No Show For Bow River Flow
Re-elect me! We'll needlessly close roads again next year!
The organizers may have named it the Bow River Flow, but this event made traffic do anything but flow on Memorial Drive on the weekend. It was back in April when we first wrote about Ald. Druh Farrell’s idea to completely close the eastbound lanes on a section of Memorial Drive. At the time, the plan was to have the closures occur on every sunday during the month of August. When Calgarians spoke out against this idea, City Hall decided to allow it to be closed on a single Sunday, which was this past weekend. Calgarians tried to send the message to City Hall, and Ald. Druh Farrell but their reasoning fell upon deaf ears.
The idea was to have two lanes closed so Calgarians could go down and ride their bikes, or rollerblade their way down the roadway. Others could enjoy a nice walk on the road, or even practice some tai chi on the road. Critics of the plan said that Calgary already boasts one of the largest pathway systems in North America. There are pathways on both sides of the Bow River, and on the south shore there is a large greenspace that is perfect for hosting festivals like this. Organizers of the Bow River Flow, by virtues of their actions this weekend seemed to agree that the pathways are quite excellent as they setup the festival tents along the existing pathways!
Organizers expected about 10,000 people to attend the event, but estimates show the number was closer to 1,500–the majority of which walked along the existing bike paths adjacent to Memorial Drive. People were also discouraged to congregate on the roadway due to safety concerns about them being hit by cyclists or rollerbladers. The truth is, the only danger on the roadway were people tripping over the pylons that were setup. For most of the day there were more pylons on the road than people. In fact, there were more members of the media there than people on the road.
Supporters of the event ask why there is such a strong opposition to the roadway being closed. They argue that roads are closed each year for the Stampede Parade, the Lilac Festival, and Marda Gras to name a few. The key difference is that for each of these events, the roadways are closed for a reason. The Stampede Parade route runs on the actual roads that are closed. The festival tents are setup right on 4th street for the Lilac Festival, not on the side streets. The same goes for Marda Gras, tents are setup along the road and pedestrians walk along the closed street. For the Bow River Flop–err… Flow, two lanes of Memorial Drive were closed while festival tents were setup on the bike paths. The closure of Memorial Drive was unnecessary plain and simple. I would be just as peeved if they closed Northbound Macleod Trail during the Calgary Stampede while everyone is on the grounds.
This year’s Bow River Flow was a trial run and Ald. Druh Farrell must have accepted that the idea was bad. So, lesson learned right? Yeah, no thats not how we roll in Calgary. The event was a big bag of fail as I said on twitter, and our dear old Druh is talking about EXPANDING the event. I’m at a loss for words, so this will have to suffice.
Fun Fact:
Ald. Druh Farrell voted AGAINST saving Race City. Remember that during the next election folks.
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