On Monday, November 22, citizens can provide feedback to City Council on the 2022 budget adjustments. If you’d like to call in and share comments over the phone, you can sign up here (no in-person speakers at this time). You can also submit written comments at the same link.
Alternatively, we encourage you to send a message to your councillor letting them know what your priorities are for the upcoming budget.
If you don’t know how to contact your councillor, the City of Calgary has this helpful page:
https://www.calgary.ca/citycouncil/findyourcouncillor.html
Here are their office email addresses:
Bike Calgary plans to speak to City Council on Monday in support of continued funding improvements to snow and ice clearing for active modes, including safe access for sidewalks, transit stops, crosswalks, and active transportation bridges/underpasses. This is a key issue of equity and community resilience, especially as we navigate the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Many of our essential services workers rely on walking, cycling and transit to get to their employment, school, and or childcare. Poor snow and ice clearing is a major barrier as well as a safety issue.
We also want to highlight that although Calgary’s tax base has been greatly reduced by ongoing downtown office vacancies, a large portion of the City’s transportation budget continues to be spent on road expansions and new infrastructure that promotes automobile dependency.
2022 is the final year in a 4-year budget cycle. Although there may not be an appetite for significant budget adjustments this year, we want City Council to hear from us now. City administration will be working on the next 4-year budget proposal over the 2022 year, so early engagement is critical.