Living in Airdrie

[Rhettzky]

Originally Posted by pylon

Brotato is kinda like a cheap Chinese knock off of crazy bacon legs.

Kinda like Star Knight?

[fatso]

Originally Posted by pylon

Brotato is kinda like a cheap Chinese knock off of crazy bacon legs.

he is informative though - I know I hadn't thought about the 'hotato' aspect of commuting. I'm glad he raised and uncovered it for us.

[Brotato]

Originally Posted by pylon

Brotato is kinda like a cheap Chinese knock off of crazy bacon legs.

I thanked your post out of self-loathing

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Brotato

I thanked your post out of self-loathing

Being compared to crazy bacon legs in any context, should be considered a compliment.

[Brotato]

Originally Posted by pylon

Being compared to crazy bacon legs in any context, should be considered a compliment.

My frown just got turned upside down, brotato!

[chemgear]

Well looking at the maps, it looks like the distance from Airdrie to Countryhills is 13.5 km (best case scenario - you sleep in your car sitting on the highway already pointed south.)

And if your car happens to be travelling all out at a 100km/h when you start your commute, that's about 8 minutes or about 7 minutes going at 120km/h the whole way through.

Of course, the above isn't realistic as it excludes any community distance, turns, ramps, lights, normal Alberta weather, etc. just to get on the highway in the first place. For what it is worth, when I drag the markers on google maps to various Airdrie communites, it comes up with 15-20 minutes to get to Countryhills.

[AFireInside]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Well looking at the maps, it looks like the distance from Airdrie to Countryhills is 13.5 km (best case scenario - you sleep in your car sitting on the highway already pointed south.)

And if your car happens to be travelling all out at a 100km/h when you start your commute, that's about 8 minutes or about 7 minutes going at 120km/h the whole way through.

Of course, the above isn't realistic as it excludes any community distance, turns, ramps, lights, normal Alberta weather, etc. just to get on the highway in the first place. For what it is worth, when I drag the markers on google maps to various Airdrie communites, it comes up with 15-20 minutes to get to Countryhills.

Yeah it takes me about 3 or 4 minutes to get to deerfoot, but I have a direct route, 2 lanes, with 3 lights. Depending on where you are you live you have one of 4 routes out.

I base my time directly on my commute, of course there would be longer commutes based on where you live in Airdrie.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Locke

Haha! I love the answers you get from people who move out to small towns because; 'they're great places to raise your kids!'

Have any of these people ever been to a small town school? They typically have lower quality teachers and the kids there are so bored theres nothing else to do but booze, drugs and having 12 people knocking up the same slut.

Airdrie isnt nearly that bad because its actually a sizeable place, but some of the smaller towns are pretty grim.



But, but, but, the small towns are the greatest place in the world to raise your kids!!!! The Big City is so dangerous!

I lived in Redcliff for the first 10 years of my life before moving out to Calgary, but I still went back to visit every year since my cousins still lived there, and you pretty much nailed it. I mean, not sure if it's the same anymore with the internet nowadays, but back in the 80's, they had one crappy public library, a small rec centre, 2 elementary schools, and 1 junior high. They didn't even have a high school as kids were bused to Medicine Hat instead.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I lived in Redcliff for the first 10 years of my life before moving out to Calgary, but I still went back to visit every year since my cousins still lived there, and you pretty much nailed it. I mean, not sure if it's the same anymore with the internet nowadays, but back in the 80's, they had one crappy public library, a small rec centre, 2 elementary schools, and 1 junior high. They didn't even have a high school as kids were bused to Medicine Hat instead.

I dont know where small towns got their good, wholesome family reputation because thats a huge load of BS.

I know people who moved to Linden because its a nice small town where they can safely raise their kids away from the big, bad city. These people are in for a shock, sure it may be all fun and games now, but when their kids get older reality is going to kick them in the face.

Hell, I just had this conversation over the weekend with a girl and her friend who couldnt believe the number of times they were 'alone' (together) downtown Calgary at night!

Downtown Calgary. At night. Its not downtown Kosovo or anything, its Calgary. A handful of people were killed last year, so few its hardly worth mentioning, and most of them were killed in the suburbs!

I agree with Mike Milbury, the pansification of our society is becoming unreal. So these people are going to move to small towns, great, and then what? When their kids grow up and go to school and need to move to a city for University, what then? Will they need an armed guard? Will their parents move in with them? What happens when they get a job downtown just like daddy has? They're going to be woefully unprepared.

The only perceived benefit of moving to small towns is the lower cost of property, but that comes with its own costs in longer commute times and various other drawbacks.

The moral of the story is: Dont sell yourself the crap about moving out of the big bad dangerous city to raise your family in some haven of a small town. Its just doing you and your family a disservice.

[Bill Bumface]

It's beautiful:

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

It's beautiful:

Look at those spacious lots and scenery, now that's country living!

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Locke

I dont know where small towns got their good, wholesome family reputation because thats a huge load of BS.

I know people who moved to Linden because its a nice small town where they can safely raise their kids away from the big, bad city. These people are in for a shock, sure it may be all fun and games now, but when their kids get older reality is going to kick them in the face.

Hell, I just had this conversation over the weekend with a girl and her friend who couldnt believe the number of times they were 'alone' (together) downtown Calgary at night!

Downtown Calgary. At night. Its not downtown Kosovo or anything, its Calgary. A handful of people were killed last year, so few its hardly worth mentioning, and most of them were killed in the suburbs!

I agree with Mike Milbury, the pansification of our society is becoming unreal. So these people are going to move to small towns, great, and then what? When their kids grow up and go to school and need to move to a city for University, what then? Will they need an armed guard? Will their parents move in with them? What happens when they get a job downtown just like daddy has? They're going to be woefully unprepared.

The only perceived benefit of moving to small towns is the lower cost of property, but that comes with its own costs in longer commute times and various other drawbacks.

The moral of the story is: Dont sell yourself the crap about moving out of the big bad dangerous city to raise your family in some haven of a small town. Its just doing you and your family a disservice.

The whole, wholesome family values, safer streets, raising kids arguement is complete and utter BS. I think the perception has a lot of this has to do with misconceptions of an old history in a completely different country. Cities in the US rotted and decayed in the 70s- early 90s as crime increased and people moved to the suburbs to escape this. This led to a prodominant belief that Big City = gritty poor mess. This perception was only really applicable to Calgary in the sense that property values used to be higher in the outer suburbs vs. more inner city. IE when commutes really weren't an issue a newer bigger house in a community of newer bigger houses was preferrable. On a relative scale the roughest neighborhoods in Calgary in the 1970s and 80s were nothing even remotely approaching the scale that the popular culture that permiated from the US protrayed big city life to be. The complete inverse has occurred post 2000 where it's now more expensive to live inner city vs. outter suburbs.

Back to Airdrie in particular. I can't see how Airdrie is socially distingushable positively from other Calgary outter suburbs. It's 45,000 people in a smattering of the exact same types of housing developments we're seeing in other places in Calgary (And in many cases populated by people who used to live in Calgary's suburbs anyway). A newlywed couple who moves to Airdrie today, will see their first born experience their high school years in a city of 100,000 whose city limits run right into the city limits of another city that has 1.5 million people. The urban developments between the two cities at the border will be virtually indistingushable. The only difference will be an ever more increasingly congested stretch of freeway between Airdire and everything else in the city of Calgary.

[RinkRat]

I don't think Airdrie is as super white as people on here make it out to be.....Maybe 12 years ago, but the dynamics are changing just like any other place.....

I do find it funny that when I was deciding my builder the Excel homes rep stated "I don't know if this matters to you, but this is a very white neighbourhood".....I was lied to....downright lied to, I live on the United nations street haha only issue we have is when the Indian house starts fighting with the Pakistani house....and the three now empty grow op houses...

[troutman]

Originally Posted by fotze

The dogs are pretty crappy in Airdire too.

Crappy story below.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/al...377/story.html

nm

[moncton golden flames]

Originally Posted by greyshep

Langdon is awesome. 2nd school opening here in the fall.

Kids can walk to school from K through 9 currently. High School land has already been set aside but is probably a few years from being built.

Great access to the city via glenmore, hwy1 or 22x depending what part of the city you are headed to.

Lots are truly significantly bigger than the city cookie cutter lots in Airdrie.

don't forget about living down wind from the city's largest industrial parks and being next door to massive sewage ponds.

[MolsonInBothHands]

Really gotta laugh at the militant responses. This isn't a Religion vs. Atheism thread, take a breath, get a hold of yourself. A disservice to your family? Larf.

The comments about racism and prejudice are also hilarious while people in the same breath generalize about all small towns with radically large brush strokes.

My best friend moved to Airdrie, 5 years after we did. He's black, has a thriving career as a realtor, so Airdronians must like him, and he loves it there. His business cards even have his big black face pasted on the card, there is no denying you aren't dealing with a whitey. He loves it here. Sure Airdrie is mostly white, as is just about everywhere in Alberta. Does that mean everyone in Airdrie burns crosses on lawns and wears white hoods? That implication actually offends me. My friends and family will attest, I have physically removed people from my home for racial slurs, no exceptions.

Schooling is hit and miss anywhere as well. It's more about good teachers and bad teachers. Calgary doesn't have a monopoly on good teachers, don't be ridiculous.

Someone was wondering about the garage doors being half open; some of them definitely are. There are more prominent areas than Airdrie of course, Didsbury for example, should open its own Chicken-On-The-Way.

The bottom line is there are good and bad parts of Calgary to be in, and there are some easy commutes to work, and tough ones. I don't work in the core, by choice. I live in Airdrie, by choice. My commute is usually max 30 minutes, and Stoney Trail has helped keep it at that way when Deerfoot is a disaster. I am a business owner in Calgary, pay business taxes to Calgary, and I employ ~ 15 to 20 Calgarians, and 10 more from small towns or out of province. I have one token Edmontonian as well, but nobody's perfect. I don't think I would fall under the definition of a parasite to the City of Calgary.

I guess I don't understand the need to trash my choices, but I am perfectly happy with the people who must trash those choices staying right where they are.

[WesternCanadaKing]

I've never been into Airdrie, just gone past it on the QE2. All I have to say is those houses look so cheap I'm surprised they can stay up in mildly windy conditions. It looks like a model town.

However, I have a hate for all things suburban after spending 6 years growing up in the suburbs of Las Vegas (Henderson). The same problem of low quality structures for new houses exists there, although it's probably worse. Almost everything in our house was broken within 5 years: faucets, shower doors, door handles, cabinets, etc.

[wookster]

When people talk about living in a small town i don't think Airdrie qualifies due to its size. I originally come from a town of less than 200 people - to me thats small town living. 40,000+ people?? I don't think so...

If you live in Airdrie you might as well just say your in a Calgary suburb...

[Cecil Terwilliger]

This is neither here nor there but relates a bit to small town living.

I spent a fairly small portion of my youth in Golden BC.

My sister ended up marrying a guy from there. We were talking not too long ago about all my old friends.

I swear to god it went exactly like this:

Me: So what about Jason?
Him: cokehead, now he works at the mill
Me: So what about mike?
Him: cokehead, he's been to rehab like 4 times
Me: What about Tyler?
Him: He's an alcoholic and works at the mill.
Me: What about Matt?
Him: He's an alcoholic and is in jail.
Me: What about that cute girl chelsea?
Him: Pregnant at 16, cokehead, now she's married to Matt the alcoholic who's in jail.


It went on like this for a solid 10 names. I've lived in a few other small towns with similar results.

[OffsideSpecialist]

I come from a town of like 80 people. Two years ago, Airdrie would have seemed huge to me! Although I hate the suburbs. Other seem to love them but not I.

That's Funny Cecil, I had a class last year with a girl from Golden, and she said pretty much the same thing as you. Most of her old friends there were either in jail, drug addicts, alcoholics, have had children in their teenage years or some combination of the above. She seems to have turned out okay though.