Brian Pincott | Calgary Ward 11 Councillor » Uncategorized http://www.ward11calgary.ca Website & Blog of Ward 11 Alderman Brian Pincott Fri, 11 May 2012 17:16:49 +0000 en hourly 1 Inspiring Albertans One Simple Act at a Time http://www.ward11calgary.ca/2011/03/295/ http://www.ward11calgary.ca/2011/03/295/#comments Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:40:14 +0000 Brian http://www.ward11calgary.ca/?p=295 From the Government of Alberta’s One Simple Act Newsletter:

Water is not only a resource, it is a life source. We all share the responsibility to ensure a healthy, secure and sustainable water supply for our communities, environment and economy—our quality of life depends on it. As Alberta’s population grows, the demands we put on our limited water resources increases. Not only do we need to use our existing supplies wisely but we need to sustain aquatic ecosystems, as well as ensure a future with plentiful clean water. We can be water wise by using water efficiently.

More than 80 per cent of Alberta’s water supply is found in the northern part of the province, while 80 per cent of the demand is in the south.

Common Sense

Conserving water is not rocket science. You might remember to conserve water if…
…you thought water was your money going down the drain,
…you remembered that we only have a limited supply,
…you know you have to share it with everyone else, and
…you believe it’s the right thing to do.

¢ommon ¢ents

There is lots of information available on water saving tips. And there are plenty of tools to help you conserve water like sprinkler timers, faucet aerators, low flow showerheads and toilets. Water saving devices not only help you conserve water, they also help you save money.

Canada Water Week is about celebrating and conserving water across our country. Learn more about the week here. World Water Day is March 22. Tell someone about it. And there are plenty of events going on in Alberta to celebrate water. Check it out here.

Did you know?

  • On a daily basis, Canadians use 335 litres of water per person, which is equivalent to 85 four-litre milk jugs.
  • The recommended basic water requirement for human domestic needs is 50 litres per person a day. Canadians use 6.7 more than the basic daily requirement.
  • The bathroom accounts for 65 per cent of the water used in a home.
  • Forty percent of Canada’s boundary with the United States is composed of water. The Great Lakes are the largest system of fresh, surface water on earth, containing roughly 18% of the world supply.
  • Water power meets about 62 per cent of Canada’s electrical needs. Niagara Falls is the largest producer of electric power in the world.
  • Canada is the largest producer of hydroelectricity, followed by the United States and Brazil

Conserving water will ensure that Alberta will continue to have a reliable water supply in the future. Commit to a water conservation action here.

What does water mean to you? What are some of your water conservation habits? Post on the One Simple Act website, Add Your Voice.

]]> http://www.ward11calgary.ca/2011/03/295/feed/ 0 Southland LRT Station Closure http://www.ward11calgary.ca/2011/03/southland-lrt-station-closure/ http://www.ward11calgary.ca/2011/03/southland-lrt-station-closure/#comments Thu, 17 Mar 2011 19:25:56 +0000 Brian http://www.ward11calgary.ca/?p=288 Southland LRT Station is closing starting Saturday, March 19th for about 7 weeks. The reason for the closure is to rebuild the station platform to accommodate 4-car trains. This is a system wide project that started a couple of years ago, and is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2014. At that point, Calgary Transit will be able to run 4-car trains, which will increase the capacity of the LRT by 30%.

Calgary Transit has chosen to close the station rather than try and do the work with the station open to significantly speed up the process as well as reduce the overall inconvenience. They have worked on other stations without closing them and this has lead required construction take up to 10 months, with partial closures throughout, as well as many full closures on weekends. Closing the entire station reduces construction time to less than two months and allows for appropriate alternatives to be put in place.

On the Easter long weekend, April 22 – 24, the line will be closed to allow for the installation of the new platform. This will be brought in by crane and installed in large sections, which is why the line will be closed that weekend. The timing of the project is completely based around being ready for the installation on that long weekend. Following April 24th, it will take 2-3 weeks to complete work and reopen the station.

Earlier this week I met with Calgary Transit, and we will ensure that there will be some alternative options put in place to reduce the inconvenience to Calgary-Transit riders. One that we discussed – but will not be implemented – was changing routes 16 & 84 to end at Anderson Station rather than Southland Station. This is not feasible because of the effects it would have on the cross connections along the route and for the people who disembark at Southland and connect to destinations other than the LRT (or walk).  Instead, a shuttle between Southland Station and Heritage Station is going to be added.

This means that you will have three options for getting to the LRT from Southland Station:

  • Shuttle #556 which will be operating between Southland and Heritage (and back). This will be a direct connection between the two stations. (about 5 minutes)
  • Route #81 goes from Southland to Heritage along MacLeod Trail, (about 10 minutes)
  • As well, Route #81 goes from Southland to Anderson along MacLeod Trail. (also about 10 minutes)

There are some other connections available, but these three will likely be the quickest and most convenient.  More route information is available on the Calgary Transit website at www.calgarytransit.com.

Calgary Transit will be monitoring this and will make any changes and adjustments as needed as we get going on this. I would very much like to hear from you to let me know how it’s going, and if there is anything we can look at to make this better for you over the next 7 weeks.

As well, I want to let you know about the timing of other stations along the line. Both Anderson and Heritage station are scheduled for upgrades, however we are more than a year away from this. Calgary Transit is trying to “spread the pain” around the whole system!

Thank you in advance for your patience during this construction period. It is not ideal, but, by closing the station, the inconvenience will be as short as possible!

Have a great weekend….

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