‘Great Recreation makes Great Citizens’
The other Saturday morning, in between a battery of meetings, I was able to steal away for a fifteen-minute walk so I could catch a breath of fresh air and, more importantly, so Izzy could do her business. In taking this short break, I was engaging in a practice that Calgarians are known for - I was recreating. In St. Mathew Square we came across a family of Bridgelanders - a mom and two boys - in amidst the greening Wildrose thickets, pulling out the trash and putting them into bags. It was the morning of the socially distanced Bridgeland-Riverside Community Clean-Up and my neighbours were doing the other thing Calgarians are known for - volunteering. I thanked them for their citizenship and told them I wished I was able to spend the morning outside and pitching in like they were. They recognized me as their City Councillor and thanked me for the Ward 9 Dream Network map. That brought a smile to my face - I’m really delighted with how well the Dream Network map is resonating with the values and aspirations of Ward-9ers. I was happy to share with them that the next Ward 9 map, Great Recreation makes Great Citizens, was almost ready to send to the presses.
And with this newsletter, we’re launching Ward 9 map number two - the last official communique from me as your councillor before the election season communications blackout. Like the first map, this map is intended to do two things: first, it celebrates what we have - an amazing and remarkably extensive suite of opportunities to recreate within Ward 9; secondly, it begins to chart our path towards an even better future.
Why focus on Recreation?
Outside of it being a core part of what makes us Calgarians, it's also closely attached to my city-building mission. The slogan, “Great Neighbourhoods make a Great City,” requires definition, and recreation is always front and centre when I describe the elements that make a neighbourhood great. I always say, “A Great Neighbourhood is a ‘live, work, and play’ environment.” Not only is play/recreation a best practice in city-building, but they have also always been deeply intertwined projects.
Play is fundamental to being human.
The formalization of play as recreation, and its role as a necessity of contemporary life, emerged over a century ago as a key response to the ravages industrialization was having on public health and city life. The love we have for leafy green natural spaces is not just a deeply human evolutionary trait; it is also born out of relatively recent rejection of how polluted, unhealthy, and depressing the industrial city had become. To recreate, was literally, to re-create oneself as a happier and healthier version of our best selves.
When I think about the future of Recreation in Ward 9, and in Calgary, I think a lot about our City’s 2012 celebrations from a couple of years ago. Those celebrations marked the centennial of so many of Calgary’s treasured heritage buildings and institutions - notably including both the City of Calgary’s Parks and Recreation Departments. The important story that became clear was that in 1912, our forebearers were not just building to serve the city that they were - they were establishing the foundations for the City that they wanted to become. We find ourselves today - in this global pandemic and in the face of the restructuring of our City’s economy - in a very similar historical moment. The time is now to double down, not just on opportunities to re-create ourselves but also to activate the driving role recreation must play in re-creating our city. This map is our contribution to beginning the conversation of how best to chart that course.
Through our conversations about recreation,
here are the principles that we’ve come to believe are important to recreation in Ward 9:
Every Season
In our golden summers, our bright blue winters, and those times in between!
Every Age
From our first 2000 days to our golden years, and every day in-between!
Every Income
It doesn’t matter how much you or your parents make or who your teammates are!
Every Skill Level
From first-timers to Olympians, and everyone in-between!
Every Scale
From your kitchen table and your neighbourhood park to the Continental Divide!
Every Ability
Most importantly, recreation should be inclusive!!!
Are these the right principles? What are some of the ways that you recreate in Ward 9? In Calgary? More importantly, what are some of the ways you’d like to recreate that aren’t currently available to you? Or maybe, aren’t available in as awesome a way as they should be? This is our time to build the city that we want Calgary to become. What recreation projects are you going to advocate for to help make that happen?
Please let us know!