Province gives Calgary money... council deciding what to do with it.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Here's his tweet:

Rick Bell
Calgary you just got screwed. Keating plan wins. #yyc #calsun #yyccc

Yeah, because no one in the city will get any use out of a transitway that runs through at least 4 different Wards.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by SebC

Ward 12 has a proud history of being anti-tax while demanding Calgary's most expensive and worst bang-for-the-buck public transit project ever.

I agree, they should continue to pay ever higher taxes and then watch those dollars get spent on transit projects in other wards.

[Coys1882]

I'm tempted to go on Twitter just so I can tell Rick Bell to go #### himself.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by getbak

Yeah, because no one in the city will get any use out of a transitway that runs through at least 4 different Wards.

This $520 million (over ten years) will help fund Green Line (first busway then LRT), which is both North Central (highest demand bus corridor) and Southeast. In fact it'll touch Wards 3,4,7,8,9,12.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Bunk

This $520 million (over ten years) will help fund Green Line (first busway then LRT), which is both North Central (highest demand bus corridor) and Southeast. In fact it'll touch Wards 3,4,7,8,9,12.

Are you saying this will help fund the Green Line LRT, or that it will help fund the Green Line which will eventually be LRT?

[GGG]

I agree with spending money on additional transit but I hate the process that to it. This 52 million dollars never existed this year. It hasnt been collected yet. So instead of talking about the 52 million we should have put up all of the capital projects the city needs, prioritize and cost them. Then fund an amount balances needs withthe costs. The 52 million has always been a red herring.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Bunk

In fact it'll touch Wards 3,4,7,8,9,12.

That was my count too, but I saw someone on Twitter mention it was 4 Wards, so that's why I said "at least 4".

Is there a map showing where this "Green Line" will run?

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by getbak

That was my count too, but I saw someone on Twitter mention it was 4 Wards, so that's why I said "at least 4".

Is there a map showing where this "Green Line" will run?

Spoiler!

I'm sure some of the SSP guys would have a better one but that should give a pretty good idea.

[Byrns]

So we don't need it for flood repairs? Good thing they found another place to spend it.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Byrns

So we don't need it for flood repairs? Good thing they found another place to spend it.

I believe the 2013 money was allocated to flood repairs. 2014 will be "refunded". Then, 2015-2024 will go to the Green Line.

[Violator]

Use it to reduce the price of lattes!!!

They should put it into a free concert series to get more people into the downtown core.

[Senator Clay Davis]

On the Sun website, the headline in their news (???) article is "Calgary council swipes $52 million tax break for 10-year transit scheme, after one-year rebate". On the Hearld its "Half a billion dollars pledged for southeast transitway". The Sun is awesome, its like a bad New York Post parody that can't be controversial at all, so it settles for being dumb.

[Youzit]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

On the Sun website, the headline in their news (???) article is "Calgary council swipes $52 million tax break for 10-year transit scheme, after one-year rebate". On the Hearld its "Half a billion dollars pledged for southeast transitway". The Sun is awesome, its like a bad New York Post parody that can't be controversial at all, so it settles for being dumb.

Hee hee - thanks for that comic relief. My take on this - Shane Keating is brilliant. His ward probably would vote him in for life based on that move alone - can't imagine how many Christmas fruitcakes are piling up at his front door. right now

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by SebC

Are you saying this will help fund the Green Line LRT, or that it will help fund the Green Line which will eventually be LRT?

Could be either depending on funding from other levels. City has some serious skin in the game now - dedicated funding specifically to this line. Hopefully we can leverage it into commitments from the Province and Feds.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by getbak

That was my count too, but I saw someone on Twitter mention it was 4 Wards, so that's why I said "at least 4".

Is there a map showing where this "Green Line" will run?

You can see the maps here:

link

In the North, it will for the most part follow centre street, though eventually there will be a dedicated bridge over the river, because the bridge can't handle any more traffic.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Bunk

This $520 million (over ten years) will help fund Green Line (first busway then LRT), which is both North Central (highest demand bus corridor) and Southeast. In fact it'll touch Wards 3,4,7,8,9,12.

Let's not forget that less people on deerfoot = better for everyone. I'm a latte sipper but I frequent deerfoot meadows, have a yop gobbling family and of course use the airport and head out of town on the weekend. Anything to alleviate traffic on deerfoot is a win for basically the entire city.

[corporatejay]

Is rick bell for real or is this a character he plays?

http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/11/28...n-take-it-back

t’s tough to write with the stink around here. You got shafted, Calgarians.
Your share of the $52 million is gone, almost certainly to the end of time, starting in 2015.
Instead, the majority of city council vote for the plan Coun. Shane Keating rolls out this week.
The scheme is to take your $52 million for 10 years beginning in 2015, to build bus-only lanes in the southeast and north central parts of the city.

I'm not sure how we get shafted, it's not like we aren't getting much needed infrastructure and transit here, they aren't lighting the money on fire.

[Slava]

I think the part I find frustrating is that this is basically found money, and what we see by council at large is "let's find a way to spend this money burning a hole in our pocket.". I also think that if the stance by Chabot is accurate when he says that we could see a 12-15% tax increase in 2015 is going to make a lot of taxpayers angry, particularly if it is as a result of this project.

I think that as soon as Rick Bell writes a column on a topic that a lot of CP automatically disagrees, largely because its Rick Bell.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Slava

I think the part I find frustrating is that this is basically found money, and what we see by council at large is "let's find a way to spend this money burning a hole in our pocket."

Or to flip that around, take the found money and use it to fund a project that previously we had no idea how we were going to come up with the cash.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Slava

I think the part I find frustrating is that this is basically found money, and what we see by council at large is "let's find a way to spend this money burning a hole in our pocket.". I also think that if the stance by Chabot is accurate when he says that we could see a 12-15% tax increase in 2015 is going to make a lot of taxpayers angry, particularly if it is as a result of this project.

I think that as soon as Rick Bell writes a column on a topic that a lot of CP automatically disagrees, largely because its Rick Bell.

I don't follow how 2015 could be a 12-15% increase, isn't the 2014 budget technically an increase of ~5% (I was following from home a little with a sick kid yesterday) that is "washed out" by giving the $52M back? So the increase for 2014 is there regardless, why would it need to increase by such a dramatic amount for 2015?

It was a long day yesterday, please educate me.