Top 5 Reasons I Dislike Calgary

I moved to Calgary when I was 14. While I enjoyed growing up in a small town in Newfoundland (honestly, 250 people, 75% elderly), I was pretty happy to have my teenage years in a city. It didn't matter that it was Calgary, just a city. Somewhere to stretch my wings and become my own person. Somewhere that had a 7-11, a movie theater that had more than one screen and more than one playing time per day, a place that had groceries stores open on Sunday's, etc....

I say, 'just a city', because I actually really dislike Calgary. While most of mine and my husband's immediate family live here, which is great, I find this city revolting. Everyday I say to myself or my husband, "I HATE THIS CITY! WE HAVE TO MOVE!!".

So that you can feel my pain, here are the "Top 5 Reasons I Dislike Calgary"

5. CONSTRUCTION
Calgary is constantly under construction... roads, condos, developing neighborhoods, you name it! You can not drive anywhere in the city without seeing it or it slowing you down. The projects NEVER seem to end, and when they do, the project needs to be "updated" because it took so long to finish!

4. 3 1/2 HOURS OF RUSH HOUR
In this city of 1.5 million people, rush hour lasts from 3:30pm until roughly 7pm. City planners really dropped the ball when it came to developing the roads here. And the thing is, it isn't just Monday-Friday. There is still rush hour on the weekends, it just doesn't last as long. YUCK!

3. POOR CITY PLANNING
When new communities are developed,  schools, fire stations, and ems stations are after thoughts. Some new communities don't get schools for 5+years after being developed... This makes NO sense! Who moves to new communities: FAMILIES. These kids have to go to school somewhere, and busing them up to 45 minutes is unacceptable!

2. SNOW REMOVAL
Or should I say LACK of snow removal? You'd think an oil town could get their acts together and have clean roads, but no. It's too much money to clean the roads, but lets spend obscene amounts of money on a footbridge!

1. THE CALGARY STAMPEDE
For 12 days the entire city, along with it's thousands of tourists turn into drunken cowboys. People who are 'fashionistas' all year long bring out the Wranglers, cowboy hats and boots, bad western shirts, shirts with sayings like "save a horse ride a cowboy', and all that cheesy crap! As if that isn't bad enough, everyone drinks until they pass out, and then they drink again. Crime spikes, emergency response teams are over-worked, the city looks like a dump, and smells like urine. This one time of year is Calgary's sad attempt at culture, and it makes me so sad. Calgary has a reputation or being a closed minded, conservative, stuck in the past city, and Stampede only reinforces this idea. You can't go anywhere to escape it. EVERYWHERE is decked in western crap! City Transit is packed and basically un-usable for the duration of the Stampede. The only good thing this 'event' offers is free Stampede Breakfasts, and even that isn't enough to make up for anything else. Honestly, I just want to stay in my house for 12 days... it's disgusting!

winter wonderland and sky high insurance

Yesterday in Calgary there were over 200 accidents!!! Good day for the insurance companies! 

Those of you who are unfamiliar with Calgary might look at that number and be in shock. I used to be like that too. I am from Newfoundland, where even roads that service communities of less than 15 people get plowed/salted on a regular basis. Here in Calgary, only main roads get sanded, and maybe plowed, and all secondary side roads are left to the way side. Every year the snow comes, and every year the city releases a statement saying not to call the city about the state of the roads. And year after year the city goes WAY over it's snow removal budget, yet never increases their budget by more than a few percent to change it's problem!

This is my recommendation, stop giving yourself high raises ever year city alderman and mayor Bronconnier, and amp up your snow removal budget! Sand and plow every road on a regular basis! How many people need to be in accidents, get injured or die, and get insurance rates they can't afford before the city actually does something that is worth while? Trust me, if the mayor's or someone in his family got in a serious accident on a side road, or a main road that was un-plowed, it won't take long before things changed!

But of course, all the citizens can complain our asses off, but the city won't change a bit. They will cry back to us "a chinnook is coming! a chinnook is coming! all the snow will go away then", even if the chinnook doesn't come for 3 weeks! Great idea Calgary combat Mother Nature with Mother Nature... your sure to win... NOT! So drive safe Calgary, be on your toes, because no one else will be making sure your driving conditions are adequate. Your life is solely in your hands!