New Ward Boundaries Demystified

February 21, 2009 by
Filed under: Uncategorized 

The winds of change are blowing at Calgary City Council. (I’m sure you already knew that.)

As I stated in the preamble to my previous post about the lack of representation of Calgarians on our city council – as compared to other Canadian cities – Council is redrawing the ward maps in the gear up for the 2010 election. It looks like everything has been approved and the new ward boundaries are a go.

The only problem is: I had a hell of a time finding a map showing what the new boundaries actually are. The old map is okay in this regard – albeit a little hard to read – but the new map (PDF) doesn’t even have any discerning marks to help you figure out what’s what. No roads marked, or rivers, or anything actually. Just big blotches of muted colour. Plus it looks like it a lo-res scan of a crappy overhead. (Yup, the people who decided this was the best copy they had to make available to the public are making decisions with our tax dollars. Sigh…)

Even if you recognize what ward you now live in on the new map how do you tell what has actually changed? Well, I decided to just take matters into my own hands and make something that would help us find our way. So here is a map showing the old boundaries (black borders) and the new ones (colour fills).

I admit it’s not a very good rendering but considering the source material the City has put out to work with it is the best we’ve got so far. I look forward to seeing something official – and of better quality – “eventually”.


PS – I’m changing aldermen. Who do I bitch at in the interim? (Kidding!)

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Comments

  • Naheed

    Thanks for doing that. Very helpful. I have a note in to the city asking for the boundaries as well.

  • Naheed

    Thanks for doing that. Very helpful. I have a note in to the city asking for the boundaries as well.

  • Grant Neufeld

    Thanks for putting this together for us. It really is a shame that they’re not taking the opportunity to get a bit more representation for the public on council.

    The few councillors we have are overstretched as it is, and the city is still growing.

    Sure, there’s a (tiny, relative to the whole municipal budget) apparent cost savings in having fewer council members, but what is the cost to the well-being of our city and our democracy here?

  • Grant Neufeld

    Thanks for putting this together for us. It really is a shame that they’re not taking the opportunity to get a bit more representation for the public on council.The few councillors we have are overstretched as it is, and the city is still growing.Sure, there’s a (tiny, relative to the whole municipal budget) apparent cost savings in having fewer council members, but what is the cost to the well-being of our city and our democracy here?