Toilet talk

Our January 20th FFWD Weekly column concerned the sustainability benefits of public toilets.

Public toilets (clockwise from top left): Just off Chapel St., Melbourne; St. Kilda, Melbourne; Public toilet as street art, Auckland New Zealand; Paris, France

Here is a link to the City of Calgary's "Public Washroom Initiative" which appears not to have been updated in at least a couple of years.  Here's the link to the 2008 report on public toilets which contains tons of great information.  The main conclusion of the report presented to City Council on December 8, 2008, that a Public Washroom Strategy -- defined as a core business in a business unit -- be established, was not acted on.  Instead city council "recommended to Administration" that it should:

1. Expand where appropriate the potential of existing toilets, through extended operating hours, way finding signage and other forms of public information, including electronic means;

2. Develop policy and plans for public toilets incrementally, as experience and knowledge is gained, and explore the costs and benefits of other toilet types; and

3. Explore creative funding options, such as advertising or user fees, partnerships with other agencies, corporate sponsorship, or combining toilets with other funded initiatives.

In other words, unless something jumps up and bites them, for the city the issue is out of sight, out of mind. While the Centre City team continues "to look for new opportunities" for public toilet initiatives, there are no pro-active initiatives underway to secure new public toilets, in fact, other than the East Village APTs no new opportunities have been identified since Tomkins Park in 2008. 

The two new APTs on the River Walk were, in fact, funded my the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, the city agency responsible for development in East Village. They were not part of a comprehensive public toilet initiative, but a band-aid solution to a crisis reflecting the most negative human effects of homelessness and poverty, one that was particularly visible in Calgary's newest neighbourhood.

The crisis was spurred by the passage of the harsh public behaviour bylaws enacted in 2006 when the city realized that unless it provided more alternatives the remand centre would be filled with public pee-ers.

In 2005 the city hired Iris Li, a student from the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary to work on the issue of public toilets during the summer of 2005. Her findings are reported in: Urban Revitalization: Public Toilet Alternatives for the East Village and the Downtown. This report was presented to the Standing Policy Committee on Community and Protective Services in January, 2006, as part of report # CPS2006-03, "A  Vibrant and Safe Downtown."

To their immense credit the only reason Tomkins Park exists at all was because of a combined efforts by a number of city business units which pooled resources from existing budgets to construct the APT.  The fact the city has dropped the ball likely means we won't be looking forward to any new public toilets in the near future in Calgary.

Study Area

View Winston Heights/Mountview & Tuxedo in a larger map

Vote for your favourite tram network or suggest your own

Here are Geoff and Noel's candidates as the best choices for returning trams to Calgary Streets.  Click on the link below to see the entire map


View Geoff's and Noel's Top Six Tram Streets in a larger map

Vote for your favourite by checking out our poll or make your own suggestion by leaving a comment below

No to North LRT! Trams can do better for less

Here is the city's long term plan for future C-Train Expansion.  The North LRT is particularly problematic since the proposed route travels through largely unpopulated areas for most of its length.  The addition of LRT stations, parking facilities and the rest of the infrastructure the LRT requires will all but ruin whats left of Nose Creek.

 

A much better alternative would be to take the money destined to build the LRT (~22 km) and instead use those funds to complete a north Calgary tram network (Edmonton Tr./Centre St. Loop (12 km of two way track); 20th Ave Connector-Edmonton Tr. to University (5.3 km), a Bowness/University line (9.2 km) and the 10th St./Northmount/Dalhousie line (10.2 km)) for about the same price.

Click here to see a map of the entire tram system I envision for 2050.

Check out Geoff's 2050 Fantasy tram network

See the full tram system map here


View Calgary's top 6 tram lines in a larger map

More tram research links (FFWD Nov 25)

Here is a link to the original FFWD article: Looking ahead to the past: A tale of three tram cities

Trams or streetcars are not mentioned at all in the 2009 Transportation Plan nor in the Municipal Development Plan.  In fact, the only place in any City of Calgary or Calgary Transit documentation I can find that references a tram is one that traverses 96th Ave. NW from Centre St. to the airport.  Here is the link to the plan: Transit Service to (YYC) 

The extent of Calgary's original tram line was drawn from a map published online:  Calgary's Tram System in 1950  I think this online version is copied from the rare book "Stampede City Streetcars" The story of the Calgary Municipal Railway by Colin K. Hatcher.  I have searched for a copy of this book but the only one I can find sells used on Amazon.ca  for more than $100.

After doing another online search I found a new book I had no idea about. "Calgary's Electric Transit: An illustrated history of electrified public transportation in Canada's oil capital."  Colin Hatcher and Tom Schwarzkopf, Railfare/DC Books, Pickering ON (2009).  I ordered my copy from Amazon.ca

Tram street in residential suburb Stockholm, Sweden

Tram research links (FFWD Nov 11)

Here is a link to the original article: Trams, Trams, Trams in FFWD, Nov. 11, 2010

Tram street in Freiburg, Germany

Seven rules for Sustainable Cities by Patrick Condon
A Tyee Series based on the book.  Each Chapter from the book  is condensed into one article.  

Sustainability by Design (UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture)

For information about trams in Portland see (from the Sustainability by Design website) Research Bulletin 6: The case for the tram

For information about comparative costs of transportation modes see Research Bulletin 7: A cost comparison of transit modes from the same website.

The PBS documentary series Blueprint America  provides a wonderful, short introduction to urban transportation issues in the US.  The five-part series connects transit, land use and sustainable living.  The third episode focuses on progressive urban development in Portland, Ore.  The figure citing $3B in tram-related investment was quoted in this segment of the series.

Ridership numbers are from the American Public Transit Association. Links to ridership statistics are here.

New Slideshow ~~~Tram Cities~~~

Follow the slide show link (on the right) to see some beneficial outcomes of tram development.  Featured, to coincide with an upcoming FFWD article, are views of Portland, Oregon

Trams have a much closer relationship with users than LRT
(Portland 2009)

Trams invite a different form of street development

(Portland 2009)

Resilience and the city

Link to our latest FFWD article which examines why resilience is a necessary component of a healthy, sustainable city.

In resilient places streets have multiple roles and are shared
by multiple users

2005 article predicts onset of NE transportation woes

This editorial piece appeared in the Calgary Herald on June 10, 2005.  It presages the recent developments concerning the so-called 96th Avenue Underpass, the recent sod-turning for a huge development in the Stoney Industrial zone, and the unhealthy competition between urban and rural municipalities to attract development -- and hence tax revenue.  The first elements of the crisis predicted to emerge in the piece are now in place.

Planus interruptus

My plans to begin blogging on a regular basis has been delayed as I tend to 275 mid-term exams and 45 term papers.  Apologies, but continue to enjoy photo slide shows and older, but still relevant essays.

Welcome

Want to know about Kid Kalgary? To find out a bit about me read my welcome post

Latest FFWD article: Building Better Cities

Here is the introduction to a FFWD series on building resilient cities being written with my colleague Noel Keough.

Family and transit oriented development (Freiburg, Germany)

Graffiti Op-ed in FFWD

 
See my Graffiti opinion piece in the week's FFWD

Of course the issue of graffiti is complex and layered and cannot be fully articulated in a short article. Here is a link to a slightly more nuanced version of this article (although still incomplete).

Cities must get smarter about handling growth

First published in the Calgary Herald on Monday, October 24, 2005

Alberta municipalities need billions of dollars to pay for the costs of growth and development being spurred by the wild rush in the energy patch.  High and increasing world demand for oil and gas combined with the vast potential of the Alberta Tar Sands makes this once uneconomical resource a new frontier for development and profit.  

The opportunities are drawing big business and thousands of newcomers seeking employment and riches.  In Alberta, the boom is centered on Calgary, as the corporate home of the oil industry and Ft. McMurray, as the city closest to the actual tar sands.  And many other towns and cities in the province, particularly those located within the Calgary-Edmonton corridor are also dealing with the stresses resulting from growth. 

City photography

I have thousands of city photos to share.  Click here to be taken to my photo sharing site which has dozens of urban and travel photo albums

Hurricanes show Calgarians danger of short-term thinking

First published in the Calgary Herald on Sunday, September 25, 2005 page A14

The world is on sustainability overload.  It is everywhere.  In all realms of society it is a virtue that is constantly and endlessly proclaimed.  Because of its universal appeal as a desirable state of existence, politicians, activists, businesses and organizations of all types, operating at local, national, international, and global scales, all utter the word at every possible opportunity as if its mere mention endows credibility to a particular interest.  On one hand the widespread realization of the desirability of sustainable systems is a good thing.  However, on the other hand, its omnipresence dilutes the serious consequences of present-day development decisions.  

Welcome to Kid Calgary's City Blog

Kid Calgary is my poker avatar, but it sounded like a good name for my blog so I've adopted it.

In daily life I'm Geoff Ghitter, mild mannered instructor in the Urban Studies Program at the University of Calgary.  I received my PhD in Urban Geography last spring and in this blog I'm going to be writing about cities.

In my fantasy life I'm Geoff Ghitter urban photographer.  In my secret identity I travel to cities around the world documenting the urban fabric of foreign places through the medium of photography.  I'm a big believer in the idea that we are visual creatures and a visual image always enhances the understandings conveyed in text.  I illustrate and enliven all my posts with relevant photography from Calgary or other places I've visited.  Many of my photographs are linked to a GPS coordinate so viewers can see exactly where in the world they were taken. 

Now, the "city" is an immense topic that can be approached from many varied perspectives.  In this forum I want to address many different kinds of urban issues, but the overriding focus will be on urban sustainability as our global society moves forward into an uncertain, and perhaps unstable future.

The small ambition for this blog is to initiate a conversation about urban sustainability, including a rational way to understand that overused term.

So I will leave this short welcome at that and hope that, as you get to know me, and I you, that a fruitful dialogue will ensue.

I will begin by posting some editorials than ran in the Calgary Herald a number of years ago but are still relevant.  Every day or couple of days, I will post my thoughts about current urban issues in Calgary with a mind towards how other cities have coped with the same or similar problems.

Look for a series of articles on things Calgary can do to become a "great" city beginning on October 14 in  FFWD magazine.