Sprawl...

What I find funny is the huge sprawl our city has undergone. We’re like a fat guy who undid his pants after a large meal and the resulting cascade of body mass just went where it wanted without any significant appearance of planning. When I think about where I currently live I remember back to when I moved to Calgary 10+ years ago and where my house is there was nothing but a field. For that matter the entrance to my neighborhood didn’t even exist and it’s 3km (give or take) from my front door!

Sure you want a backyard, I want a backyard we all want a backyard! Do we need a backyard though? I justified my purchase because it provided my dog with a backyard to play and hang out in but on a recent trip to NYC I saw dogs of similar size living in townhomes with a yard a third the size. The owners, like me, ran their dogs daily and cared for them so clearly a large backyard isn’t a requirement of dog ownership.

My other reason for purchasing my house where it is was proximity to my parent’s place. This works nicely because I can pop in to help them when needed and when my wife and I don’t feel like cooking we can usually convince my mom to BBQ. Hmm, I could just add 5-10 minutes to my drive and be living in the beltline somewhere. Okay, so being close to my parent’s place isn’t a necessity.

My final reason was price. Let’s face it I pay next to nothing in property taxes and my house was (at the time) close to $100k less than a comparable property downtown. Okay, I’m trying to be more fiscally conservative so I can justify this as the reason. But can I? Let’s evaluate.

1. I spend close to an hour each direction on the bus/train. Don’t even get me started on the insanity that is Calgary Transit.

2. If I want to shave 15-20 off my commute I drive to the train station and pay my $3 for a pass.

3. The train is next to impossible to work on so this time is a write off.

4. Heat in the summer and cold in the winter?

So when I look at it I lose close to 2 hours a day commuting to downtown, this is time that I don’t get back! I could spend that with my wife, with my dog, in the gym, playing guitar, learning a new language…. Okay you get the idea.

So why do we all live in the burbs if it is such a pain in the ass?!?

As your mayor, I would put together a focus group to look at this problem and present solutions. Not a focus group that wanders away and after three years of drinking coffee and eating doughnuts comes back with some sort of noncommittal report but a group that is tasked with a preliminary report in 6 months and required to present a time line on their solution. I’ll have to let my dog know that he is losing his large backyard but I think he’ll be happier knowing that I can potentially spend another two hours a day with him….

Jono