April 2025 Newsletter

Hello Ward 6!

Spring is officially in full bloom (some days), and with it comes a season of fresh starts, longer days, and exciting community happenings! April brings a special energy — from street sweeping to local events, there’s something for everyone to enjoy this month.

In this edition of our newsletter, we’ll share the latest news on street sweeping, compost giveaways, public safety and much more. 

COUNCIL UPDATES

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US Tariffs Message from Chief Administrative Officer David Duckworth

The topic of U.S. tariffs on Canada has been top of mind for many of us, both from a personal perspective and for what this means to the over $2 billion of goods and services The City buys every year.

Together, ​we’re responding to the impacts of U.S. tariffs​ and have made several resources available to ​support local businesses​. As always, I hope you will continue to show your support for local businesses at home and at work. This will be critical to helping them through the coming months.

On Feb. 25, I presented to Council how we were preparing and activating our ​Supply Chain Resilience​ program to monitor and manage the impact of tariffs on The City’s contracts. Due to previous incidents such as COVID-19, labour disruptions and weather events, we are no stranger to supply disruptions and rolling up our sleeves to do the work needed to best serve our city and community.

The good news is, 95% of The City’s contract value is already with Canadian suppliers, with approximately 70% of that value within Alberta. We are proud to be leading other cities in prioritizing local through our ​Social Procurement​ program.

 All that said, there is room to do more and effective March 31, 2025, I’m directing the following enhancements to The City’s procurement practices to counteract the impact of U.S. tariffs on our city and country:

1. For large, competitive procurements - The Social Procurement Questionnaire weighting will be increased to 10% for Goods/Materials, from the current range of 5-10%. This increase will provide a net positive benefit to our small and medium businesses and to The City’s financial exposure due to the tariffs. 

For the procurement of services, including consulting and construction, the Social Procurement Questionnaire weighting will stay within the 5-10% range. I ask for procuring City services to review their service procurements on a case-by-case basis and increase the weighting to 10% where possible.

1. For small, under-threshold purchases - All City staff can directly make purchases under $75k for Goods/Services and under $200k for construction. I encourage everyone to make efforts to obtain all three quotes from local suppliers where possible, and when not possible, to at least prioritize Canadian suppliers.

I recognize there are still cases where there are no alternatives to U.S. suppliers and The City currently has active contracts with U.S. suppliers that continue to proceed business as usual. This is not about excluding U.S. goods and services but making conscious decisions to Buy Local or Canadian where we can. We will revisit these procurement enhancements once we feel comfortable the tariff situation is behind us.

Thank you,

David Duckworth

Short-Term Rental regulation changes

As of April 1, 2025, new regulations for short-term rentals (STRs) are now in effect in Calgary. Approved by Council in December 2024, these regulations require operators to obtain licenses based on whether their property is a primary or non-primary residence, with separate fees for each.

Under the new rules, a moratorium has been placed on issuing new licenses for non-primary residence STRs if Calgary's rental vacancy rate drops below 2.5%, which currently stands at 4.8%. The definition of STRs has also been expanded to include rentals of up to 180 consecutive days. Additionally, short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO are now required to pay a $3,000 annual business license fee. While condo boards no longer need to approve STR applications, operators must still comply with their condo’s bylaws.

These changes aim to strike a balance between regulating the short-term rental market and preserving affordable housing in the city. For more information, visit ​Short-term rental business licence - rules and regulations​.

Customer service standards for essential water service disruptions Notice of Motion

On April 15, Councillor Sharp brought forward a motion to Executive Committee asking City Administration to improve how it communicates with and supports residents and businesses during water service disruptions. The motion unanimously passed technical review and will move to Regular Meeting of Council on April 29 for full debate and final approval.

If approved, the motion will direct Administration to review current practices and report back to Council by July 29, 2025, with recommendations to:

• Outline current service standards and performance targets
• Review how other cities and utilities manage disruptions
• Propose improvements, with estimated costs and timelines
• Ensure temporary water sources are accessible to everyone affected
• Offer free recreation passes during service disruption.
• Develop a new tool to track disruptions and gather feedback, with annual reporting starting in late 2025

The goal of the motion is to make information clearer, improve access to temporary services, and ensure more consistent support for residents and businesses when water service is interrupted.

For more information on this motion and future updates, visit ​calgary.ca/ward6​ or ​calgary.ca/ward1​.

DID YOU KNOW?

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Street Sweeping 2025

Street sweeping is underway in our City. Here are things to know about the program:

• Flexibility: Daytime crews will sweep in communities Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Parking bans are in place when signs are present.
• No schedule changes: City crews will not be pre-sweeping residential streets in communities. Any delays due to weather, equipment or other issues will be rescheduled to the end of the program (later in June).
• Avoid parking tickets by planning ahead and moving vehicles: Enforcement occurs through partnership with Calgary Parking. Vehicle owners that have not moved before sweepers are operating in their community may receive a parking tag but there are multiple ways to plan ahead and be prepared.
• If debris is left behind because a vehicle or cart has not been moved: Residents can sweep up missed debris. It is recommended to use garbage bags (heavy debris needs to be double-bagged) when cleaning up gravel, dust and rocks. Do not leave debris loose in a black cart.

Why do we sweep?

• Environmental Benefit: To help the environment by keeping material out of our storm and river system
• Safety: To keep safe on our roads when walking, cycling or operating a motorized vehicle
• Clean Air: Make our communities clean and reduce airborne particles

 Ward Community Schedule

*Please note some communities have several sweeping dates listed as some areas require it for operational purposes and scheduled dates may be subject to change. Residents in these communities are encouraged to check their home address for exact dates and please excuse any discrepancies below.

Reminder: New Bylaw for Recreational Vehicles Front driveway parking

Between April 1 and October 31, an RV can be parked on your front driveway:

• for three consecutive days, followed by two days that it needs to be in storage.
• if no part of the RV is closer than one metre from the sidewalk, and
• no closer than 7.5 metres to an intersection.

Between November 1 and March 31 the RV should be in storage, and is not allowed to be parked on the driveway.

Street parking

If you don't have a front driveway, an RV can be parked for up to three days on the street in front of your home, followed by two days that it needs to be in storage.

Parked RVs cannot block the view of intersections, crosswalks, playgrounds or signs. Parked RVs cannot obstruct the movement of other vehicles.

Detached trailers and campers cannot be parked on city streets or alleys.

For more information go to ​Bylaws related to recreational vehicles

Weekly Green Cart Collection begins – April 22

• There will be lots of communication to citizens through various channels including the Garbage Day App and signage.
• More information will be coming to you in mid-April.

Compost Giveaway - April 14 to May 31

• ​Appointment booking opens April 29^th for the Shepard and Spyhill Landfills. ​
• Compost will be available for pickup by appointment only.
• Book an appointment online here at ​Calgary.ca/compost​
• Remember to bring a shovel, gloves, containers, and tarps.
• You can take up to 100 litres of compost per household. The compost must be shoveled into your containers or vehicle (no mechanical equipment is allowed).
• To ensure there is a fair opportunity for all citizens to pick up compost, households may only pick up compost once during the 2025 Compost Giveaway.
• Compost is used to enhance soil by mixing into the soil or as a top dressing. Compost is not a soil replacement.

​Free Yard Waste Drop Off at Eco-Centres​ – April 11 to June 1

• This is for citizens who may have too much yard waste for their green cart during spring cleanup, or when yard waste is too large or oversized for your green cart.
• Loads should only have leaves, branches, plants and grass clippings. Shake the soil off plants and roots.
• Sod and food scraps are not accepted, please put these items in the green cart. If citizens bring sod, they will be charged the ​basic sanitary rate​.
• Commercial customers with yard waste will be subject to ​regular landfill fees​. Commercial loads are also not accepted at Shepard.
• For faster service, we suggest visiting the Eco Centre on a weekday or before 9 a.m. on Saturdays when wait times are shorter.

Update on Public Safety

Comprehensive work is underway to improve public safety through our Transit Public Safety and Community Safety peace officer teams and partners. Implementation of the Public Transit Safety Strategy began in early 2024 and many of the strategy’s key milestones have already been achieved. These include:

• Recruiting 40 per cent more Transit peace officers (achieving our target of 185) to increase the visibility of uniformed officers, improve response time, and conduct more proactive patrols to reduce incidents of social disorder.
• Decentralizing our deployment model to ensure a more equitable distribution of resources across the city. This also reduces the travel time for peace officers and improves response time on calls for service.
• Making amendments to the Transit Bylaw 4M81 that equip Transit peace officers with additional tools to manage unsafe behaviours on the transit system. 

These achievements have already contributed to improved feelings of safety for transit users. ​The 2024 Perspectives on Calgary Safety Survey​, indicated increased feelings of safety while riding transit. The percentage of respondents who feel safe at CTrain stations increased to 72 per cent in 2024 (compared to 66 per cent in 2023 and 56 per cent in 2022). This strategy has also contributed to a 15 per cent reduction in disorder events and a 42 per cent reduction in crime.

We are at the leading edge of peace officer organizations integrating with local police jurisdictions. For example, in 2023 we began opening Safety Hubs where Calgary Police Service (CPS) and peace officers have ongoing operational touch points, allowing them to share timely information and coordinate responses. In 2024, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CPS that enhances interoperability with all peace officers and provides opportunities to increase coordination.

Currently, we are working in collaboration with CPS on the ​Safer Calgary​ initiative which has CPS Community Engagement Response Teams partnered with various CPS units, Community Safety peace officers, and Transit peace officers to create an integrated response to crime and social disorder within hot spot areas in the downtown core and across the city. Safer Calgary has been highly successful to date and was recently extended for an additional five weeks.

Lastly, we remain committed to working with social agencies and partners to address root causes. This includes expansion of our Community Outreach Teams, interdisciplinary partnerships with organizations such as the Alpha House and offering alternatives to fine payment through Calgary Community Court. Launched in 2024, Calgary Community Court is helping to address social disorder problems by connecting offenders with resources to eliminate offending behaviour. It has seen a 500% increase in participation since the initial opening, and the program is only nine months old. Given interest, organizers are looking at ways to increase frequency beyond one day a month with support from partners.

EVENTS

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Discovery Ridge Community Association - ​https://discoveryridge.com​

​Yahoo, Save the Date!

One of our favourite events, the Stampede RoundUp, is coming soon!

Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 21, 2025, from 4:00 – 7:00 pm. The fun takes place at the park by the rinks. This family-friendly celebration will be packed with games, face painting, line dancing, library book truck, a petting zoo and more! See you there!

Thank you to our current sponsors: Kristin Mould, CIR Realty; Cornerstone Square retailers: Wonder Donuts and New Discovery Fine Wines & Spirits.

Stay in the loop—scan the QR code for all the event updates!

Glendale/Glendale Meadows Community Association- ​www.myglendale.ca​

The GGMCA board of directors is beginning a multi-year project to enhance the outdoor space ("the Park") surrounding our newly renovated community hall. As part of the first phase of the project we are seeking feedback from community members regarding some initial plans developed by our 'Naturally Glendale' Committee along with a 3rd party landscape architect. Share your thoughts by taking the survey here: ​Glendale Community - Member Survey​​​