Hello Ward 8,
September is here
and City business is back to full speed after a short breath in August (With a
newborn at home that breath ran about four hours a night, and the Ward 8 team
more than covered the difference).
As I write this on
September 10, one big item has already moved through Executive Committee: the
downtown alignment for the next stage of the Green Line.
Committee voted 12
to 1 in favour of the surface option running along 10 Avenue S.W., with a
station at Olympic Way SE and a terminus station between 1st and 2nd st SW. I
voted in favour of this but none of the three options in front of us were
perfect. Of the three options, the other two came in roughly $500 million and
$1 billion above the funding available, and an option we cannot pay for does
not get built.
This one lands
squarely in Ward 8. The alignment includes a Beltline station, which is why my
priority through this process has been the residents and businesses who will
live alongside it.
That is why I
brought an amendment, which passed, directing Administration to build a public
realm, streetscape, and mobility plan for 10 Avenue — how vehicles, parking,
walking, and wheeling work together on that street, and how the Green Line
connects the Beltline to the communities north of the CPKC corridor. It becomes
part of the quarterly Green Line updates, with a full scoping report due no
later than the first quarter of 2027. Ultimately this is a project for the
people who live and work here, and it only succeeds if it makes daily life
better at street level.
This was a committee
recommendation, so it still goes to Council for a final decision. There is a
lot of work left and I will be there for every step of it.
On the subject of
keeping you informed, the Ward 8 team is continuing to chip away at our
transparency projects. Our dedicated Vote Tracker page goes live on the Ward 8
website later this fall, bringing together key
Council votes with my explanations for how I voted. Some of you have already
seen these in our Latest Council Votes posts; the new page keeps them in one
place.
Starting this month,
we will also begin posting monthly debriefs on the website covering Committee
Meetings, Regular Meetings of Council, and Public Hearings. You will find them
under Latest News.
Through September,
October, and November there will also be opportunities to share your thoughts
on the Calgary Plan and the 2027-2030 Service Plans and Budgets. Both will
shape how the City operates for the next four years and beyond.
The Calgary Plan
engagement feeds directly into the updated draft returning to Council in
January, and if that draft is approved, another round of public engagement
follows. The budget engagement works much the same way, and nothing there is
final until public submissions close at the end of November.
Not every idea can
be implemented, but everything that comes in is collected, reviewed, and
recorded — and it comes with me into November. Feedback we've received so far
on both items has been collected and will become part of this work as well.
We will start with
the Calgary Plan in the coming days, with the budget engagement to follow.
Finally, we are
still seeing a high volume of correspondence about Ward-level issues and are
replying as quickly as we can. Thank you for your patience as we manage the
competing demands of Council and constituent work.
All the best,
Nathaniel Schmidt
Ward 8 Calgary City
Councillor
