Comparing Budget 2010 to Budget 2009
Did you know you can download the ministerial business plans from Alberta.ca? With today’s Budget announcement and everything available at budget2010.alberta.ca, I thought, “I wonder if budget2009.alberta.ca looks anything alike?”
Well it turns out not only do the sites look and function the same, they have much the same information. Meaning it is VERY easy to compare one year to the next. (Open government FTW!)
As a result, here is a quick PDF comparison I just did of the Ministry of Culture and Community Spirit business plans from 2009 and 2010: Acr1649115.tmp. It makes for a quick side-by-side comparasion that shows you exactly what has changed. I may do a little more research into this, but for now, I thought I’d write a quick blog post inviting others to do the same with other departments and, with perhaps a little re-formatting, make the comparasion even easier.
I makes it very easy to see that on page 5 the vision and mission for the department have changed. There is also the addition of a “Clients and Stakeholders” section. To me however, the most interesting part is to see how the performance measures have changed. For example in 2007-08 “participation in arts activities or events by adult Albertans” was 87.4%; for 2008-09 it had gone up to 91%. In 2007-08 “Level of community volunteerism by adult Albertans” was 68.6% with a goal for 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 of 69%; for 2008-09 it had blown past it’s targets for the next 3 years and was already up to 81.4%!
See? Fun with numbers! I invite you to do the same. Go, enjoy; hold your government accountable and expose their successes and failures.
Year-End Blog Review
Filed under: Alberta, Arts, Calgary, Marketing, Politics, Technology
As 2009 comes to a close I wanted to take a look back. It was a good year for me personally and I think this blog shows some of the highlights that come to my mind when I reminisce about the last year of the decade. I could simply select my favourite posts, but I decided why not not just let the readers “select” by highlighting the most popular posts on this blog for 2009.
So without further ado, the most popular djkelly.ca Blog posts of 2009:
14. What kind of bridge will $25 million get us?
May 22, 2009
This was my first blog post about the soon to be built Calatrava bridge. I decdided I would take a look at the design limitations given to Calatrava and try to predict what the bridge might look like. While, I was right about it not being white with soaring cables, I wasn’t even close to the guessing the Chinese finger trap design, which is much more ornate than I was expecting.
13. Conversing with Alberta politicians on Twitter
June 4, 2009
A useful post that should probably be updated given how many more Alberta politicians have joined since June!
12. New Ward Boundaries Demystified
February 21, 2009
A simple post created by laying the old ward boundary map with the new map that was being proposed by the chief electoral officer. (Showing off my Photoshop skills.) It turned out to be a post that proved it was sorely needed.
11. Loving or hating Calgary’s new bridge is not as easy as it sounds
July 29, 2009
This is probably one of my favourite posts of the year, as I went through what I observed to be each of the areas of complaint about the proposed Calatrava bridge and outlined which were fair game and which were not. It was my attempt at adding clarity to an issue extremely misunderstood by Calgarians. While it landed at number 11 on the most popular posts, I don’t think I was overly successful because people still complain about the price with little understanding of “why”. If you’re one of those folks, it might be worth a re-read.
10. Calgary City Council saves face by embarrassing themselves: ward boundaries solved!
July 14, 2009
The last blog post on the old blog template! It holds a special place for me for that reason, but most people probably just appreciated it for what it talked about – as outlined in the post title. This is the most proud I was of our council this year. They painted themselves into a terrible corner, but admitted their mistake and righted their wrong. I wish they would have done this more times during 2009.
9. Vanessa Porteous, ATP Artistic Director Designate
January 14, 2009
I am shocked an arts related post ranked so high on this list! (And it’s not even the highest one!) Is it because of the lack of local entertainment reporting resources? I think it might be, because non-Hollywood entertainment news tends to take a couple days to make it into the papers. Maybe I should take up Metro Calgary on their offer to blog about Calgary arts for them… It could prove to be a very successful blog that maybe long overdue.
8. Doug Elniski: how to do it right
June 24, 2009
This post – along with number 5, which I wrote a day earlier – simply outlined where things went wrong in MLA Doug Elniski’s mini-Twitter scandal. This particular post provided follow-up and greater context to comments I made in several media interviews on the subject. (You can say SO much more on a blog than in a media interview!)
7. University of Calgary cutting 200 jobs
July 14, 2009
Out of all the posts in this list I think this is the closet to “regretting” one as I come. Unlike all the other posts (save the honourable mention) this post was “breaking” news instead of my usual commentary on the news. I didn’t mean for it to be however! Here’s what happened: the UofC sent an email to all staff saying they were cutting 200 jobs. I heard about this and asked the individual if it was okay I mentioned it on Twitter. They said yes, because it was sent to all staff and thus obviously public info now. The problem was, UofC never sent a press release. So when I posted it on Twitter I was inundated with media requests for more information. The result was I had another source send me the text of the email and I posted it on this blog. That night the television and radio news lead with the story and it was front page news in the papers the next morning. I’m not sure if the lesson here is about the power of Twitter, or to always keep your communications department in the loop when making major announcements. Maybe both.
6. Progress and respect
November 30, 2009
In the aftermath of the first Reboot Alberta conference I summarize my thoughts on the participants themselves.
5. Doug Elniski: now just another walled off politician?
June 23, 2009
(See number 8 first.) This is the blog post that started it all. I’m not sure why no one else was talking about Doug Elniski’s comments in context of his use of social media. It still baffles me that people think social media is some sort of special entity instead of what it actually is: just another way to talk to people. It’s nothing special, but is highly effective. This post was also was popular enough to result in me being invited to talk about his comments on CBC Calgary’s The Calgary Eyeopener, CBC Edmonton’s Edmonton AM and for a feature article in the National Post.
4. The #AskEd Accountablity Window ends tomorrow
December 3, 2009
Just like number 5 this was me talking about Alberta politicians and their failures with social media tools – although this time Mastermaq got the press coverage a week later 
3. How to fix Ed’s communications problems
December 14, 2009
After number 4 I felt like I had to address the Premier’s communications problems appropriately. It’s bizarre how he’s lost the media and the public so thoroughly by a simple failure to communicate. He’s our premier and I want to see him, and thus us, succeed. This is my attempt to throw the premier a bone. We’ll see if he and his team take my advice or if they continue to fumble their way through 2010.
2. Look out Alberta, you’re about to get “rebooted”: First Impressions
November 28, 2009
I honestly think the Reboot Alberta movement – along with the Wildrose Alliance’s rise – is the single most important thing to happen in Alberta politics since the creation of the Progressive Conservative party. This post outlines my initial thoughts after the first day of the conference. The fact so many people read it gives me hope that Reboot Alberta is on the right track in their discussions. You can expect more thoughts from me on this movement in the very near future.
1. Jeffrey Spalding, CEO of the Glenbow and cultural rockstar, unexpectedly steps down
January 9, 2009
Yes, an arts story made it to number one on the list! And for such a short blog post?! The people spoke.
Honourable Mention: “Open Government” coming to Calgary?
July 21, 2009
Usually you expect to see an honourable mention at the bottom of the list, but I think this one deserves to be at the top of the list. July 21 had more people visit my website that any other day in it’s history. By a LONG SHOT – almost twice as many as any other day. There was only one post written around that period of time, and it was written on that very day. I think what happened was the main URL of this site was circulated and shared rather than the actual URL of this paticular post. Therefore I don’t have accurate numbers on exactly how many people visited this particular story, but the numbers are just so overwhelming I had to include it.
I wrote this post during the morning hours in a business centre of a hotel in Portland, Oregon. I had been given permission from Ald. Pincott and Ald. Ceci to announce the open data notice of motion the day before it became public when the council agenda was released. People from all over North American immediately sat up and took notice and did so by reading this post. Amazing. Look for a lot more on outcome of this notice of motion in early 2010.
PechaKucha Calgary #2 is tomorrow!
Do you know what PechaKucha Night is? If you do, I know you’ll be at the second Calgary PechaKucha tomorrow (Thursday) at 7pm at the Uptown. If you don’t, trust me, you have to come and check it out. You won’t regret it.
You won’t regret it because of the format. Each presenter is given 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide. Meaning they have 6 minutes and 40 seconds to tell you everything you could ever want to know about their topic. (Or at least enough to whet your appetite.) Generally this is enough time to only give you the really cool highlights of their project. No fluff. And beside, if it’s not a topic you happen to be interested in, just wait a couple minutes – there will be something more suiting to you along shortly!
The first Calgary PechaKucha Night was held on September 14 at The Grand Theatre. There wasn’t really a “theme” per se, but all the speakers were talking about great public spaces and how they were designed. Many of the speakers were from Calgary and a few were brought in from out of town. The list included:
- Tim Jones, CEO, Artscape
- Andrew Mosker, Executive Director, Cantos
- Bill Chomik, Principal Architect, Kasian
- Scott McTavish, Executive Director, Pumphouse Theatre
- Joe Lobko, DTAH, Lead Architect, Don Valley Brick Works Project Toronto
- David Scott, Associate, Peter Cardew Architects
- Billie Bridgman, President, Bridgman Associates
- Paul Dornian, Director, The Conservatory, Mount Royal College
- Jane Pendergast, Pendergast Collaborative Architecture
- Jeremy Sturgess, Principal, Sturgess Architecture
- Erik Olson, Artist and Spacemaker
- Mark Lawes, Executive Artistic Director, Theatre Junction Grand
Tomorrow night’s theme is “How We Live Together”. The speakers are architects, planners, artists and other great minds talking about exploring how cities become truly livable places and how the decisions we make today affect the future of our environmental, social and economic landscape. The speaker list includes:
- Eric Moschopedis, Interdisciplinary Artist
- Gian-Carlo Carra, Senior Urban Designer, T6
- John Frosst, Arbour Lake Sghool
- Tom Keenan Associate Dean Academic and Professor, EVDS, UofC
- David Plouffe, Acting Executive Assistant for the Director of Land Use Planning and Policy
- Xstine Cook, Artistic Director, Calgary Animated Objects Society
- Naheed Nenshi, Associate Professor, Bissett School of Business, Mount Royal University
- Lothar Wiwjorra, Senior Urban Designer City of Calgary
- Susan Veres, Communications Director, Calgary Municipal Land Corporation
- Jerrod Bitango, Pastor, Central United Church
- Quinton Rafuse, Partner, CoworkYYC
- Bernie Amell, Landscape Architect, Prairie Sky Co-Housing
While we’ve already started talking about what the theme for the next PechaKucha Night should be (I’m honoured to have been asked to sit on the Advisory Committee) – and it sounds pretty cool so far – I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. So, go get your tickets for this Thursday’s even now. They are just $10 and can be purchased here. And I’ll make you a deal, if you absolutely hate the event you can buy you a beer afterward and make as many suggestions as you like on how we can improve it. Sound good?
Hope to see you there!
Art vs. graffiti, Shaw Millennium Park destroyed
I have seen the City of Calgary screw up before but never in such a spectacular fashion.
Last week I heard about a new City art program that sounded pretty cool to me. In response to comments from Shaw Millennium Park users that the park was dull and didn’t provide the kind of urban energy you might expect in a skate park, the City decided to let the complainers do the fixing.
In a press release sent out on Friday, August 21 the City announced, “Shaw Millennium Park was built for and dedicated to Calgary’s youth who often tell us it’s drab and boring. We’re providing young urban artists a chance to work with an acclaimed professional artist to visually animate this space.” In short the City gave the users the paint and pointed them in the direction of a wall on the Landmark building to unveil their masterpieces.
More amazingly the local youth would be “under the guidance of internationally acclaimed urban artist The Kid Belo.” What a great idea and opportunity for Calgary’s kids!
What could go wrong, right? After all the press release continues on to say, “The urban artists will be visually identified as authorized to create this work” and “a peer review process will be facilitated by The City so that only the best work will be allowed to stay. The Kid Belo will work with the young artists to ensure all artwork is appropriate for the space.”
Apparently The City and The Kid Belo must have fell asleep at some point because Shaw Millennium Park was completely trashed in just two days. (See Michael Platt’s article in the Calgary Sun for all the details on what went wrong.)
As the press release says, “artwork will only be permitted in a certain area of the park. Anything outside that area will be considered graffiti and vandalism.”
Well it looks like there is A LOT of vandalism then. Just take a look at the Sun picture from the interior of the men’s room! I wonder if any of the paint ended up on the correct wall?
The behaviour of the perpetrators is simply despicable. They were given an opportunity and they wasted it. And for what? To be seen as punk-asses by the rest of the city? Way to ruin it for everybody.
Not to mention the outcome of this project just gives “art” a bad name. The ramifications of which could be felt through public perception and funding for years to come.
Normally I would say a project like this is a fantastic idea. Calgary needs to look at ways of empowering citizens to improve our lot and make our home a better place. But where were the controls? Surely the City knew something like this COULD happen. They even said addressed it in the press release. So where was the supervision? Did they just leave the paint in the park for anyone to use? Clearly the perpetrators were not “visually identified as authorized to create this work”.
With so much going so spectacularly wrong the question becomes who’s at fault? (We already know who’s going to foot the bill. That’d be you and me. But I’d suggest the cleanup comes out of the budget of the offending department’s budget. You break it; you bought it.)
Do we blame the vandals entirely? Does The Kid Belo deserve some of the blame? Regardless I’d suggest the City is going to have to shoulder the responsibility on this one and admit the program clearly had a massive hole in it and was beyond poorly planned. Whoever was in charge of the program needs to step up, take the blame, and publicly apologize for allowing a beautiful iconic park to be so thoroughly destroyed.
Sadly, today much more than just a park was destroyed.
PS – In an unrelated note congratulations to Rachael Seupersad for her appointment yesterday as the City of Calgary’s Superintendent, Public Art. I hope her department isn’t in charge of this program, because if it is, she may have the shortest tenure for a City employee of all time.
Loving or hating Calgary’s new bridge is not as easy as it sounds
A few months ago I wrote to ask Calgarians to wait until the design of the new Santiago Calatrava bridge was released before deciding if the $22 million price tag was worth it. The design was supposed to be released by the end of May, then the big day was scheduled for August 6, before yesterday’s surprise release of the images. A bumpy wait, but now that they are out Calgarians are able to have their full say. (Click here to view the design on CBC’s website where many are giving their comments.)
It appears as though price is no longer the only contentious part of this bridge however. In addition to releasing the artist renderings yesterday, the Mayor announced on Friday that the bridge is meant to honour the Canadian Armed Forces. Then this past Monday he emerged from a closed door Council meeting to announce the bridge will be named the “Peace Bridge”.
So by my count that now gives Calgarians four different things to complain about when discussing the bridge:
- The cost.
- The spin.
- The name.
- The design.
And so it begins. The newsrooms, the editorials, the twittersphere, and the blogs have all become sounding boards of confused fury. People are being lumped in as either “for” or “against” the bridge. But as you can see from the list above there must be nuances not being explored. So I break it all down thusly:
1. The cost.
Con: This bridge is costing more than any other pedestrian bridge in Calgary’s history. Given the current state of the economy, reasoning suggests the large amount of cash resources could have been better spent elsewhere, on something Calgary has a demand for. I have not seen any data suggesting that what Calgary really needs right now more than anything else is a pedestrian bridge just west of Prince’s Island.
Pro: You can’t build a bridge for much less than this. The rumour we could have done it for $2 million simply is not true. It is also important to note the City of Calgary is not paying for this bridge out of their property tax revenues. The money for the bridge is coming from the Provincial Government as part of the Municipal Sustainability Initiative funding. As such, there are a number of “strings” attached to the agreement that mean Council can’t do much with the money except build a bridge. (Remember the Bronconnier/Stelmach public battle of about a year ago? This is what that was about. Bronco wanted to be able to spend the money on other more pressing civic needs. He lost this part of the argument.) Because the money is unexpected and limited to only this use, it stands to reason that you might as well build a better bridge than you normally would have rather than giving the money back. (You’ll hear more from me in the future about provincial/municipal funding issues. It is this kind of messed up relationship that illustrates why we need a new deal for cities.)
2. The spin.
Con: The number one reason why Bronconnier is so happy to honour our troops with this bridge is to help deflect some of the public criticism over the other three items on this list. It’s hard to argue with this. Even though the Mayor says this was the plan all the way along, it is news to just about ever observer. Including many – if not the vast majority of – council members. It smacks of using our troops as a political shield. Just about the lowest tactic I can think of.
Pro: Bronconnier may be telling the truth – we don’t know for sure. And either way naming the bridge in honour of the Canadian Armed Forces is a great idea, given the bridge’s proximity to Memorial Drive and the re-vamp that is underway there – also in honour of our troops. Most everyone thinks this is a good plan; however we must be wary that accusing the Mayor of political gamesmanship does not mean the accuser things this is not a worthy group to honour in this manner.
3. The name.
Pro: “Peace Bridge” is an appropriate name given that the bridge will be in honour of our troops. Peace is what they stand for. The name is also symbolic of Calgary and Canada as well as the joining of two shores.
Con: It is such a good name we already thought of it 82 years ago when we named the Niagara bridge that joins Canada to the United States at Fort Erie/Buffalo. Don’t our troops deserve to be honoured in a manner not already reserved in Canada for a different group? Couldn’t we be just a little bit more creative in the name we chose to honour them? I’m sure they’d be much happier not having to share a name with a much more famous bridge. It seems like the least we could do.
4. The design.
Pro: Calgary needs more iconic and unique architecture. The city is one of the most creative places in Canada – and I would argue the entire world. However the city has been mostly built during “boom” cycles, meaning getting a building up as quickly as possible had to be the number one goal. This kind of accelerated program doesn’t allow much time for the design process to create new engineering marvels. When Santiago Calatrava was commissioned to design this bridge it was because he had a history of unique designs that people the world over talk about. This design is unlike any bridge Calgary has, and is unlike any bridge anywhere else in the world. It is uniquely Calgarian and has the potential to quickly become a local treasure.
(We’ve known for months the bridge wasn’t going to be a standard Caltrava-esque design because of the limitations created by having a helipad so close. So if you expected the high towers and cables give your head a shake and get over it.)
Con: As Don Braid said in his recent post: Parisians didn’t love the Eiffel Tower when it was first designed either. They felt it was ugly and inappropriate given the scale and design of the rest of their city. So far I have heard Calgary’s new bridge design referred to as a Chinese finger trap, a blunt, a futuristic tunnel, a candy stick, a ribbed condom, and a drinking straw. (The design has only been out for about 18 hours so I’m sure there will be more to come or some I’ve missed.) What do these descriptions all have in common? It makes it sound like people don’t like the design. But I’m not buying that. I think this is people simply trying to make sense of what it is they are looking at. And that’s a good thing. Just like with the Eiffel Tower, iconic architecture is rarely immediately embraced the way the status quo is. Hopefully once is all said and done they decide they do like it.
via @stephenpeasley
So there you have it. All the pro and con arguments summed up. If you think I missed anything please let me know. I hope this will be able to help us frame the argument for or against the bridge with a little more nuance.
Or at the very least get to the point of accepting it a little quicker. Because I think it’s pretty cool Calgary has something so different, finally. (Even though I think it is a lot to pay, but we had little choice on what to do with that money so I’m happy with our choice. I also think naming the bridge in honour of our troops is a great idea, even though the Mayor’s political spin was terribly executed and the resulting name was unoriginal. Hopefully you understand my nuanced opinion on the bridge a little better given everything that came above in this post. If not, at least I tried.)
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