They did it again, putting top-down, democracy-be-damned governance ahead of common sense, practicality and the wishes of Calgarians. The same group of Calgary city councillors who voted against the wishes of 78% of Calgarians who presented at a public hearing a year ago, again ‘flipped the bird’ at about 80% of Calgarians who presented at a public hearing held over two days this week. That group, comprised of Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek and Councillors Gian-Carlo Carra, Courtney Walcott, Jennifer Wyness, Raj Dahliwal, Evan Spencer, Kourtney Penner and Jennifer Mian, voted in favour of the West Elbow Local Area Plan (WELAP) that will drastically change the individual characteristics of 16 communities in the southwest corner of the city’s inner city. Voting to send WELAP back to the infrastructure and planning committee for further review of the public input were councillors Dan McLean, Terry Wong, Sonya Sharp, Sean Chu and Andre Chabot. Local area plans, rolled out by the city’s planning department, are designed to ‘guide’ the growth of communities over a 30-year period, per the Municipal Government Act. The West Elbow communities are Altadore, Bankview, Cliff Bungalow, Elbow Park, Erlton, Garrison Woods, Lower Mount Royal, Mission, Rideau Park, Roxboro, Scarboro, South Calgary, Sunalta, Upper Mount Royal, the portion of North Glenmore Park north of Glenmore Trail SW, and the portion of Richmond east of Crowchild Trail SW. .The WELAP calls for dramatic density increases to the communities, including 16-to-20-storey high-rise apartment towers with up to 200 apartments in each on so-called ‘main streets’ that are already some of the busiest and most clogged in the city. It also calls for a flood of multi-family row homes, some with as many as 16 units, to replace the single-family homes that are the dominant type of homes in the communities, as well as “neighbourhood commercial uses along secondary streets and nodes,” according to the city. The majority of presenters at the public hearing said they were not against increased density in their communities, rather they cited the planned towers as being too high; a deterioration of quality of life during construction; the potential loss of heritage homes; and more, saying WELAP should be sent back to the infrastructure and planning commission for review of the public's input. The number one comment was the lack of legitimate consultation and communication with the city and that the WELAP was a foregone conclusion, before any outreach was made to Calgarians. The community associations involved expressed their concerns in a joint letter to the city about the lack of legitimate consultation prior to the public hearing but received no response. .The Elbow Park Community Association’s President Lisa Poole, was not surprised by the decision to proceed with WELAP. “Disappointed and disgusted but not surprised,” says Poole. “The public hearing was a perfect reflection of the City of Calgary’s flawed engagement process. Letters written by concerned citizens were barely acknowledged and legitimate concerns articulated by speakers who will be directly impacted by the decision, were largely ignored.” “Sadly, we have come to expect to have our concerns dismissed and mocked by the Ward 8 office. Facts are an inconvenience for our Councillor Courtney Walcott. When we speak about respecting community context, Councillor Walcott chooses to hear that we’re afraid of change. Compatibility and good planning principles are not concepts that he appears to grasp.” “When (a majority of) community associations express opposition to the plan, it’s a serious signal about a lack of community buy-in. The West Elbow Local Area Plan should have been referred back to administration for further refinement and genuine community engagement. Instead, we’re left with a half-baked plan, designed to benefit those who wish to exploit rather than enhance, built on a foundation of inaccuracies by people who are unfamiliar with the nuances of our communities.” . Walcott is not running for reelection in the fall. One candidate running to replace him is Cornelia Wiebe. “Council’s decision to approve the West Elbow Local Area Plan is what Calgarians have come to expect,” says Wiebe. “A two-year engagement process resulting in the majority of community associations speaking against approval is frustrating to say the least. Calgarians deserve a transparent engagement process with meaningful impact.” The politically left-leaning councillors who voted in favour of WELAP travel a virtual highway that has only left-hand turns and no exits and yes, eventually they end up just running around in circles. It’s clear they thought the issue was Calgarians don’t want higher densities, which is not the case. The issue is the kind of relationship Calgarians feel they have with city hall, that being a total lack of legitimate consultation and communications when it comes to the things that matter the most to them, starting with their homes. The problem at city hall is not the people who do the real work, who write the pamphlets and create the images we see on brochures and on-line. .The problem is the managers who give directions and are in charge of what Calgarians hear and see, who prioritize informing and educating Calgarians. The managers who have predetermined ideals and ideologies focused on DEI and wokeness. They have no interest in listening to Calgarians, no interest in adapting to Calgarians’ wishes, no interest in improving communications. They crave to unlearn Calgarians and then re-learn them to accept their vision of how things should be in their woke world. If the WELAP decision cannot be reversed, at the very least, councillors should launch an independent review of the internal workings of city hall to ensure the number one focus is not just the welfare and safety of Calgarians but also a clear channel of communications.
