City volunteers colour a senior citizen's world

Some City workers teamed-up on this sunny Saturday to help out a local senior by splashing a new coat of paint on her house and fence as part of the “Colour Their World” program.

“It’s wonderful – they’re such nice people and so helpful,” said senior Shirley Bortnak as she walked around her southwest Calgary home watching the bustling painters - “It looks great.”


Bortnak is on the receiving end of The City of Calgary's City Links program that helps eligible senior homeowners maintain their independence with free home maintenance services such as basic yard care, snow shovelling, house cleaning, house painting and minor repair services.

The labour is done either by volunteers as part of City Links' “Colour their world” program or through the employment and training section, which according to calgary.ca, “provides a safe and supportive work environment for individuals with life challenges to receive paid work experience, personal counselling, employment preparation counselling, as well as life management, work and technical skills training.”

“It’s fantastic,” said Bortnak, “I give them a call and they come out and help me . . . I want to give them all a big hug.”

Today, the volunteers are members of The City’s Senior Services division.

Barb Biggs, a community social worker with The City, said the opportunity affords workers the chance to mingle outside of work while helping somebody else - she also gets to see first-hand, all the work her team does in the community.

“It’s a grand day - a good cause, good people, lots of fun – and I’m learning to paint!” she said.
Rick Kanik, Senior Services manager, said "it’s great to not only give something back to the community, but it’s a wonderful teambuilding event too."

“It’s easy, everything is already set-up and ready to go, we just come here and paint and have a good time,” he said.

According to the City of Calgary, and Statistics Canada:

• There are approximately 107,000 seniors in Calgary today, representing about 10.1% of the population.
• By 2012 the total population of Calgary is expected to climb to approximately 1,131,800. The majority of this growth will be in the middle-aged and older adult age cohorts.
• By 2012, the senior population is expected to increase to 121,900; by 2016 to approximately 146,467, and by 2030, the Calgary senior population will be over 250,000 – about 18% of the population. The anticipated growth in this segment of the population is exponential.

Follow these links for more information: City of Calgary senior citizen programs, City Links and calgary.ca/seniors.

Calgary named Host City for 2009 Gemini Awards

For the first time, on November 14, 2009, the Gemini Awards will visit Alberta.

The City of Calgary was announced as the host by The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (ACCT) along with broadcast partner, Canwest, the Government of Alberta, Tourism Calgary and Calgary Economic Development.

“The Geminis represent the national scope of Canadian television” said Sara Morton, CEO of ACCT in a news release. “Calgary is a hotbed of film and television activity and continues to attract major productions. We couldn’t ask for a better setting for an event that celebrates the best and brightest in Canada’s English-language television industry.” Lindsay Blackett, Minister of Alberta Culture and Community Spirit said, “The eyes of the country will be on Calgary and on Alberta. The Geminis will not only help to promote our province as a cultural tourism destination, but will showcase the wealth of talent and expertise of Alberta’s television production community.”

The Gemini Awards represents one more significant addition to Calgary’s calendar of events in 2009. The venue and broadcast timeslot for the 2009 Gemini Awards will be announced in the coming months.

Take a stroll down East Village's future Riverwalk

Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) released a rendered video of the future Riverwalk in East Village on their website.

The Rivers District is located on the east side of downtown Calgary, stretching from the Bow River to the south end of Stampede Park.

According to CMLC's website, the RiverWalk promenade will be the focal feature of the Rivers District, and complimented by new retail, residential, recreational, and commercial corridors within the area.

Check out the Riverwalk video here.

New Crowfoot Ctrain Station Unveiled

Today, the 101,000 daily passengers of Calgary's Northwest Light Rail Transit (LRT) line have one more reason to celebrate with the addition of Crowfoot Station.

Mayor Dave Bronconnier, along with Devinder Shory, MP for Calgary Northeast and Lindsay Blackett, Alberta’s Minister of Culture and Community Spirit and MLA for Calgary-North West, took a tour of The City's newest LRT station.

This extension brings Calgary's LRT line west from Dalhousie and is another step in upgrading the Crowchild Trail LRT corridor.

Approved by Council in 2005 and costing $220 milion, the extension of the LRT from Dalhousie Station adds seven km of track, a new platform, Crowfoot Station and parking facilities to accommodate over 1300 vehicles.

"Since 2001, in partnership with other levels of government, we have invested over $300 million in improvements along the Crowchild Trail LRT corridor," said Bronconnier in a press release. "The City plans to continue with these investments to support the needs of Calgarians as they travel to their jobs, homes and activities across the city in a safe, efficient and reliable way."

Southland Park sees more trees

About 100 children from a local elementary school used their green thumbs to plant about 1,500 seedlings along the Bow River as part of the Southland Park improvement project.

Max Mandaione, 7, said, "Planting trees is cool because it's good for the environment... and I like to dig in the dirt."

The wee trees which are provided by IKEA and Irving Oil are being planted as part of the 2009 Tree Canada Partnership who's aim is to educate Calgarians about natural areas in Calgary and the importance of sustaining natural spaces.

City of Calgary Parks' staff were on hand to provide support and offer some tree-planting advice for the youth. They will also maintain the fledgling balsam poplars. "Natural areas," said eight-year-old Akrity Jaswal, a second grade student from Langevin Science School "are important". Equally important, she said was getting your hands dirty.

Southland park improvement project from The City of Calgary on Vimeo.

Cultural District partners with Calgary Arts Development

Olympic Plaza Cultural District is no more. Well, that’s a little inaccurate; there will still be Calgary’s 8th avenue plaza and surrounding area, only it will now be known solely as the Cultural District.

The Cultural District announced the name change today as part of its new partnership with Calgary Arts Development

The name change is expected to better promote an area that’s chock-full of arts events, shopping, restaurants and of course an outdoor space formerly known as Olympic Plaza Cultural District.

“Our members asked for a name that was more reflective of the district as a whole. In the years to come we expect the Cultural District to be a premiere destination for arts and entertainment in Calgary,” said Michael Brown, Board Chair of the Cultural District, in a press release.

Additionally, the newly named Cultural District has signed a new service agreement that will see Calgary Arts Development manage marketing and promotions for Calgary’s downtown Cultural District to work closer with community partners like the Calgary Downtown Association and City of Calgary.

Calgary’s downtown Cultural District is filled with one of the highest concentrations of arts and culture venues in Canada, including the EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts, the recently restored Grand Theatre, Vertigo Theatre, the Glenbow Museum, the Art Gallery of Calgary, Cantos Music Foundation and Art Central. It is situated along Stephen Avenue Walk and of course Olympic Plaza, a key Calgary landmark that served as the medal ceremonies site for the 1988 Winter Olympic Games.

“We look forward to working with the Cultural District Board to continue building successful initiatives like First Thursdays,” said Terry Rock, President and CEO of Calgary Arts Development. “We’re also very excited about implementing new strategies to make the neighbourhood more visible and a membership drive to increase awareness and involvement of corporate sector employers and other businesses in the Cultural District.”

First Thursday is a way to promote the Cultural District. It’s a “cultural crawl” on the first Thursday of every month that includes live music, theatre, dance and exhibitions at popular Cultural District locations.

The next First Thursday celebration is on July 2 and includes live music and art openings. Also, watch for CJSW’s Summer Concert Series in Olympic Plaza, which kicks off on June 6 with free shows on Saturday nights during the summer featuring a variety of local bands like Dojo Workhorse, Jay Crocker, Beija Flor and Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir.

Calgary Arts Development was created in 2005 to lead long-term, strategic development of the arts sector in Calgary, guided by the 2004 Civic Arts Policy and invests municipal arts funding of $3.75 million annually in 160 local arts organizations. Visit calgaryartsdevelopment.com for more information.

Seniors Celebrate their Art

‘Once Upon a Time’ is the theme behind many Calgary seniors' art being exhibited at the North Mount Pleasant Art Centre on June 8, at 11 a.m.

Twelve local senior citizens have spent the past 10-weeks honing their art skills by painting in a variety of mediums, drawing and scrapbooking as a way to tell their stories.

“This is such a diverse group,” said community social worker Marcia Dupuis. “Not only are they discovering hidden talents, but they’re carpooling, expanding their support network and making friends.”

I spent some time with the Once Upon a Time art program students this week and was genuinely amazed at how good these amateur artist’s pieces were, and more importantly how well they seemed to gel.

“We were a shy bunch when we came in here – it’s like blossoming, we are going to be friend’s now,” said participant Edith Croft.

The City of Calgary art program, which was free for participants and funded by Family and Community Support Services (FCSS), will hopefully be offered again in Spring 2010.

Sharon Kurtz, who was working on a pictorial journal about her dreams, said it’s nice mixing with people her own age and learning new things together.

“There’s a big social aspect - some of us will connect after (the program is completed) and maybe even get out to a park and paint,” she said.

The 12 participating seniors will showcase their art with their new friends on Monday, June 8 at Mount Pleasant Art Centre. Here is a map.

Calgary's infrastructure project website launched

The City of Calgary has launched a new website today that tracks over $6 billion worth of infrastructure projects over the next five years, where the funding comes for each project and their capital plan.

http://calgaryinfrastructure.ca/ boasts an interactive map that pinpoints 125 capital projects currently funded by The City’s approved 2009 – 2013 capital budget. Each pinpoint displays the project’s construction schedule and status, sources of funding and projected costs. As projects develop, photos and progress reports will also populate the website.

The website was created by a team at The City of Calgary, Customer Service & Communications at a cost of $25,000, funded from the 2009 Mayor's Office budget.

“This is our accountability report,” said Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier in a press release. “By viewing the website, you can find out where the money is coming from and, more importantly, where it is going. You can see improvements in every aspect of Calgary - from light rail transit lines and vehicles, to water treatment, roads and bridges, parks, recreation facilities, and cultural projects.”

The information on the website will be updated to reflect progress on capital projects and note changes in the capital plan moving forward. The website currently indentifies 125 priority projects, with the remaining projects in the approved capital budget to be added over the next few months. By the end of the summer, some 500 projects will be mapped and detailed.

I’d encourage anybody who’s interested in geo-spatial mapping to check out the website. I may be biased because I work with the people that built this site, but in my opinion this website sets a new standard for what it offers – especially as municipal sites go. If anyone knows of a similar site please feel free to forward it along, I’d love to compare.