Another $500 million tunnel

[blueToy]

Reading the other thread about our local government spending $ 21 million on a film studio. Seemed to have really pissed a few people off. Just wondering how you feel about a new tunnel to divert water from the Glenmore dam so the uber rich elites in this city don't get water in their homes again.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/al...176/story.html


Curious about a few things. How many homes really were affected by the flood? Is this being done to appease/ease the fears of the folks who don't want to move away from the Elbow and own property in the most sacred part of real estate in Calgary? Is it being done to keep the prices of these homes that were built on a flood plain from falling?

As for the price being 500 million , I still think thats really low.

[Kijho]

A tunnel for water means we can't drive cars /ride bikes through it.

[eblend]

Originally posted by Kijho
A tunnel for water means we can't drive cars /ride bikes through it.

They should build it like some other flood tunnels in the world, which have traffic lanes through them until a flood comes, at which point it's strictly for moving water.

[kaput]

.

[slammedfc]

Originally posted by Kijho
A tunnel for water means we can't drive cars /ride bikes through it.

but they could route the bicycles there... LOL

[mac_82]

The Red River Floodway in Winnipeg was built in 1968 for for $63 million. And in the time since then it has prevented an estimated $10 billion in flood damage.

With flooding a more likely occurrence in the future, how can this be a bad idea?

[Sugarphreak]

...

[ExtraSlow]

Al Markin is all about winning, fairness isn't his objective.

[BavarianBeast]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
Project stinks...

Allan Markin is one of the people who sit on the board for this, appointed by Redford whom we can pretty much agree was rotten to the core at this point. Odds are he paid quite a few people off to get there. His home just happens to be one of the ones that would benefit from this (You might remember he made the news with his personal "Great Wall of Elbow Park").

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/al...682/story.html

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/ca...491/story.html

It is the ONLY project out of 7 they approved, and the most costly and arguably the least beneficial. Oh and he happens to own a construction company that will probably get the contract.

It is a massive conflict of interest, it fucking stinks...

You're not as smart as you think.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by kaput
To be fair, it's more than just a few millionaires along the river. The stampede grounds, east village, victoria park, etc. were all underwater as well and the damage shut down a lot of companies in the core for days / weeks in some cases even though their buildings stayed dry. It would be different if the affected area was out in the suburbs and it actually was just a few houses as you suggest. This makes much more sense than the useless airport tunnel, though I agree it will probably cost a lot more than they say.

How soon we forget all the "not millionaires" that were affected by the flooding. You all have such a hate on for the "rich" of elbow park that you're forgetting about all the lower income people in the rentals and small businesses in Mission that were affected. Forest != Trees

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews...29-164450.html

Southern Alberta flooding -- Economic losses: 4.7 billion PLUS Insured losses: 1.9 billion

[supe]

Allan Markin does not own a construction company. Further he has given away much more money than anyone here knows. Lucky for us, his passion and his priorities for his philanthropy go Calgary>Alberta>Canada, so believe me, you want him in this city. Everyone has their flaws, including Allan but in this case I don't think its fair to bash him especially if you don't know the full story.

[BigMass]

yeah I agree. The entire city was pretty much in shut down mode. Half of downtown and surrounding areas got flooded. Not just the rich. A year later and Calgary is still feeling the effects. Another flood like this, especially with how much development is being pushed into east village currently, is not something this city can allow to happen again. If a 500 million dollar tunnel can prevent that level of devastation from happening again, I'm all for it.

In terms of budgets, I wonder if the city can implement "special assessments" for crisis expenses like condo boards do. Instead of jacking up property taxes permanently, do a special assessment. Such as, for one year only, every household has to dole out an extra %20 on their property tax which will go to funding something like this. So if you're paying 2000 in taxes you'll pay 2500 and that 500 will go to fund something that's critical to the infrastructure. But it would be a one time thing instead of a permanent increase.

[FraserB]

^Apply it to homes in flood affected zones and you'll probably actually get some support for that idea.

[finboy]

Originally posted by slammedfc


but they could route the bicycles there... LOL

I like the way you think

[BigMass]

Originally posted by FraserB
^Apply it to homes in flood affected zones and you'll probably actually get some support for that idea.

I agree that maybe they can scale it, so people in flood zones end up paying more. But lets not kid ourselves, the entire city was affected by this flood, not just the people that got flooded. Lot of bad shit trickled down for everyone

[slammedfc]

Originally posted by finboy


I like the way you think

[FraserB]

Originally posted by BigMass


I agree that maybe they can scale it, so people in flood zones end up paying more. But lets not kid ourselves, the entire city was affected by this flood, not just the people that got flooded. Lot of bad shit trickled down for everyone

I'd say there were a lot of people who we not remotely affected by the flood. I know a lot of people who weren't.

[speedog]

Originally posted by BigMass
yeah I agree. The entire city was pretty much in shut down mode. Half of downtown and surrounding areas got flooded. Not just the rich. A year later and Calgary is still feeling the effects. Another flood like this, especially with how much development is being pushed into east village currently, is not something this city can allow to happen again. If a 500 million dollar tunnel can prevent that level of devastation from happening again, I'm all for it.

In terms of budgets, I wonder if the city can implement "special assessments" for crisis expenses like condo boards do. Instead of jacking up property taxes permanently, do a special assessment. Such as, for one year only, every household has to dole out an extra %20 on their property tax which will go to funding something like this. So if you're paying 2000 in taxes you'll pay 2500 and that 500 will go to fund something that's critical to the infrastructure. But it would be a one time thing instead of a permanent increase.

I wouldn't say the entire city was pretty much in shut down mode - a week after the flood, I said to my wife and kids that it was really weird as our family's lives were unaffected. I got back and forth on my daily 70km commute across the city with no issues including the day of the flood, no down time at our shop or at any of the businesses my wife and kids work at. Our home and community were unaffected and it was almost surreal to watch the news and see what was going on as we truly we going about in our daily routine just as always - maybe the only thing was the kids not being able to go to the UofC or high school for a day or two, that was the only disruption I can remember.

[Masked Bandit]

Of all the stupid things Nenshi seems to spend money on, I can get on board with this. $500,000,000 is nothing compared to the actual cost of the 2013 floods, and that was a one time event. If a project like this can prevent / reduce future flood issues for the next 100 years, it's not even a question as to whether it's good money spent. With that said though, I'm no engineer and have no idea how much benefit this particular design would have so I'm going on a bit of blind faith.

[blueToy]

Originally posted by BigMass
yeah I agree. The entire city was pretty much in shut down mode. Half of downtown and surrounding areas got flooded. Not just the rich. A year later and Calgary is still feeling the effects. Another flood like this, especially with how much development is being pushed into east village currently, is not something this city can allow to happen again. If a 500 million dollar tunnel can prevent that level of devastation from happening again, I'm all for it.

In terms of budgets, I wonder if the city can implement "special assessments" for crisis expenses like condo boards do. Instead of jacking up property taxes permanently, do a special assessment. Such as, for one year only, every household has to dole out an extra %20 on their property tax which will go to funding something like this. So if you're paying 2000 in taxes you'll pay 2500 and that 500 will go to fund something that's critical to the infrastructure. But it would be a one time thing instead of a permanent increase.

This would have nothing to do with Downtown flooding. Thats the Bow River , and our city got flooded when Trans Alta could no longer contain the massive amount of water flowing down the Bow.

We have two rivers that flow into Calgary, The Bow and the Elbow. The Elbow flows into the Glenmore Reservoir, which then flows down thru the Elbow River/Roxboro area until it joins the Bow River at Fort Calgary. Both dams were opened almost to their maximums knowing they would drastically affect the people downstream . The Bearspaw Dam on the Bow is what flooded out downtown Calgary/Bowness/Sunnyside/Kensington etc. This proposed tunnel would be built to help lower the Glenmore Dam to keep the downstream residence who live on the flood plain, from running its banks.

Again I ask how many homes were flooded out along the Elbow river? IF we are shelling out $500 million to save 100 houses of the Uber rich I would prefer to buy out the entire flood plain and turn it into a park.