jb101

Calgary - In my opinion...

Pros:
- Weather
- Hockey team (prob not for much longer though)
- Proximity to mountains
- Low taxes
- Very clean city, usually.
- Fish Creek park
- The bow (great fly fishing)
- Plenty of good paying work

Cons:
- Too many people, most of them rude. (Calgary has the most rude people of any place I've lived)
- Snobbiest people
- Red light cameras -- WTF?
- Some areas of the city really stink
- Traffic fucking blows, and the city is way too spread out.
- Shitty snow removal/sanding in the winter.
- Cost of living is high, compared to smaller / poorer cities.


I guess I live here because of the proximity to the mountains, I do lot's of outdoors things. I loved fish creek when I lived close. Now I live around sait and i have to plug my fucking nose to go outside or I choke from exhaust fumes.

All in all, my biggest problem with Calgary is Calgarians... Rude self righteous bunch. Almost all of my friends here are from BC or Sask. (I'm originally from Sask myself)

Now before the other Calgarians jump all over me, not all Calgarians are like that... But more than anywhere else I've lived.

My favorite city in Canada is North Vancouver, followed by Sask. I've only been further east than Winnipeg a few times, so I can't judge any of the cities out there very well.

Temporary_User

I hear ya JB, I live downtown Calgary so I meet all sorts of people.
When I first moved here I always said that the native calgarians are the ones you cant trust. Of course that is not always true but....
IF I could afford to live how I do in downtown Van I would.

sherpahigh

I agree with all the pros you have down there. The mountains, river and Fish creek are the best things about this city.

Some of the cons I don't see as cons though. Red light cameras... Got no problem with those. People running red lights deserve to be ticketed. Now speed cameras on the other hand... those are just a money grab. And the cost of living is relative to the work available wherever you go so I can't say that it's a con, though it is a bit higher than it used to be. I also don't find the traffic to be that much of a problem here setting aside certain areas at certain times but that probably has more to do with where and when your're driving than anything.

And your point about Calgarians I have a hard time swallowing. Given I am biased as I was born and raised here but I have travelled a lot and lived in other places for good lenghts of time and I've always looked at Calgarians as a nice group on a whole. As the city's grown I've noticed a lot more assholes here and there but that's to be expected in a City of this size.

Anyway, Calgary's a great place. Only think I don't like about it is its distance from the ocean. I love the ocean and wish I could spend more time on it, in it and near it but other than that Calgary's got everything I need and want.

__________________
"It'd be better for me if you don't understand"

jb101

Well, in the last few years I've lived in Saskatoon, Edmonton, and Vancouver.. Generally, I've felt like the people were more friendly other places. Not so uppity.

As for the traffic, I live close to 16ave nw by sait, so the traffic really sucks for me to get anywhere.

My problem with red light camera's is that I think they make the road more dangerous... in winter sometimes it is just safer to go through the light than try and stop (Not often, but it happens)... So the problem comes into play when people usually wouldn't try and stop, but since there is a red light camera they end up slamming on the brakes and creating a dangerous situation...

metalgeek

During the winter, if the day is icy, you just go downtown, to the traffic court say it was icy, and they let you off. (they do keep records of when the roads are slippery).
And perhaps native Calgaryians are rude because there in the minority in there own city?
Of course, the people I meet that complain about Calgary are always ones whove moved there so....

jb101

Yeah I always figured I would go to the court if I ever had to deal with that situation.. I always go down and get the demerits taken off my speeding tickets when I get them... They are pretty reasonable.

I still think the red light camera's can create a dangerous situation though.

Hmm I'm not really complaining about Calgary, it's where I choose to live.... So I can't dislike it that much. Dunno why the people seem to be rude though.

When my sister in law was pregnant a year back, i was on the c-train with her and her kids heading to the stampede, and even though she was very obviously pregnant, not a single person offered her a seat (Train was full). I thought that was pretty bad.

I've just always found other cities to be more friendly.

Went out to Kanaskis today, and that was a nice reminder of why I live here... Though it makes the question arise why not live in Bragg Creek? Or most of BC, where I can actually live in the mountains.

Temporary_User

You could probabley go to court and get rid of the ticket, but that normally requires time off work which normally ends up being the same amount of $$ you lost from wages as you do from the ticket.
Do you want to save your employeer $, or help out the city a bit?

metalgeek

The question comes down to: Are red lights camera's more of a nuscience or a public service?
I'd personally rather have them than not.

jb101

I'd have to say they suck, and going to court is definitely a pain in the ass. Usually takes at least a few hours.


I think catching/punishing criminals is still something best left to humans, not machines.


Don't get me wrong, I hate the assholes that run the lights right up to the last second, but I don't think red-light camera's make a difference about those people. At least, I see no difference in that behaviour here than in other cities that lack the red light cameras.

Funny - right as I was about to submit this post, i switched to my email client.... Last message received "render traffic cameras useless!". Anyone ever used any of that kind of thing?

EDIT: .. and if this is not a money grab, why doesn't the money go to those hurt by people running red lights?