Wake up, Calgary Herald!

The Calgary Herald recently published an editorial article (in the news section of their website!) arguing that a street festival that would block a small part of one major street would not make any sense and that there are much more pressing issues to be dealt with in Calgary, for example, making sure that traffic runs smoothly and swiftly. I added a comment, but i’m not sure when or whether it will appear, so here it is:

Dear Calgary Herald,

so you think you can judge what valid neighbourhood concerns are? How would you address the bottleneck you mentioned? Add another lane? A tunnel? Get rid of sidewalks? I (as a citizen) think there are much more critical bottlenecks on the tiny sidewalks on 10th street, on the pathways along the rivers, and almost anywhere in this car-obsessed city. The real problem is that Calgarians are hanging on the needle of individual, motorist mobility and suburban sprawl. In this light, I salute those that attempt to put on a street festival that seeks to celebrate and promote walking, biking, and urban living.

Your view of festivals centring around booths and vendors may be a bit limited to what you’ve seen in the past in this town of Calgary. Street festivals can be so much more. It can be taking a dance class, doing a picnic, practising aerobic, and just getting together. I know Calgary has its fitness studios, dance schools, and coffee shops – but wouldn’t it be great if we all would get out more? Dare I say, streets could be even fun places to hang out? Check out last year’s Summer Streets in New York City endorsed and put on by the city and supported by many organizations and thousands of citizens themselves:

http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/summer-streets-2008-nyc/

Well, I wish Druh and the festival organizers carry through with their ambitions and will not be put down by you, Calgary Herald. The comments at least draw a different picture of Calgary. Maybe closing streets temporarily could help us imagine all the possible things we could do in the streets of this city instead of congesting them with motorist traffic. Maybe even in a couple of years we will look back and will not be able to remember why we haven’t started earlier with starting to close down some streets permanently.