A heartfelt thank you to all of our Hub members and fellow Calgarians who fought to make their voices heard over the past few weeks. Late in the evening of November 3rd, Calgary City Council voted unanimously to accept City Administration's recommendation to reject the development of 11 new communities.
After a whirlwind city council session, a unanimous decision was made to accept the City Administration's recommendation to reject all 11 of the proposed new communities. Yes, you read that right: City Council voted to stop urban sprawl. And while developers are invited back to make their case in 2022, for now we can consider this a victory. A victory made possible by all of you. You presented to council, you wrote to your councillor, you tweeted, you shared, and you made your voice heard.
Listen to your citizens and your administration #yyccc. Don't give in to $pressure$ from developers. We have enough budget challenges without the extra expenses of new communities we don't need and can't afford.
— Calgary Alliance for the Common Good (@CommonGoodYYC) October 14, 2020
“The city is getting bigger, and our budget has gotten smaller, and we’re at the breaking point,” Firefighters Association spokesperson Matt Osborne said. #yyc #yyccc
— Calgary Firefighters Association (@CGYFireFighters) October 15, 2020
With no net new jobs, a three-year rise in cost close to $20 million, and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions from sprawl, the decision to reject these business cases really should have been a no-brainer. But add to that a city already with a geographical footprint the size of New York City, an oversupply in new housing and increasing property taxes, which also happens to be in the middle of a global pandemic and an economic recession, it's obvious the right decision was made.
We are seeing over-and-over again how we can use our powerful, collective voice to affect real, meaningful change in our city. We hope to see you all come back out in 2022 if these new communities are proposed once more.
You can read more about the decision in this article from CBC: Calgary council votes against adding 11 new communities
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