I work for Mayor Nenshi, ask me anything!

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

why does the city appear to only re-paint bike lanes at the end of the summer and not in the spring?

my example is 8 avenue ne, going up the hill east of deerfoot. the lines are always so faded away, motorists tend to ignore them. then, near the end of the summer, the city comes around and paints them just in time for bad weather to wear them out by springtime, the cycle continues.

oh, i've already heard the "we don't have enough paint trucks" excuse before, surely that still can't be the reason, can it?

This is an issue with many types of road markings, not just bike lanes. For instance, the City repaints 17,500 crosswalks across the city every year. Currently, the City uses primarily a low volatile organic compound (VOC) paint, which is inexpensive and easy to apply, but has low durability, particularly given the amount of road sand we use.

The City is transitioning currently toward (hopefully) 100% use of Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) which is an epoxy for most types of lines, including bike lanes. It's far more durable, so will last better throughout the winter season.

On crosswalk markings (something I've been working directly on with Roads) we are about to launch a pilot on 17th Avenue later this month, experimenting with a bunch of different materials to test durability.

[Table 5]

Make sure to hit up the airport. It always comes across as bush league went you turn out from the airport (ie towards that first light that goes onto Airport Trail), and there's absolutely no lane markings anywhere to let you know what lane you should be in (that section also has no lights/reflecting material, so at night you can easily hit the median if you don't know its coming).

[Kjesse]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

I met Nenshi for the third time this last weekend in Vancouver. The guy is a rock star. People gravitate to him. He has style and folks like that.

He went from being a big dork in grade school, to still being one now, just now he's the mayor.

He's a great example of how you can take talent -- in his case, intelligence and communication skills-- and become a rock star despite the fact he never fit in with the cool kids.

Compare your average oil and gas executive to Nenshi -- they're cut from a different cloth.

Nenshi can communicate so well that he doesn't need to be "cool" to be adored, and in his case he redefines "cool". He's an exception and the hero of all us regular folk as a result.

He's going to roll over any unfortunate mayoral contender in the next election. The problem is when you develop a following like he has, people tend to stop looking critically. He's taken some positions I'm not a fan of but its almost like there's no way criticism can stick with him-- he's too popular.

Anyway, I'm likely to be among the legions voting for him again, but he needs to be held in check. I'm not at all happy about him giving his managers a free pass on their wage raise fiasco which Nenshi managed to contain with a few short sentences. Those managers knew exactly what they were doing when moving to 3.5% for their underlings and to suggest otherwise is troubling-- if they're so shortsighted, why are they managing the entire city?

[Cowboy89]

I have a question about Attainable Homes Calgary:As I understand it from the Report to the Community posted on their website, they recieve their downpayment gifts to homeowners back in the form of a claw back on the appreciation in equity. What if hypothetically there was no price appreciation over the next the some odd years? Would this have a negative effect on the city's budget and would that have to ultimately be passed on to taypayers?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

I have a question about Attainable Homes Calgary:As I understand it from the Report to the Community posted on their website, they recieve their downpayment gifts to homeowners back in the form of a claw back on the appreciation in equity. What if hypothetically there was no price appreciation over the next the some odd years? Would this have a negative effect on the city's budget and would that have to ultimately be passed on to taypayers?

Well the claw back is a percentage of the sale price, so while I can't say whether that would effect the municipal budget, I can see how it works. Attainable Homes would basically always get their money and depending on when the property was sold they might get the lions share. I think its a great program for a number of reasons, one of which is that it looks to be sustainable (although I haven't done a ton of digging).

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

I have a question about Attainable Homes Calgary:As I understand it from the Report to the Community posted on their website, they recieve their downpayment gifts to homeowners back in the form of a claw back on the appreciation in equity. What if hypothetically there was no price appreciation over the next the some odd years? Would this have a negative effect on the city's budget and would that have to ultimately be passed on to taypayers?

I believe (although not 100% sure) there are options to extend the term in case necessary appreciation has not occurred. This does not eliminate all risk, but reduces it. Of course, all equity in the home is shared between the buyer and Attainable Homes - not just to the amount to recoup the gifted down payment amount.

It's a clever model. There is also now a private shared equity company INHOUSE - a subsidiary of New Urban. They work with different kind of sites (higher density, higher value usually) than Attainable Homes Calgary is. They developed McPherpson Place in The Bridges development (new building at Bridgeland LRT station).

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Ask you anything huh?

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

[rotten42]

African or European?



aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Slava

Well the claw back is a percentage of the sale price, so while I can't say whether that would effect the municipal budget, I can see how it works. Attainable Homes would basically always get their money and depending on when the property was sold they might get the lions share. I think its a great program for a number of reasons, one of which is that it looks to be sustainable (although I haven't done a ton of digging).

The way I read it, it was a claw back on only the appreciation (I could be wrong), not the total homeowners equity that includes the equity portion of resident's payments. Therefore if no appreciation or even (gasp) depreciation, there could be a solvency issue for the subsidiary corporation.

[Bill Bumface]

Why is the City moving towards wider streets in new neighbourhoods?

I know the official answer is "more room for bikes", but:

1) Wide streets encourage speeding
2) Wide streets waste land and create further sprawl

I'd way rather ride my bike down one of the ultra narrow streets in the beltline where you can barely fit two opposing cars, as everyone is already driving very slowly because of the lack of room and poor visibility.

This just seems completely backwards to me.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

Why is the City moving towards wider streets in new neighbourhoods?

I know the official answer is "more room for bikes", but:

1) Wide streets encourage speeding
2) Wide streets waste land and create further sprawl

I'd way rather ride my bike down one of the ultra narrow streets in the beltline where you can barely fit two opposing cars, as everyone is already driving very slowly because of the lack of room and poor visibility.

This just seems completely backwards to me.

Primary collectors will have painted bike lanes, but most local collectors will not. Overall, they are shrinking in size from previous generations of collectors.

http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation...eets-guide.pdf

Local residential streets the overall Right-of-Way will grow very slightly, but it's for boulevard width, not roadway width - to accommodate tree planting so that local streets, particularly those with front garages, don't look so barren.

http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation...gn-Policy.aspx

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Make sure to hit up the airport. It always comes across as bush league went you turn out from the airport (ie towards that first light that goes onto Airport Trail), and there's absolutely no lane markings anywhere to let you know what lane you should be in (that section also has no lights/reflecting material, so at night you can easily hit the median if you don't know its coming).

I believe the Airport is responsible for anything on their property - ie. Barlow Trail between Airport Road and Airport Trail, and all the circulation roads at the terminal. Perhaps that's a complaint to raise with the Airport Authority, but they're planning on doing work on Barlow Trail and Airport Road this year anyway.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Bunk

On crosswalk markings (something I've been working directly on with Roads) we are about to launch a pilot on 17th Avenue later this month, experimenting with a bunch of different materials to test durability.

I must say that the "zebra" style crosswalks are much more visible than the old two thin horizontal lines. Are these the new standard city-wide, or just around schools and playgrounds? Initially it seemed that they were being used selectively, but now they seem to be the new norm.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

I must say that the "zebra" style crosswalks are much more visible than the old two thin horizontal lines. Are these the new standard city-wide, or just around schools and playgrounds? Initially it seemed that they were being used selectively, but now they seem to be the new norm.

It's part of the plan of the liberal elite to make Calgary more European!

[KelVarnsen]

Damn pinkos.

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by Daradon

It's part of the plan of the liberal elite to make Calgary more European!

Sweet dreams. Sweet dreams.

[SebC]

Bunk, could you give us an overview of the Calgary budget? What parts of the budget have received increases from 2011 to 2014 (accounting for the property tax increases)?

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by SebC

Bunk, could you give us an overview of the Calgary budget? What parts of the budget have received increases from 2011 to 2014 (accounting for the property tax increases)?

Holy, that's a big question to answer. Rather than me trying to summarize you might just want to comb through the budget documents and Our City Our Budget Our Future (3 year budget) to see the departments you're interested in.

[moncton golden flames]

hey bunk,

what is the city's plan for st georges drive, north of the new science centre to 8 avenue ne? it's currently a gravel and pothole messed and has been for years. i have noticed that there is signage on 8 avenue directing people to science centre via this route, so shouldn't it be some sort of priority to at least pave the damn thing?

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

I must say that the "zebra" style crosswalks are much more visible than the old two thin horizontal lines. Are these the new standard city-wide, or just around schools and playgrounds? Initially it seemed that they were being used selectively, but now they seem to be the new norm.

Yes, absolutely. We are looking at 3 aspects - the material, the application method/design of the marking and locations to apply ladder or 'zebra' crossings.

The thing you want in a crosswalk is visibility from the perspective of the motorist - and the transverse or horizontal lines across the roadway do not provide very good visibility to the motorist - longitudinal (zebra) lines are much more visible at a distance.

Currently, yes the policy says use zebras at schools and other places like high speed exit ramps as well as anywhere there is overhead flashing lights. However, we're wanting to explore cost-benefit of (durable material) zebra stripes in other high volume and high priority pedestrian areas - such as all of downtown/beltline - urban corridors like Centre Street, activity centres like in and around the university, etc.

The pilot will use a standardized zebra design - a "60/60", which is a 60cm wide marking, with 60cm gaps between lines. Currently, they're just kind of eyeballed and spaced to try and avoid wheel path if possible (but rarely actually happens).