If you could name one ridiculous thing.....

[Kybosh]

Originally Posted by Flashpoint

What in god's name is that thing?

The world's largest Chinese finger trap.

[worth]

I thought it was pretty ridiculous that the work done on Deerfoot this summer was mostly done during the day.

I drive Deerfoot maybe once a month, so it wasn't an inconvenience for me, (I don't even know if their done yet or not, I haven't been on it in a while) but, in my opinion, if you're going to close down one of the cities busiest and most important arteries, time is off the essence. To see work only being done 8 hours or 10 hours a day just makes no sense to me. Have 2 or 3 shifts and get it done 2 or 3 times faster.

I'm sure the work was contracted, and maybe it wasn't possible to do it that way, but I just found it hard to believe that they city would allow that to happen.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by BurningYears

Johnson, come look at the size of those...

Wang return to your seat, and read us your report on the . . .

[Huntingwhale]

The 3$ per day parking at LRT lots. Just beyond stupid.

[username]

Removed the Hidy and Howdy Welcome to Calgary sign in favour of some dumb Welcome to the New West sign.

[Prototype]

I would think it would be ridiculous for City Council to rename Calgary to Edmonton South. But it looks like people are using actual things on the go.

[J pold]

Having to pay for parking at the LRT stations.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Redoing the city slogan every couple of years.

So, fourteen years now qualifies as "every couple years?"

[Knalus]

Serious lack of pedestrian infrastructure in the suburbs.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Knalus

Serious lack of pedestrian infrastructure in the suburbs.

Listen, buddy. You Suburbanites get the interchanges, and we inner city dwellers get the foot bridges. Got it?

[Pinner]

Originally Posted by J pold

Having to pay for parking at the LRT stations.

They want you to take the bus to the LRT, it doesn't cost anything extra.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

If you do decide to go after the bridge, do make sure you have some facts regarding:

1) How much an "ordinary bridge" would have cost vs the current one.
2) Usage stats regarding the necessity of the bridge.

Most candidates seem to take the populist approach of "City Hall Sucks" and "This is why your snow removal sucks". Would be nice to see a candidate actually work with facts than just the "villagers with pitchforks approach".

Of course, that applies for anything you decide to have as a platform piece....

[SeeBass]

Originally Posted by Reaper

So, fourteen years now qualifies as "every couple years?"

In the last sx months they have just paid $250K to an american company to come up with a new identity

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

If you do decide to go after the bridge, do make sure you have some facts regarding:

1) How much an "ordinary bridge" would have cost vs the current one.
2) Usage stats regarding the necessity of the bridge.

Most candidates seem to take the populist approach of "City Hall Sucks" and "This is why your snow removal sucks". Would be nice to see a candidate actually work with facts than just the "villagers with pitchforks approach".

Of course, that applies for anything you decide to have as a platform piece....

Also, make sure you get the facts right regarding where the funding for the bridge came from, what else those funds could conceivably have been used for instead, and whether or not the bridge was responsible for an increase in property taxes.

[Canada 02]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

The 3$ per day parking at LRT lots. Just beyond stupid.

Originally Posted by J pold

Having to pay for parking at the LRT stations.

are the parking lots still full? If they are, then it's freakin' brillant

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

are the parking lots still full? If they are, then it's freakin' brillant

They're not in many cases.

[Kjesse]

What really burns me these days is that there appears to be no coordination within the city department that decides when construction will happen. This weekend, 5th avenue downtown (one way east) was shut down completely at 5th street, and everyone had to turn south... also one way,... but there was also construction making 5th street South 2 lanes.... the result was a complete bottleneck wasting everyone's time. Even a few well placed signs ahead of the construction would have alerted drivers to turn off earlier, instead, people were stuck for up to 45 minutes.

Not just for the above example, but for many others, and I could go on for hours, but I think this city is completely mismanaged by the administration. Regarding actual management of the city, the elected aldermen and the mayor appear powerless, useless and in some cases too absorbed in promoting stupid pet issues such that they completely fail in asserting any semblance of control over the situation. The city managers need to be called to account and in many cases, a prompt career change for those managers would do everyone some good.

And the audit fiasco? Just shows how awful the council has performed, it really demonstrates that every elected official was sleeping at the switch.

The best thing for Calgary in the next election would be:
(1) a mayor who has never sat on Calgary's council; and
(2) all incumbent councillors lose their seats to fresh challengers.

That's a broad, sweeping statement, and maybe unfair to an alderman or two, but its the only way I see positive change occurring.

[Kjesse]

xx

[yads]

Originally Posted by flameswin

They're not in many cases.

That's actually good. This way people can make trips at other times in the day than just early in the morning or in the evening. When the only way to get a spot was to show up at 6:30 am, it was clear some demand for parking needed to be curbed.

[Flames in 07]

increasing the prop tax rate in the middle of the city and decreasing in the burbs, when those resources will be used to buy more pipes, roads, traffic lights and LRT's in sparse suburbs.