West Village Concept Plan

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by fusili

Actually, I am not too concerned if we have a bunch of "sub-par" condos. Not everyone can afford to live in a luxury condo.

A quality project does not have to equal a "luxury" condo. As a matter of fact I think just the opposite. Look at Colours or Chocolat.

[bookermorgan]

Personally, I would like to see the Brentwood TOD go ahead before this West Village

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Wooster

Oh for FUCK'S sake!!!!

Calgary's West Village blueprint features designer bridge

Pedestrian link urged west of 14th Street S.W.

By Jason Markusoff, Calgary HeraldNovember 4, 2009 7:22 AM

Design concept of the $24.5-million Peace Bridge in Calgary.Photograph by: Courtesy, Santiago Calatrava, Calgary HeraldCALGARY - The concept map for the West Village features what is becoming a mainstay in urban renewal plans for Calgary: an architecturally striking pedestrian bridge.

The ultramodern blueprint suggests a twin-arch Bow River crossing between 14th Street and Crowchild Trail S.W., although design and construction might not occur for another two decades, or more.

It would be a successor to Santiago Calatrava's red helix footbridge about 12 blocks downstream. About 15 blocks east of that will be another designer crossing that adds spark to East Village and St. Patrick's Island redevelopment plans.

And outside the core, there are long-range plans for a pedestrian link as part of Bowness Park's renovation, which would span the Bow to Baker Park.

There's at least one other pedestrian bridge proposed, spanning the Elbow River between Fort Calgary and the Deane House.

East Village and West Village bridges may not be needed now for the parks and pathways, but wait until there are thousands of new residents and workers there, said Chris Ollenberger of Calgary Municipal Land Corp., which is planning the St. Patrick's Island and Elbow bridges.

"You do really want to make those convenient pedestrian connections to obvious gathering places or continuations of pathways that might not have had the traffic volumes to warrant it before," he said, "but as redevelopment occurs, the traffic volumes will definitely be there."

The public furor over the city's $24.5-million Peace Bridge by Calatrava has spilled over into anger at the mere suggestion of more elaborate river crossings for pedestrians and cyclists.

"Oh no, looks like there is another expensive designer bridge planned for West Village," a reader commented on calgaryherald.com.

"What, is the city gonna go and hire another European hack to design it!!? This is outrageous."

Ald. Bob Hawkesworth said council has chosen to spend on infrastructure for foot-powered transportation because it's much cheaper than roads, and helps clear up more street space for drivers.

"The public subsidy for them to take a car or the public subsidy for them to take the bus is significantly higher than the public subsidy for them to walk or take a bicycle," he said.

"Unless you understand that, none of this investment in bridges makes any sense."

Construction of the steelwork for Calatrava's Peace Bridge is slated to begin by year's end.

For the St. Patrick's Island Bridge design competition, Ollenberger plans to announce the judges' three finalists from among 33 design entries.

The bridge in East Village, as well at the future West Village span, will be paid for through a special fiscal scheme that recoups costs from land sales and property taxes in those districts.

In addition to the river crossings, the city also generates a list every three years of top-priority pedestrian overpasses needed over roadways, said Don Mulligan, director of transportation planning. The latest span is over McKnight Boulevard at 44th Street N.E.

jmarkusoff@theherald.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

http://www.calgaryherald.com/enterta...ml#PostComment

====================

I didn't know journalists now cherry pick quotes from anonymous reader comments from a story the day before counted as journalism these days. Maybe Markusoff made the comments himself so he could quote the anonymous comment the next day? We'll never know.

Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

Suddenly the Herald isn't looking any better than the fish wrap Sun.

[MonctonGoldenFlames]

west village = riverview?

[sim]

Originally Posted by Wooster

Oh for FUCK'S sake!!!!

Calgary's West Village blueprint features designer bridge

Pedestrian link urged west of 14th Street S.W.

By Jason Markusoff, Calgary HeraldNovember 4, 2009 7:22 AM

Design concept of the $24.5-million Peace Bridge in Calgary.Photograph by: Courtesy, Santiago Calatrava, Calgary HeraldCALGARY - The concept map for the West Village features what is becoming a mainstay in urban renewal plans for Calgary: an architecturally striking pedestrian bridge.

The ultramodern blueprint suggests a twin-arch Bow River crossing between 14th Street and Crowchild Trail S.W., although design and construction might not occur for another two decades, or more.

It would be a successor to Santiago Calatrava's red helix footbridge about 12 blocks downstream. About 15 blocks east of that will be another designer crossing that adds spark to East Village and St. Patrick's Island redevelopment plans.

And outside the core, there are long-range plans for a pedestrian link as part of Bowness Park's renovation, which would span the Bow to Baker Park.

There's at least one other pedestrian bridge proposed, spanning the Elbow River between Fort Calgary and the Deane House.

East Village and West Village bridges may not be needed now for the parks and pathways, but wait until there are thousands of new residents and workers there, said Chris Ollenberger of Calgary Municipal Land Corp., which is planning the St. Patrick's Island and Elbow bridges.

"You do really want to make those convenient pedestrian connections to obvious gathering places or continuations of pathways that might not have had the traffic volumes to warrant it before," he said, "but as redevelopment occurs, the traffic volumes will definitely be there."

The public furor over the city's $24.5-million Peace Bridge by Calatrava has spilled over into anger at the mere suggestion of more elaborate river crossings for pedestrians and cyclists.

"Oh no, looks like there is another expensive designer bridge planned for West Village," a reader commented on calgaryherald.com.

"What, is the city gonna go and hire another European hack to design it!!? This is outrageous."

Ald. Bob Hawkesworth said council has chosen to spend on infrastructure for foot-powered transportation because it's much cheaper than roads, and helps clear up more street space for drivers.

"The public subsidy for them to take a car or the public subsidy for them to take the bus is significantly higher than the public subsidy for them to walk or take a bicycle," he said.

"Unless you understand that, none of this investment in bridges makes any sense."

Construction of the steelwork for Calatrava's Peace Bridge is slated to begin by year's end.

For the St. Patrick's Island Bridge design competition, Ollenberger plans to announce the judges' three finalists from among 33 design entries.

The bridge in East Village, as well at the future West Village span, will be paid for through a special fiscal scheme that recoups costs from land sales and property taxes in those districts.

In addition to the river crossings, the city also generates a list every three years of top-priority pedestrian overpasses needed over roadways, said Don Mulligan, director of transportation planning. The latest span is over McKnight Boulevard at 44th Street N.E.

jmarkusoff@theherald.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

http://www.calgaryherald.com/enterta...ml#PostComment

====================

I didn't know journalists now cherry pick quotes from anonymous reader comments from a story the day before counted as journalism these days. Maybe Markusoff made the comments himself so he could quote the anonymous comment the next day? We'll never know.

Well, you can take comfort in the fact that we will know. In fact, not only are the quotes picked from an anonymous reader, they happen to be picked from one who was making highly but subtly sarcastic comments, mimicking what a persceptive, albeit, run-of-the-mill Calgarian would probably say. In fact, the whole story seems to be based on said comments:

Bridges!!!
November 03, 2009 - 8:55 Flag this as Inappropriate
Oh no, looks like there is another expensive designer bridge planned for West Village. What, is the city gonna go and hire another European hack to design it!!? This is outrageous! I'm gonna tell my 5 year old right now to start on this design! Perhaps then it can be designed and built for a reasonable price, because I know exactly how much a normal bridge costs!!! We can use the money we save and put it towards the second ring road. I know exactly how much that will cost too! What we need are more roads!!! We can then showcase these in the next Expo!!! Ohhh I hate bridges so much!!! But I do completely understand how a city is run and built.

The original story:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Ca...712/story.html


How do I know this? Well I happen to be said anonymous reader, and can literally not stop laughing about this entire story. I don't know if you can share in this, but this honestly made my day, perhaps week.

I feel I accomplished quite a bit with my comments.

[nick.flood]

delete

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by sim

Well, you can take comfort in the fact that we will know. In fact, not only are the quotes picked from an anonymous reader, they happen to be picked from one who was making highly but subtly sarcastic comments, mimicking what a persceptive, albeit, run-of-the-mill Calgarian would probably say. In fact, the whole story seems to be based on said comments:



The original story:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Ca...712/story.html


How do I know this? Well I happen to be said anonymous reader, and can literally not stop laughing about this entire story. I don't know if you can share in this, but this honestly made my day, perhaps week.

I feel I accomplished quite a bit with my comments.

Holy shit! LMFAO!

You HAVE to email the writer and let him know he was totally had by what was a very obvious sarcastic comment! Or perhaps write it in as a letter to the Herald, but I doubt they'd have the balls to embarass themselves and publish it!

Either way Sim what you have done is "win at the internet". Congratulations!

Originally Posted by nick.flood

The Imperial Oil lot on 4th and 6th will be a good spot for the lemon tree.

A 1000' lemon tree?

[korzym]

How are they going go on with access to this area? They'll have to build a pedestrian bridge over bow trail

[Riise]

Originally Posted by Wooster

Ald. Bob Hawkesworth said council has chosen to spend on infrastructure for foot-powered transportation because it's much cheaper than roads, and helps clear up more street space for drivers.

"The public subsidy for them to take a car or the public subsidy for them to take the bus is significantly higher than the public subsidy for them to walk or take a bicycle," he said.

"Unless you understand that, none of this investment in bridges makes any sense."

To take some good out of the bad, I like how Ald. Hawkesworth stood up for intelligent planning. If only people would listen to comments like his rather than satirical comments like Sim's.

[fusili]

Sim: Congratulations, you have totally embarrassed our print media. And rightfully so. Perhaps you should write an letter to the editor and point this out. In fact write letters to the editor for several Canadian Papers and see if anyone bites. Maybe FFWD would like to take the opportunity to slam the journalistic integrity of the Herald.

But seriously, you should do something about this. Someone has to point out how bad journalism in this City has become. If you don't, I will (jk).

[octothorp]

I agree, that is all kinds of awesome, Sim. Definitely warrants a letter to the editor. The mark of good satire, of course, is that somewhere out there, someone reads it as being dead serious. I would have thought that the 'ohhh, I hate bridges so much!!!' line was a dead giveaway that it was intended in jest, but perhaps this was a case of a journalist desperately wanting a scandal to write about and just seeing what he wants to see.

[You Need A Thneed]

Originally Posted by korzym

How are they going go on with access to this area? They'll have to build a pedestrian bridge over bow trail

I think Sunalta LRT station comes with a ped bridge over Bow Trail, but access is one thing that will certainly get looked at whenever this thing would go ahead, obviously they want to increase connectivity between the areas north and south of Bow Trail and the train tracks.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by fusili

All winners. Crowbow is great. Connotations with the worst interchange in Calgary abound. Your creativity in coming up with ridiculous community names is far beyond mine.

New Scarboro
North Scarboro
Scarboro-on-the-Bow
Scarboro-Without-the-Mountain-Views
Scarboro Village
Scarboro-Ville

[Wooster]

Originally Posted by bookermorgan

Personally, I would like to see the Brentwood TOD go ahead before this West Village

Brentwood is well on its way. It also needs a lot less upfront infrastructure work than West Village. Most of the new infrastructure like the new road network will happen with development.

[Wooster]

Originally Posted by sim

Well, you can take comfort in the fact that we will know. In fact, not only are the quotes picked from an anonymous reader, they happen to be picked from one who was making highly but subtly sarcastic comments, mimicking what a persceptive, albeit, run-of-the-mill Calgarian would probably say. In fact, the whole story seems to be based on said comments:



The original story:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Ca...712/story.html


How do I know this? Well I happen to be said anonymous reader, and can literally not stop laughing about this entire story. I don't know if you can share in this, but this honestly made my day, perhaps week.

I feel I accomplished quite a bit with my comments.

Send a letter the the editor about it. Or an email to the newspaper's editors to let them know what hackery is going on.

[Wooster]

Originally Posted by fusili

Sim: Congratulations, you have totally embarrassed our print media. And rightfully so. Perhaps you should write an letter to the editor and point this out. In fact write letters to the editor for several Canadian Papers and see if anyone bites. Maybe FFWD would like to take the opportunity to slam the journalistic integrity of the Herald.

But seriously, you should do something about this. Someone has to point out how bad journalism in this City has become. If you don't, I will (jk).

Do it.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by bob1954

Would someone explain why everything ends (borders) the CP tracks? Are the CP tracks the only thing stopping this (West Village) from extending further south of the tracks? I'm just courious about this. It seems it's more of a phsycollogical barrier than a phisical one. Having said all that, West Village and the area south, never seem to get the attention that East Village and Rail Lands get. IMO

The CPR tracks are what had to built in 1883 to keep BC in confederation. If I remember my history correctly, the CPR also got the land for 1 mile on each side of their mainline tracks.

In this location it appears they sold the land for the creosote plant (presumably for creosoting railway ties that the CPR needed for building & maintaining their tracks), so the people moving into Scarboro & lower Scarboro probably wern't too upset that the stinky creosote plant was 'on the other side of the tracks'.

Now after 125+ years of trains rolling by, we want to redevelop this land and easily join it to the rest of the neighborhood south of the railway.

Let's dust off the old Trudeau-era Federal plans to remove the CPR tracks from downtown and build some rail tunnels under the Nose Hill (one EB and one WB).

Seriously.

The Western portal would be near Bearspaw Dam Road & 85th St running under Silver Springs, and the Eastern portal would be near 64th Ave / Nose Creek. All the tracks between Bowness, Downtown and Inglewood would be ripped up and the land redeveloped, or turned back to parkland (aka Rails to Trails).

Hopefully the recession is over by the time this gets all approved, so selling the old CPR lands for redevelopment downtown during the next economic boom should easily pay for the cost of the tunnels.

[Bigtime]

Visionary thinking Jsbertram, but I think the logistics of moving the CPR tracks would be a massive undertaking. Something that land sales alone would most likely not cover.

[jsbertram]

Instead of having a different bridge design for each neighbourhood, why not take the Calatrava design, crank it out like sausage & plunk these bridges down wherever we need them?

[fusili]

And how will trains access the yards in the SE. As much as I hate the downtown CPR tracks, I think we just have to face the fact that they are here to stay. I would imagine the cost of removing them and rerouting the tracks would be in the billions.