You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? Now with 3x more gears...

[OutOfTheCube]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

this made me think of my parents planning when they bought their very first house, moving from an apartment in mississauga to guelph (ontario).
the "city's official plan" was to build a school at the end of the street, so my parents figured it was the perfect location to raise 3 kids. (my brother was 3, i was 1 and my mom was pregnant with my sister)
my parents bought that house in 1974
my parents sold that house in 1986 and we moved to bc
the school was finally built in 1991

Haha yeah that was the first neighborhood we lived in Calgary. “Zoned for schools” — well six years later, not even a hint of anything starting. Was a big influence on us moving.

Fortunately both these schools are well established here!

[getbak]

Yeah, "zoned for..." is one of those phrases developers love to use when selling you a house that really mean nothing in practice. Not just schools, but fire halls and police stations too.

The developers are required to allocate the land, but it's up to government budgets to actually build them. Those budgets are being spent to build the schools in other neighbourhoods that were promised to the parents who had young children 20 years ago.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

My kids go to a second-language program a few neighbourhoods over. It's an 8 minute drive, or a 30 minute bus ride, which (when it comes) leaves from a place about a 5 minute drive from our house. Neither the bus stop nor the school are walkable, and the busses are cancelled quite frequently due to staffing shortages.

My kids' schooling is more important than a huge number of stupid things people do with their vehicles.

If you implemented a ban on cars at schools these kinds of issues would get resolved. That said I would agree that non-neighbourhood schools for things like second language programs would be reasonable exceptions. Alternatively expansion of second language programs into more schools where it becomes the norm rather than the exception would also likely have some benefits.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by GGG

If you implemented a ban on cars at schools these kinds of issues would get resolved. That said I would agree that non-neighbourhood schools for things like second language programs would be reasonable exceptions. Alternatively expansion of second language programs into more schools where it becomes the norm rather than the exception would also likely have some benefits.

Having more demand for bussing wouldn't increase the budget for bussing nor would it increase the supply of bus drivers.

I think it's quite likely that would make the reliability issues worse.

[RichieRich]

Just ticks me off seeing people driving around without clearing any snow other than what their wipers can do. And a mountain of snow on their hood, side and rear windows covered. Like wtf. How are some people ok with this? Why don’t I ever see them being pulled over by the cops?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

Just ticks me off seeing people driving around without clearing any snow other than what their wipers can do. And a mountain of snow on their hood, side and rear windows covered. Like wtf. How are some people ok with this? Why don’t I ever see them being pulled over by the cops?

The one that always gets me is the rear window.

Its a button. Literally, the press of a button will sort that out for you. Just....just press it...just do it...

[Macman]

It’s not even safe as you can’t actually see where you are and what’s going on around you, shoulder check and blind spots. And not turning lights on, you see that a lot too.

[Engine09]

They're too stupid and lazy to turn on their taillights, they're not gonna get a brush and get rid of snow when it's cold out.

[Slava]

Whoever designed that parking lot and almost entire situation at the Tsutina Costco should never work again. I’ll give them a pass for the gas station issue, because presumably the demand is just higher than expected; they probably ought to have known, but whatever.

But the entire design is so dumb. You people parking, and no sidewalk or path to get from the store to their vehicle. It’s complete chaos, and exacerbated because a large number of the drivers end up driving right in front of the entrance. Getting in and out of the parking is a nightmare as it is, but the bad dream doesn’t end when you get in.

And special mention to one issue with the gas station. It’s impossible to get in, of course. These inconsiderate people who pull into the intersection knowing full well they won’t make it around (it’s a turning lane), and block the intersection when the light changes should have their license revoked immediately.

[Sr. Mints]

I've only been once, and admittedly it was a few months after they opened and perhaps not quite discovered, but I would take Tsuut’ina Costco's parking/entrance/gas situation over Beacon Hill any day.

There's still hope for Calaway Costco.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Slava

But the entire design is so dumb. You people parking, and no sidewalk or path to get from the store to their vehicle. It’s complete chaos, and exacerbated because a large number of the drivers end up driving right in front of the entrance. Getting in and out of the parking is a nightmare as it is, but the bad dream doesn’t end when you get in.

What do you mean "you people"?

[calgarygeologist]

They need to loop the traffic for the gas station around the south and east sides of the building to get rid of all the traffic and chaos at the intersection.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by jayswin

What do you mean "you people"?

Haha, I meant to say “you have people parking”

I swear I’m not Don Cherry!

[bizaro86]

The people we had hired to do dinosaur themed activities for my kids 7th birthday this weekend bailed. He's super into dinosaurs, and told all his friends they are doing dinosaur activities.

Today we get a call that the person had an emergency and can't do it. But if we want their regular party we can have that at full price.

Funnily enough, none of the materials for the specific dinosaur activities we paid for are available either (we asked so we could just buy them and run it ourselves) and there is someone available for their regular party. Sort of feels like they decided they didn't feel like honoring the custom order and knew if they waited until the last minute it'd be too late to find someone else.

[Reaper]

nm

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

The people we had hired to do dinosaur themed activities for my kids 7th birthday this weekend bailed. He's super into dinosaurs, and told all his friends they are doing dinosaur activities.

Today we get a call that the person had an emergency and can't do it. But if we want their regular party we can have that at full price.

Funnily enough, none of the materials for the specific dinosaur activities we paid for are available either (we asked so we could just buy them and run it ourselves) and there is someone available for their regular party. Sort of feels like they decided they didn't feel like honoring the custom order and knew if they waited until the last minute it'd be too late to find someone else.

That's really too bad. 7 is an age where it'll be really hard for him to understand why the thing he'd been excited about for weeks that he was told was happening isn't happening.

That's pretty s****y of them. As it really does sound like they just preferred not to do it and figured you'd just accept the regular party.

[Wormius]

That sucks. Maybe it’s possible to improvise with a trip to the dinosaur sculptures at the Zoo or the Tyrrell.

[surferguy]

Tell him a T. rex ate the guy who was supposed to put the party on. He will understand

[PepsiFree]

If you’re creative I feel like you could whip together a dinosaur themed birthday party in a few days. I’ve seen kids entertain themselves with garbage so I assume they’re relatively easy to impress.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by surferguy

Tell him a T. rex ate the guy who was supposed to put the party on. He will understand

The Dinosaur sculptures? Didn't they remove those like a decade ago? Or did they build new ones in their place?