In 1913, William Reader, Calgary’s Parks Superintendent stated "I doubt that any other public improvement will tend to create and foster a civic pride in Calgary to the same extent as will the making of boulevards, and planting of trees on our streets, nor will any other feature of our city impress visitors so favorably." (Source: City of Calgary website)

Unfortunately due to a lack of pruning by the City of Calgary these lilac bushes part of a 100+ year our beautification program are dying. This photo was taken in early September

Sometime in October the bushes were cut down. They will regrow but it will take several years. This didn’t have to happen if regular pruning took place.

Vision

Reader’s vision was to develop Calgary into one of the most desirable cities in western Canada by creating great street and parks. His intent was to illustrate that Calgary was a civilized city with high quality public spaces. The City of Calgary is still embracing this vision with projects like The Peace Bridge, St. Patrick’s Island, Ralph Klein Park and The Rotary Mattamy Greenway.

The new West Eau Claire park looks pristine today, but will the city be able to maintain it.

The Peace Bridge looks lovely today, but what will it look like in 10 or 20 years.

Will it look like bridge #1111 over 14th St NW that hasn’t seen any new paint for 15+ years.

5,600 Parks & Open Spaces

While the City of Calgary continues to create significant improvements to the city’s public realm with new projects, it often comes at the expense of the maintenance of older and smaller public realm areas. Today, Calgary has over 5,600 parks to maintain and this number is growing.

FYI: The public realm is defined as anything that everyone can experience for free - streets, squares, parks, green spaces and pathways. More and more people, see the design of the public realm as critical to fostering a sense of community, where people of all ages and backgrounds can mix and mingle.

Some examples of recently completed major public realm projects are the West Eau Claire Park at the south end of Peace Bridge, the mega makeover of International Avenue (17th Ave SE) from 26th to 61st Street and Dale Hodges Park. All of which have been well received by the public, however one can only wonder how they will age? Can the City afford to look after them too?

Take for example, one of Reader’s principal initiatives, that of creating tree-lined streets some with landscaped boulevards. Evidence of this can be seen in Hillhurst along 6th Avenue SW (from 16th to 18th St SW) and Bowness Road (from 14th to 17th Street SW) with their lilacs-lined boulevards. For years, the lilacs have been ignored, allowing them to die a slow death. It would be an easy fix to prune them every few years, but it never seems to happen. Ironically in October the ones on 6th Ave SW were all cut down.

He was also responsible for the Memorial Drive Trees, a living memorial to those who fought in the First World War. Planting began in 1922 along what was then Sunnyside Boulevard (Centre Street to 14th Street) and continued until 1928, resulting in a grand total of 3,278 trees. In 2008, the City launched a $31M “Landscape of Memory” project which included planting new trees, upgrading the lighting, adding banners and creating a boulevard of trees along the middle of Memorial Drive. Today, many of these boulevard trees are dead or look sickly looking and the linear poppy garden is infested with weeds in many spots.

Reader was also responsible for the development of Central Memorial Park (Calgary’s oldest park), converting it from what chief librarian Alexander Calhoun called “ an unsightly wilderness of sand and scrub” in 1913 to its current war memorial theme with huge trees on the east side and the cenotaph on the west. The park’s major enhancement in 2009, aimed at making it a more attractive gathering place for all the new residents moving into the Beltline condo towers has unfortunately, it has become more a haven for homeless and drug users. Locals avoid it as much as they can as the City seems unable to make it safe for everyone.

Many of the trees in the Memorial Drive boulevard are dead or dying. The narrow flower planter has more weeds than flowers most of the year.

Building & Sidewalks

Then there’s our bridges. While the City is busy adding splashy new multi-million dollar pedestrian bridges around the city (61st Street Bridge over Macleod Trail to Chinook Centre, Crowchild Trail at 54th Street and over Bow Trail to Westbrook Mall) they are several old ones that could use a couple of coats of paint. My personal favourite is the #1111 bridge (Yes, they all have a number) – the one over 14th Street NW pedestrian bridge at 8th Ave NW that connects the west and east half of Hillhurst. It currently has more rust on it than paint. An important link to the Hillhurst School, community centre and Riley Park, it’s a sad commentary on the state of the city’s bridge maintenance program.

And don’t get me started about Calgary’s sidewalks. While the City is spending $90 million on upgrading Crowchild Trail for cars, it has made no improvement to the pedestrian crossing at Crowchild and 5th Avenue NW.. In fact, they have made it worse, placing poles in the middle of ramps and next to a fire hydrant, creating an obstacle course for all pedestrians, but especially those with strollers or kids on bikes. Heaven help anyone in a wheelchair. And while I appreciate Centre Street is going to get a mega makeover when (if) the Green Line happens, the current state of some of their sidewalks is deplorable. Elise Bieche, Highland Park Community Association President thinks all of Centre Street’s public realm has been neglected for decades. And you need an ATV to negotiate the potholes in the back alleys of most inner city communities as the City has cut back on the “once-a-year” grading program.

The new sidewalk at the corner of 5th Ave NW and Crowchild Trail is an obstacle course.

The sidewalk by the Bay has been in poor shape for over a decade. This is a high profile tourist corner.

Ugliest LRT Station In North America

When it comes to LRT Stations many consider the 39th Street Station in Manchester to be one of the ugliest stations in North America. Opened in 1981, the station’s metal design not only feels cold and unwelcoming, it still has only a few glass bus shelter for those waiting for a train. The station has a total of about 4,700 people loading and unloading everyday – three times that of the Bridgeland Station.

The 39th Ave SW station looks more like a construction site than an LRT station.

The pathway to and from the Westbrook Station is plain ugly.

George Is Mad

I’m not alone in lamenting the lack of maintenance of Calgary’s public realm. George Brookman in a recent email wrote, “Richard, I am on a bit of a rant regarding municipal maintenance and upkeep. Hundreds of trees that have cost us millions of dollars are not getting trimmed, watered or fertilized. Grass is allowed to grow too long. One of my pet peeves is the fence along Elbow Drive at 30th Ave SW. It is six years since the flood, and we still have ugly concrete barriers where there should be a lovely ornamental fence. In my mind, it is an eyesore along one of Calgary’s prettiest drives and looks like road repairs in a third world country.”

Brookman sent me this photo of concrete barriers that have been in place for several years now, rather than replace the fence properly.

Last Word

Indeed, it is easily to get caught up in the lust of the new and forget about the rust of the old.

Calgary's Public Realm: Old vs New