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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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The boy, driving, on his way from U Vic to Calgary, stops to visit..
Only for a day, so while we're both exhausted I take him to the "Spirit Bar". And the women are circling him like sharks...one of the joys of the Kootenays is that there seems to be around 2 women to every guy, a benefit the boy is quick to realize...
I disappear, let him schmooze, talk to a friend of a friend, she's lived here a year, can't get a job, volunteers with a circus school, the addictions center, the music's loud and sometimes I'm not sure if I'm having the conversation I think I'm having, or maybe she's high, or maybe I am, I don't smoke but there's enough of it in the air, on the street, in the water, it's gotta be taking it's toll...
Leaving the club, the boy's exhilarated..."You like?" I enquire, "Do you mind if I come back to visit next week...?" he asks me, and I take this to mean it's a success...Nelson in general, the bar in particular, now only to change the circumstances of my tenure here...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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And there are the vanishing, vanished regulars. Those people you'd count on seeing at least once a week, but they seem to have disappeared, and you could put it down to G***'s departure...
...but G***'s left before, and they've kept on coming, no, it's something else, their loyalty to G*** is really non-existent, it's more the arrival of someone that's put them off...
...the return of the nephew, his grotesque pantomimes, poorly concealed distaste and hatred for our more disadvantaged customers, any, every illusion of fine dining has been lost, fuck the linen, the candlesticks, you'll get a better dining experience at McDonald's, and probably not be so insulted...
I check the obituaries to be sure, nobodies died, yet there's that extra-lengthy interval between visits between what once were our more loyal customers. The correlation is unmistakable. But there's no way to address it, and so it goes...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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The City of Calgary is considering a motion by Ald. John Mar to ban the use of plastic bags.
And on the surface this appears to be a good thing, a step in the right direction, Calgary finally becoming a greener, more responsible city.
Except, of course, it's not. Not even slightly. It's classic misdirection - the oldest trick in the book.
Because, in fact, there is absolutely no impetus by Council, the Mayor or the City to get even slightly green. Not even slightly, not even a bit.
The city is still expanding. There are no brakes whatsoever on the urban sprawl that expands ever further out, ever uglier, like a malignant sore upon the countryside. A once very pretty countryside, I might add, now paved over will vinyl sided dreams of affluence, cookie-cutter middle class visions of wealth and conspicuous consumption. There is still no mandatory recycling program, which would save the landfills 100 times what plastic bags generate. There is nothing for public transport (and to those who would argue, I would suggest you try and map a journey between random points in the city, then make it your job to commute them. And see if you're still so enchanted). Many of our neighborhoods are built ENTIRELY without pedestrian access - no sidewalks or transit to service them, no shops or services built within reasonable walking distance. And cars are still every environmentalists nightmare.
The list goes on. And on. And on.
But it looks good, it looks "Progressive" without the threat, the danger, of being Progressive. It's the nickel thrown at a beggar to salve a troubled conscience, to impress a vapid date or co-worker. It's not a solution.
In context with real leadership and a desire to make our city waste free, a leader in Environmental concerns, it's nothing. Less than nothing even.
Consider this - With the bags gone, what incentives will the city offer to reduce packaging, which accounts for several times more, by volume and weight, the rubbish in our landfills? Think of Christmas, the paper, plastic packages, piles of cardboard, most, if not all, bound for the landfill. And plastics - even bags, offer some potential for being recycled. Does the city have a plan on the table to address this? The packaging of foods - cereal boxes, tin cans, jars - how does the city propose to deal with this? Do they even propose to?
I doubt it. The plastic bag ban is the nickel thrown at the beggers, the beggars in this instance being those troublesome environmentalists concerned about a future our politicians, conservatives and corporations are busy stealing from us and our children. If you raise your voice to your alderman, your city council, raise it about the real issues. And tell them you've seen through this.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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So since weeks since the snow began in December, and most of the residential streets are hummocks and berms of snow that rise above the sidewalks. In many neighborhoods they are impassable. An unusually large accumulation of snow throughout December is to blame, we are told.
But 6 weeks after it began, most of the neighborhood streets have not been cleared, and as fresh snow adds itself to packed slush the streets become increasingly problematic.
The city's response?
Read the article here.
Quote: "The city's 311 service fielded more than 1,000 calls Tuesday and Wednesday from motorists demanding the clogged roads be cleared -- prompting an initial request that residents stop calling".
Think of the city as a service provider, elected officials placed in charge of your tax money to deliver essential services to the community.
Obviously ploughing streets in Canada is not an essential service. Or perhaps the need to plough snow from streets in Canada is not a foreseeable issue.
Or maybe the job of our elected officials is to rebuke citizens for expecting services. That's it, I think....
Quote: "It has been rough weather. But it would be irresponsible to respond to fluctuations in seasonal weather."
Presumably then it would be irresponsible to respond to floods, heat waves or other forces of nature. Your tax money at work.
The solution, in the end? Wait for a chinook to clear it. And when the weather has done it's work the politicians will step forward to grasp at the credit.
**NOTE: A city that put reasonable boundries on growth and expansion, with an emphasis on building up high density urban neighborhoods, would have no problem clearing streets within reasonable time and alloted tax frames. This is obviously not that city.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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So the city finally announced that it's closing the Cecil Hotel. Which is surprising both in that it's taken them so long to do so, and that they ever summoned the will to proceed.
If you're from Calgary you've probably noticed the Cecil, rolled up your windows and locked your doors as you drove by it, it's been a blight on the city for several years. But the increasing violence in the area, drugs, homelessness and crime, and the new East Village project all have finally escalated to the point where the city said enough is enough.
"What is enough?", you ask? Well, for starters the article states that police made an average of 5 visits per day there in 2007 and 2008. These were visits paid for by the residents of Calgary through their taxes. No other business in Calgary gets free policing, bars and nightclubs are expected to keep their premises violence and drug free, bouncers and security are provided by the establishment.
Not so the Cecil.
One wonders what took them so long. And why there was no attempt by the City to recoup some of the costs associated with "keeping the problem under control".
But the next twist is even more interesting. The City announced that it has purchased the Cecil hotel. While one article states that the property has an assessed value of 8.8 million dollars, the City in it's largess with the taxpayers funds agrees upon 10.9 million dollars. This on the brink of a major recession, possibilities for the property include a parkade.
It's good we are so well looked after.
Moral of the story? I'll let you draw your own conclusions....