Ongoing Calgarians complaining about pedestrian bridges thread

[nik-]

Originally Posted by fotze

The welding does look shoddy though, at least the visible stuff (probably not structural or anything) as you are walking. The beads looks like those home reno houses where the cauliking along the bathroom sink appears to be applied with the owners dink.

Is that not how it's applied? Oh boy

[Addick]

Originally Posted by 4X4

So what is the solution? Build up instead of out? Do you want calgary to be all highrises with no suburbs?

Not at all.

Denser does not mean high density; there are numerous levels of density and currently Calgary is quite close to the bottom of the scale. Many of the cities that planning literature praises for their urban qualities (e.g. Barcelona and Paris) are considered low cities as they have a uniform 6-7 storey (mid-level density) built form. While this alone will not work for Calgary as we'll need a few high-density buildings to average out the small density contributions from single-detached houses, a lot of the density can come from low and mid-rise buildings like: single-detached houses with secondary suites, row/terraced houses, and 4-7 storey flats.

Originally Posted by 4X4

Here's the thing you people are not thinking about. The people have to live somewhere. It is cheaper to build out rather than up.

Once all of the costs are tallied, no it is most definitely not. Even with redevelopment, you have to remember two things: i) they need to, or at least should, pay for everything; and ii) they need to be increasing the productivity of the inner-city land (i.e. adding additional people and lowering the per capita costs).

Originally Posted by bizaro86

So again, where's the problem? Fire and police? Even if Calgary was concentrated into a smaller area, we'd still want a certain amount of cops per 1000 citizens. As it is, we have satellite stations all around the city.

In denser areas, the costs are lower to provide these services. Take emergency services for example, their service areas are based on response time. In more compact areas, the smallest station they can built will have a larger portion of people in its catchment area than a similar station in a low-density area.

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I'm pretty sure all the snowplows aren't dispatched from downtown. They're mostly stored on cheaper land outside the core, so they have a longer drive to plow inner city roads than surburban roads.

There are still inner-city bus barns so that is not necessarily true. However, the major issue is the amount of infrastructure needed in 'sprawling' suburbs and how much work needs to be done once the trucks reach these area. Due to their design, the roads that the plows must clear and the pipes that water/sewage needs to travel through are longer. This increases both the capital and operational costs and, to make things worse, there are less people in these areas to pay these larger bills.

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Some other services are also provided in a more efficient manner to newer neighbourhoods. For example, Hawkwood Elementary opened in 1993 and serves 429 students. Sunnyside school was built in 1919 and serves 148 students. Does anyone believe it's more efficient to educate children in very small, very old schools?

They believe it is more efficient to create complete community that do not go through lifecycles that create over-crowed and then under-used schools. One way to stop this trend is to turn older communities that have similar facilities and infrastructure into complete communities. It should be noted that many of these older communities are often unsustainable in the current form, however, they are in a much better position to be retrofitted and refurbished into vibrant, sustainable, and complete communities. In the case of Hillhurst/Sunnyside, it already has a some or a bit of these qualities.

[ranchlandsselling]

Originally Posted by Table 5

No kidding. People are totally cool with spending millions on some random interchange on the edge of town that they will never ever use, but something in the middle of downtown that is accessible to everyone is apparently bad just because you know about it.

Just wanted to highlight the first post regarding "random interchange on the edge of town"
-July 27th 2009

Well done Table 5

[ranchlandsselling]

Originally Posted by fotze

Damn, I was hoping it was me. I concede to Gayble5.

Well you started the damn thread! Thought that would be enough to stroke the Fotze?

[Table 5]

It's cool, I'm used to having my work ripped off.

[octothorp]

My toddler son and I were going out for our morning walk today, and he immediately starting saying 'bree, bree'. Took me a moment to figure out, but he was indeed talking about the peace bridge, which we had walked over a couple times on the weekend. After we walked the bridge, he wanted to go to the local coffee shop for a fancy muffin. So he's not quite a latte-sipping elitist yet, but I'm proud to say he's well on his way.

[The Goon]

Originally Posted by octothorp

My toddler son and I were going out for our morning walk today, and he immediately starting saying 'bree, bree'. Took me a moment to figure out, but he was indeed talking about the peace bridge, which we had walked over a couple times on the weekend. After we walked the bridge, he wanted to go to the local coffee shop for a fancy muffin. So he's not quite a latte-sipping elitist yet, but I'm proud to say he's well on his way.

That's fantastic. I am waiting to visit the bridge myself until my 18-month-old is up for it schedule-wise. Hopefully this long weekend. I think he'll really enjoy it as well.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by flameswin

I took a drive by it today, and it looked nice. But to be honest (and I giggled when I discovered this today), it looks like one of those chinese finger traps.

Everyone google "chinese finger trap" and I think you'll be surprised at the similarity.

Originally Posted by Bigtime

This is quite possibly the most epic fata in the entire thread.

Not enough sarcasm in my post, eh?

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

This is quite possibly the most epic fata in the entire thread.

Maybe if we get that SEO specialist to work for us and we post about it enough times on CP, the first result for Chinese finger trap on Google images would be the Peace Bridge. That'd be an awesome jihad.

[SebC]

CP has insane Google power already.

[The Goon]

Global News tonight had a story on the numbers - 4400 people use the bridge daily; 500 of them are bicyclists.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by The Goon

Global News tonight had a story on the numbers - 4400 people use the bridge daily; 500 of them are bicyclists.

I'm calling BS. I drove by as the blizzard was rolling in and there was no one there.

[psicodude]

Originally Posted by The Goon

Global News tonight had a story on the numbers - 4400 people use the bridge daily; 500 of them are bicyclists.

You just know that if the WRA gets voted in, the bridge use counter dude is so getting fired.

[worth]

I've used the bridge 1.5 times. Once I only walked half way and then turned around.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

in all honesty I've never seen anyone use the bridge, ever, not once... total waste of money

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by worth

I've used the bridge 1.5 times. Once I only walked half way and then turned around.

Unless you jumped off in the middle, that still counts as two.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by octothorp

My toddler son and I were going out for our morning walk today, and he immediately starting saying 'bree, bree'. Took me a moment to figure out, but he was indeed talking about the peace bridge, which we had walked over a couple times on the weekend. After we walked the bridge, he wanted to go to the local coffee shop for a fancy muffin. So he's not quite a latte-sipping elitist yet, but I'm proud to say he's well on his way.

The bridge is going to turn him into a dirty liberal. Great.

[worth]

But it's uneven now.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

in all honesty I've never seen anyone use the bridge, ever, not once... total waste of money

I don't blame you. The view from Fredericton would make any pedestrians hard to see on Calgary's Peace Bridge.

[Bigtime]

Any links to this Global story with the numbers?