On September 11th, City Council voted to continue pursuing the 2026 Olympic bid. I voted to stop pursuing the Olympic Bid as it has become increasingly clear to me that bidding on the Olympics is the wrong thing for our City and for taxpayers. The new cost estimate in the draft plan for hosting the Olympics is $5.23 billion. This is nearly $1 billion more than the previous estimate of $4.6 billion from June 2017 and does NOT include a new Arena, or any LRT expansion. I am very concerned that many of the cost estimates in the draft plan are under-estimated, especially security costs. Further, I believe that many of the revenue projections are inflated and overly optimistic. I am also very opposed to the proposal to have part of the Olympic Games in Whistler, British Columbia—paid for by Calgary taxpayers. I think that this sends the wrong message considering British Columbia’s hostility towards our energy sector.
All Calgarians will get an opportunity to vote in the Olympic plebiscite which is scheduled for November 13th. There will also be an advance vote on November 6th and 7th. For more information on the vote, please visit: http://www.calgary.ca/vote2018
City Council has approved funding to complete Symons Valley Parkway between 37th Street NW and Symons Valley Road NW (Missing Link). Construction is projected to begin in early 2019. This $9 Million Dollar project will connect our communities and reduce traffic cutting through Kincora and Sage Hill. I appreciate the patience of the surrounding communities while we went through this long process to get the land acquired and funding approved.
The green cart schedule will be changing this winter. Starting the week of November 6th, your green cart will be collected once every other week. There are no changes to blue or black cart collection.
