The Beltline Neighbourhoods Association is a engaged community association for the Beltline district in urban Calgary encompassing the neighbourhoods of Connaught and Victoria Park.
Based out of the McHugh House Community & Arts Hub, we are proud to be a recognized member of the Federation of Calgary Communities.
It’s been another busy year in the Beltline. Here’s what we’ve done together…
We Hosted New and Exciting Events
The Beltline Bonspiel
The 2019 Beltline Bonspiel at Lougheed House was another huge success for Calgary’s only outdoor curling bonspiel now entering its 4th year. For 2019, we expanded our rinkside beer garden with Beltline favourites Inner City Brewing and Last Best Brewing to enjoy the friendly competition between Community Teams Beltline, CJSW, Community Wise, Inglewood, Sunalta and the Corporate Tournament with Strategic Group, Servus, Inner City Brewing and CBC. The brisk -20C temperatures were still no match for the hot live music lineup including FRASE, DJ C-SIK, I Am The Mountain, Justine Tyrell featuring Timothonius I, and more!
BUMP 2019 Jane’s Walk
We hosted the 2nd Beltline Urban Murals Project (BUMP) Jane’s Walk giving a tour of our 2018 BUMP murals.
BUMP Artist Lineup Launch / Beltline Neighbour Day
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The 2019 BUMP Artist Lineup Launch Party was hosted again on Neighbour Day this year at Central Memorial Park and inside Memorial Park Library. This year we added the first ever(?) beer garden in Central Memorial Park and had great weather to enjoy it. The 2019 BUMP mural artist lineup was announced and showcased at the event.
Movie in the Park at Central Memorial
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This year we hosted our second annual Movie in the Park event at Central Memorial Park screening Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs. The film kicked off with a live performance by the Rocky Mountain Taiko Ensemble and Live DJs. This year’s event saw the addition of an Inner City Brewing beer garden with Dogfather hotdogs, poutine and Kettle Creek popcorn.
McHugh House Live
We’ve continue to host community events and shows at the McHugh House including the CJSW Presents All-Ages Music series, Sled Island 2019 All-Ages music lineup, Studio M Exhibitions, Major Minor Music Productions, BUMP Artist Talks, BreaksYYC, Sampler Cafe, Social Justice Film Series and more!
DJs in the Park at Central Memorial
This summer we hosted multiple DJs in the Park events on Friday afternoons/evenings showcasing local talent in partnership with CJSW and bringing a fun vibe to Central Memorial Park.
BUMP Festival 2019
Photo by Beedee
This year we continued to grow the free Beltline Urban Murals Project (BUMP) Festival making it bigger and better than ever. We added 16 new murals by local, national and international artists including our first new murals in the Downtown, took the total mural count to 31, hosted artist talks at the McHugh House and Contemporary Calgary, guided mural tours, a BUMP Movie in the Park at Central Memorial Park and a huge alley party behind Inner City Brewing headlined by Sango, Jubilee, and Lou Phelps.
Photo by Beedee
The expanded festival was made possible thanks to growing sponsorships including our new Presenting Partner TD.
Photo by Beedee
The festival wrapped up at the Hifi Club for the official BUMP Festival After Party.
We Advocated for Beltline Neighbourhoods
Completing the Cycle Track Network
We continue to work with the City of Calgary to address missing gaps in the cycle track network through the addition of missing links including 2 St SW, 12 Ave East and West extensions, and 5 Street South extension.
Springbank Reservoir
It’s been six years since the devastating floods that impacted Victoria Park in the Beltline as well as Downtown Calgary and many surrounding communities. We continue to advocate for all levels of government to proceed with the Spring Bank Reservoir plans, which are the best option we have for flood protection in Calgary.
Responsible Growth Management and the 14 New Communities
We continue to advocate for responsible growth in Calgary including revisiting the ambitious $12 million/year operating subsidies for the 14 new communities at the expense of services to existing Calgary neighbourhoods.
17 Ave Reconstruction
After much anticipation major construction on the 17th Ave Reconstruction is now complete. Crews will return in two years to add a final layer of asphalt and complete the sidewalks but the majority of the construction is now behind us!
Main Streets and Complete Streets
We’re continue to advocate for City Administration and Council to allocate adequate funds in the 2019-2022 budget to reinvest in existing Calgary neighbourhoods through the Main Streets and Complete Streets projects that are critical to Calgary meeting its long term goals of more balanced growth and becoming a more economically viable city.
Cowboys Stampede Tent
When Cowboys announced their plans to move their Stampede tent off Stampede Park and into the residential area of East Victoria Park, we listened to local residents and advocated for the neighbourhood. We are currently soliciting feedback from the local residents to gauge support for the tent for next summer.
Supervised Consumption Site (SCS) at Sheldon Chumir
We continue to run a solution-focused community workgroup attended by the City, Alberta Health Services, Calgary Police, Calgary Fire Department, Alpha House, local residents and businesses to share information, table concerns and work together to find solutions.
Since the workgroup has been operating we’ve added more events programming in Memorial Park, more Police presence, better information sharing, and more resources from the City and the Province to support the community around the site.
Beltline Aquatic and Recreation Centre
We are partnering with Inglewood and other community groups to advocate for the City of Calgary to allow adequate time for the Beltline and Inglewood Aquatic and Recreation Centres for a new operating arrangement to be found for the centre. Operating funds for the recreation facilities were cut as part of the City’s $60 million budget cut this past August.
With more cuts expected and further recreation facilities at risk, it’s imperative that we find a way to keep the centres serving our communities until newer, more modern facilities can be built.
Centre City Police Station
The last Downtown police station in Victoria Park was closed due to Calgary Police Service budget constraints back in 2017. In the wake of the economic downturn and a drug-addictions crisis Calgary Police have been stretched thin to respond to the challenges presented by this context and as a result we have seen an increase in crime levels in the Centre City. Today, Calgary is the only major Canadian municipality without a downtown police station and that is why we are working with surrounding communities to advocate for the reinstatement of a Centre City police station.
Green Line LRT
This summer it came as a surprise when the City’s Green Line project team announced they were looking to revisit the City Council approved Green Line alignment through the Downtown.
After initial concern, the BNA was assured by the project team the deep tunnel under the Bow River was the major point of concern for the project and a non-bored cut-and-cover tunnel was still possible for the Beltline. However, we are now uncertain about the fate of this alignment and are now working again with local stakeholders to save the project in the months ahead.
We Planned for the Future
11 Street SW Upgrades
We’re working to bring exciting upgrades to 11 Street SW, including pocket parks, movable furniture for Connaught Park, and road safety improvements.
Humpy Hollow Park Revisioning
In collaboration with the City of Calgary Parks and local architecture firm Dialog we completed a design concept for the Park. Funding approval for the Park from the locally-sourced Beltline Community Investment Fund (BCIF) will go for City Council approval later this fall with planned community engagement in 2020 and project completion in 2021.
Beltline Urban Development Committee
Over the course of our twice per months meetings we’ve reviewed and provided feedback dozens of development permits in the Beltline, met with developers, City Planners, and local stakeholders to help with better urban development in the Beltline. The committee is open to all Beltline residents who want to get involved in improving the the Beltline neighbourhoods.
Rivers District Master Plan & Beltline ARP
We’ve engaged with the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) and the City of Calgary to provide input and feedback into the Rivers District Master Plan and the new Beltline ARP for East Victoria Park and Stampede Park so that it can be not just a successful arts and entertainment district but a great neighbourhood to live in and visit.
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We will continue to stay engaged with CMLC, the City of Calgary, Calgary Stampede and other stakeholders with the new developments of the BMO Convention Centre Expansion and the new Event Centre.