The Cost of Development

Today I mourn the loss of a friend.

As you may or may not know, I enjoy sports. However, there’s only a few that I’ve really excelled at:

1) Skiing
2) Long-distance running
3) Basketball
(I’ve played soccer just as much as any of these, but, despite what the number of medals I possess says, I am not a great soccer player)

I started playing basketball when I was 12. Mostly because my friends were, but hey, when you’re 12, that’s the best reason to do anything. From then until last spring, most of my non-organized basketball life took place at Greenview’s basketball courts. They weren’t as big as Hillview’s, but they were less crowded. Me and my friends could go there and not worry about playing other people to stay on the court. And we were there a lot.

Now, they’re gone.

Just a casualty of Greenview Landing, the pilot project of Edmonton’s First-Time Homebuyer program. A program which has gotten off to an incredibly slow start. How slow? Try 15 applications for 85 units made available so far, with only 11 being approved.

Why the slow start? I’m attributing it to all the development locations being in the suburbs. Some people want to live close to downtown, Whyte Avenue, 124th St, whatever. Look where the large majority of rental units are in the city: Riverbend? Nope. Castledowns? Guess again. They’re central! The vast majority of people who are looking to buy their first home are renting in central-Edmonton, and, believe it or not, they might like their neighborhoods.

And there most definitely are suitable locations. How about in the Ottewell area? Braemar school is being used to educate pregnant teens and parenting teens. A worthy cause, but surely they don’t need all of the field space. How about Wellington, High Park, Newton, or one of the other schools that have been recently closed? There’s more space in a more central location.

This project has potential to do a lot of good, but I think it needs to re-evaluate its locations of choice. Maybe that will save other well-used parkland areas, like Greenview and my favorite basketball courts.

You can find the full list of potential sites here.

Pictures to follow…

Rant of the Week: Headphones while driving

I am really at a loss. AS I was driving down St. Albert Trail (’scuse me, Mark Messier Drive) this morning, I noticed not one, but TWO people driving with little white headphones on. The first, a portly fellow driving a magenta Neon, was full-on singing along, most likely poorly. The second, a young woman in a Ranger, appeared to be applying lipstick while she drove. I’m starting to think that we really do deserve our reputation of bad (at the very least, negligent) drivers.

I mean, c’mon. Yes, iPods are great. Headphones are the problem I suppose. When used together, they should be used when there’s no music available. If you’re in a car, you have a radio, probably a cd player, hell, probably even a jack to plug your iPod into. There’s plenty of other solutions available rather than making yourself even more oblivious to what’s going on around you. And it is an entirely different matter than having a cranked stereo. With headphones on, you’re hyper-focused. It may be easy enough to go straight, but I’m pretty sure its difficult to be aware of what is going on around you.

Forget cell phones. Little while headphones are a sure sign of an accident waiting to happen. Some people…

UPDATE

I’ve just been informed that this is, in fact, illegal. It seems that my frustrations are valid.

Rant of the Week: Trains

I understand the need for trains. I like trains. I wish we used passenger trains far more here, and, with a country as vast as Canada, I can’t figure out why we don’t.

But.

There is a time and a place for trains, and rush hour is not that time when the place is the middle of a city. Yesterday, for the SECOND TIME THIS WEEK, I was stopped for a good 5-10 minutes by a train on my way home from work very close to 5:00 pm. Now, I understand the need for trains to run on time. I get it.

But.

There are two periods in the day, when automobile traffic is at its peak, that trains should not be running through the city. The train that I ran into crosses quite a few main routes along its line through the city’s south side. The one I keep running into trouble with crosses city streets on several occasions:34 st, 75 st, 86 st, 91 st, 97 st, and about 5 times along Gateway Boulevard access points. Now this would be fine at 8 pm, or something like that. But from 7:30 – 9 am and 4:30 – 6 pm, it causes problems. That’s only 3 hours, 1/8th of a day, where trains shouldn’t be filling city streets. It creates terrible backups, clogs interesections, and increases the risk of accidents. Not to mention, it contradicts the anti-idling movement that’s sweeping the nation. What’s worse than a 10-car lineup at a Tim Horton’s drive-thru? A 100-car lineup at a railroad crossing. There. Trains in rush hour = evil because they cause idling. No further proof needed.

Sure, maybe its just inconvenient and I’m attempting to justify the torrid pace of my lifestyle, but after all, this is the Rant of the Week, and this gets me a little hot under the proverbial collar. I need a nap.