Room for Improvement in Calgary

Love Calgary because there’s still room for improvement

We’re not too proud to admit that our love for Calgary still has room to grow. Don’t get us wrong, we love this city, but we see its faults and so we’re putting it on notice: herewith, some of the things we would love to love in the coming years.

• Doctors for everyone. An estimated 200,000 Calgarians, almost 20 percent of the city, don’t have a primary-care doctor. While Alberta Health and Wellness has put an emphasis on primary care networks to help alleviate the problem, more doctors are needed. According to a poll conducted last fall by the CBC and NRG Research Group, 56 percent of Albertans believe healthcare is the number-one issue facing the province. Of those respondents, 34 percent identified wait times as the most pressing problem and 25 percent said doctor shortages were the biggest problem in the province. And from the wait times seen last fall at clinics set up around the city for the H1N1 flu vaccine, it seems likely we need more health care providers of all shapes, sizes and certification. Sadly, it looks like we may be waiting a while for this one as the province aims to cut budgets and save on healthcare.

• High-speed trains to Edmonton. If we have to go there anyway, we’d like to go in style and comfort on board a high-speed light-rail train system. For the time being, though, it looks like the $3- to $20-billion cost is a bit rich. The provincial government has put the brakes on a bullet train connection between Calgary and Edmonton for at least the next couple of election cycles.

• Curbside compost pickup. Now that we know we can rock the recycling, let’s do something about the compostables that are still finding their way into the landfill.

• Free wi-fi downtown. If everyone just unlocked their networks and shared a bit, we’d probably already have it. And if they can have wi-fi through the whole neighbourhood of Hawkwood, why not downtown?

• A covered stadium for the Stamps. Sure this time the weather panned out okay, but next time we host the Grey Cup, let’s not have to potentially freeze to death to see it on our home turf.

• More late-night dining. Things have gotten markedly better, but we’d still like more — more options, more locations, more hours.

• More taxis. To get us home from our late-night dining.

• An end to “gotcha!” parking enforcement. Surely, with our collective brainpower, we can find a way for people who are not paying for parking to get caught and for people simply dropping someone off to not get a ticket.

• A functional city council. Enough with the endless returning of motions to the floor. Debate. Make the right choice. Vote. Move on. And if the people who sit on city council could be called city councillors, we think that would make a lot more sense, too.

• An underground C-Train. When the train has to stop for lights and traffic, the whole system loses out.

• Toronto finally gets us. Just because Toronto wants to be New York doesn’t mean Calgary wants to be Toronto, We just want a bit of understanding. One can dream.