregate on a whim.

I wish Calgary had that. However, if you approach people in a park with a pair of bongos or a guitar, they'll either call the cops, or tell you they don't have change and that you should get a job.

[ok, ok,....I get it]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

This is the exact attitude that stigmatizes life in Alberta - we spend 23 hours a day working, with hardly any time left in the day to relax.

It's great that we have a high standard of living here because all we do is work, but when are we going to be able to enjoy the same cultural events that a place like Montreal holds? Here, cultural events seem to have to be pre-planned and marketed weeks in advance to draw attendees. In Montreal, people just congregate on a whim.

I wish Calgary had that. However, if you approach people in a park with a pair of bongos or a guitar, they'll either call the cops, or tell you they don't have change and that you should get a job.

You are surprised a poster of that name made such a post.....besides he/she has clearly never been around the coffee shop in Kensington......hippie freaks

[Rhettzky]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I wish Calgary had that. However, if you approach people in a park with a pair of bongos or a guitar, they'll either call the cops, or tell you they don't have change and that you should get a job.

Well really, get a damn job you filthy hippies. Last thing this city needs more of are patchoulie reeking hippies stinking up our public parks with their crappy bongo music and skunk weed. Cut your filthy dread locks and get a job you borderline transient scumbags!!

[Nancy]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

This is the exact attitude that stigmatizes life in Alberta - we spend 23 hours a day working, with hardly any time left in the day to relax.

It's great that we have a high standard of living here because all we do is work, but when are we going to be able to enjoy the same cultural events that a place like Montreal holds? Here, cultural events seem to have to be pre-planned and marketed weeks in advance to draw attendees. In Montreal, people just congregate on a whim.

I wish Calgary had that. However, if you approach people in a park with a pair of bongos or a guitar, they'll either call the cops, or tell you they don't have change and that you should get a job.

3.5 million people in the Montreal Metro Community versus, what, 1.1 million in Calgary? 125,000 students at McGill, Concordia, and the University of Montreal versus 30,000 at the U. of C.. Calgary just doesn't have that market size and critical mass.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Nancy

3.5 million people in the Montreal Metro Community versus, what, 1.1 million in Calgary? 125,000 students at McGill, Concordia, and the University of Montreal versus 30,000 at the U. of C.. Calgary just doesn't have that market size and critical mass.

But Montreal is a "small market"

[BlackArcher101]

Maybe an expensive good looking pedestrian bridge would help alleviate this problem?

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

Maybe an expensive good looking pedestrian bridge would help alleviate this problem?

You know what? I won't hurt. It will get people talking about architecture and the culture of their city (it already has). It will help draw people downtown, allow easier and better pedestrian and cycle movement.

I've never quite understood this notion that 'downtown is a ghostown'. Calgarians tend to equate "downtown" with only the Central Business District. Well, by this definition is "downtown" Toronto a ghost town, is Lower Manhattan a ghost town? No, of course not - no one's hanging out on Bay or Wall street on the evening or weekend, but the areas around it are where life always is!

Downtown isn't only the office area. Most cities define their downtowns more broadly than Calgarians. 17th ave is as every bit downtown Calgary as Queen or Bloor Streets in Toronto. 17th certainly has vital streetlife at all times of the day. In cities, it's the areas immediately surrounding the business districts that often have the most life and vitality. When the weather is decent, Eau Claire and Prince's Island Park is pretty bustling, Chinatown is rather busy on weekends, Kensington and the Beltline are busy most of the time, Inglewood is a good hood, and Stephen Ave has definitely come back from the dead. Stephen Ave is often quite busy on evenings and weekends now (when was the last time many or you were down there???). It is noticably busier than even a few years ago (thanks to things like Flames Central and the great restaurant scene there).

Sure, the areas around the CBD have some ways to grow and improve still and once areas like Eau Claire, East Village and Beltline live more fully up to their potential, I think Calgarians perceptions of "Downtown" will change. It won't matter that 6th ave is quiet at night - and nor should it matter - if you're waiting for the office core to be a hub of nightlife, you'll be waiting forever.

As for festivals and gathering - there is lots to do in Calgary - probably more than any single person could possibly do in a year. The festival scene has exploded in the past 5-10 years in Calgary. This will only get better as the city gets bigger.

As for bongo drum gatherings - ever been to Riley Park on a nice saturday???

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

This is the exact attitude that stigmatizes life in Alberta - we spend 23 hours a day working, with hardly any time left in the day to relax.

It's great that we have a high standard of living here because all we do is work, but when are we going to be able to enjoy the same cultural events that a place like Montreal holds? Here, cultural events seem to have to be pre-planned and marketed weeks in advance to draw attendees. In Montreal, people just congregate on a whim.

I wish Calgary had that. However, if you approach people in a park with a pair of bongos or a guitar, they'll either call the cops, or tell you they don't have change and that you should get a job.

Want to know why Montreal gets all those great festivals, cultural events etc... Federal transfer payments from... Alberta.

Maybe we could have whimsical summers of care-free dancing and bongo playing (who the eff likes the bongos...) if Quebec would pull some of their weight...

By the way, there is nothing awesome about Montreal. St. Catherine's St. is a piece of nasty stripper trash.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by peter12

By the way, there is nothing awesome about Montreal. St. Catherine's St. is a piece of nasty stripper trash.

Don't be ridiculous - Montreal's a great city and St. Catherine, one of the great streets in Canada.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Bunk

Don't be ridiculous - Montreal's a great city and St. Catherine, one of the great streets in Canada.

Montreal is a great city, but it's not the be-all and end-all that some people make it out to be. It's a pretty decent city with a lot of $hitty, unfriendly people and a lot of decaying infrastructure. I wouldn't take it over a lot of cities in North America.

And St. Catherine's is a piece of trash.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by peter12

Maybe we could have whimsical summers of care-free dancing and bongo playing (who the eff likes the bongos...) if Quebec would pull some of their weight...

I'd rather be in a place that works to live, not lives to work, but that's just me. And I'd rather be dancing and playing bongos in the park during the summer than cooped up in a cubicle...

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I'd rather be in a place that works to live, not lives to work, but that's just me. And I'd rather be dancing and playing bongos in the park during the summer than cooped up in a cubicle...

I make money so I can go do actual fun stuff, not waste my time wearing used clothes and playing bongoes in a park.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by peter12

I make money so I can go do actual fun stuff, not waste my time wearing used clothes and playing bongoes in a park.

If you haven't noticed yet, bongoes are a metaphor for spending less time at work if it's not necessary...

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by peter12

I make money so I can go do actual fun stuff, not waste my time wearing used clothes and playing bongoes in a park.

Like what, go watch the rodeo, go line-dancing, and drive a big pick up truck all while complaining about the immigrants and hippies?

[Nancy]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

If you haven't noticed yet, bongoes are a metaphor for spending less time at work if it's not necessary...

Do people actually like to play the bongos? I thought they just did that to drive the normal people out of the park so that they didn't have any complaints about them smoking weed in a public place or otherwise cramping their "style."

[ok, ok,....I get it]

Originally Posted by Igottago

Like what, go watch the rodeo, go line-dancing, and drive a big pick up truck all while complaining about the immigrants and hippies?

nice.....very nice......maybe people in the west do other things.....