Braid: Calgary council chased shiny fads while city crumbled - now we pay the bill

Ottawa Citizen

23-07-2025

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Calgary city hall behaves like a bumblebee in a field of daisies, buzzing from one bright colour to the next while the field itself decays.
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For the last four years council has blown millions on the fad of the day – the infamous paper bag bylaw, new bike lanes on roads where cars are brutalized by potholes, the ridiculous rebranding as Blue Sky City.
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Now they discover that infrastructure is crumbling and they need another $62 million to fix it.
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'We're in a place in the city where key infrastructure is degrading at a pace that is outpacing what we can do to keep up with it,' says Coun. Evan Spencer, who brought the motion to spend this money.
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'In my mind, this is the nuts and bolts of running a city.'
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Who didn't know that? Not many citizens. They know bolts aren't in evidence but the nuts are still at city hall.
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Drive any street where developers have left obstacle courses of humps and potholes. Walk a sidewalk that looks like a volcano is bubbling below.
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The city is currently spending $17.8 million to upgrade the Mission bridge over the Elbow, at the junction of 4 St SW and Elbow Drive.
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That's essential work. But stroll a short distance away from the bridge on the east side of 4 St. and you're suddenly on a sidewalk with broken concrete, ruts, humps exposed, jagged holes, and grates with raised edges.
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This is simply the worst, most dangerous stretch of sidewalk I've ever seen in any Canadian city.
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We recently encountered a couple from Mexico who were in town for the big Rotary convention. They looked bewildered as they picked their way cautiously along 4 street. They may have been told Canada is a developed country.
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One of city hall's biggest failings is allowing roads to be virtually destroyed by home and condo developments.
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Developers are required by law to repair the streets, sidewalks and any other public property they dig up.
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In many areas, there's no sign whatever that this is enforced.
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Take a drive though Marda Loop, where massive development turns sidestreets into a landscape of humps and dips. Buckle up or your head might hit the roof.
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The trenches get filled in, yes, but the street is no longer close to level.