Comments on: City Centre Airport: Leaning Toward Closure

By: The Unknown Studio » Blog Archive » In favour of closing YXD

The Unknown Studio » Blog Archive » In favour of closing YXD — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:32:51 +0000

[...] on the City Centre Airport can be found here. And Councillor Don Iveson shares his thoughts on YXD here. Good Afternoon [...]

By: Shami Sandhu

Shami Sandhu — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:55:17 +0000

From your blog entry I applaud your thorough review of this issue.
The only thing that gets me is that we have this large contaminated parcel of land. The city stands to make a one-time profit from the potential sale (if anyone buys this contaminated parcel). The “talk-of-the-town” is that it can be redeveloped into residential. Do the neighbouring communities want the extra traffic? I see this becoming the next great debate.

With so many other areas of the city needing attention why have so many resources been wasted on this? Is someone really waiting to shut down the muni before being the next skyscraper?

The healthcare issue does not get answered by helicopter service. They have limited range and speed. Fixed-wing aircraft are the only ones that can effectively serve the northern part of this province. Would you call the parent of a sick or injured child a jetsetter.

The Edmonton Airport Authority have always had a hate-on attitude of the muni for some reason. They have made the muni non-economical to operate from for both cargo and passenger operators. Will we ever be a bigger Int`l airport – NO! As a past airline employee, we are considered to be off the beaten path. Vancouver-Calgary-Winnipeg-Toronto are in a straight line.. We`re out of the way for them to make us a hub bigger than Calgary.

Anyway, I needed to vent and now I have.

By: Don Iveson :: Edmonton City Councillor, Ward 5

Don Iveson :: Edmonton City Councillor, Ward 5 — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:42:06 +0000

[...] City Centre Airport: Leaning Toward Closure [...]

By: keith daniel

keith daniel — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 01:58:36 +0000

There are many decrepit areas in Edmonton that need to be developed before we touch the CCA. Why is the Cromdale still standing instead of being sold off to the developers now drooling over the CCA lands. It’ll be decades before they can look at that. Even NAIT admits that fact.

By: g gustafson

g gustafson — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:36:07 +0000

Please don’t sentence all of us here on the north side to driving to Calgary for the rest of our lives. As you must know flying out of the International is no option for us. To drive 45 mins. to wait for 90 mins. for a forty min. flt. and then taxi,wait for our bags and then rent a car kills the possibility of flying. I must have driven that road 60 times in the last 14 years. Give us back small commuter flights. Save lives, cut pollution.

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:15:43 +0000

john: edmonton is not new york

Edmonton — Population: 1,034,945
new york – Population: 8,363,710

new york city’s population density of 26,403 people per square mile (10,194/km²), makes it the densest of any American municipality with a population above 100,000.[5] Manhattan’s population density is 66,940 people per square mile (25,846/km²), highest of any county in the United States.[6][7]

The population density of the city of Edmonton proper averaged 1067.2 people per square kilometre (2764/sq mi)

edmonton has more parkland per capita than new york. our river bend parks are huge.

so new york needs more green space for there people
edmonton does not

simple

if this city is going to be “greener” it needs to be denser. it needs to stop taking over farmland and turning it into suburbs. it needs to stop building highways. it needs to be less vehicle dependant (which means it needs to be denser)

By: Garth Norris

Garth Norris — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:08:15 +0000

A very intelligent and thoughtful website by Councillor Iveson, and overall some very thoughful and insightful poitn spresented by contributors…with the exception i suppose of Mr. Jolly and his threats of driving to calgary in a rented Hummer if the CCA closes..a comment on the level of many of the arguements against closing the City centre Airport.
The issue is what is in the best long-term interetsts of the City of edmonton and its residents as a whole..not the best short-term interests and convemnience of some. It is not a question of having the CCA compete against the EIA..we need the EIA as the CCa cannot handle all of Edmonton’s air traffic. We don;t need the CCA as EIA and other airports in the vicinity can take care of all the CCA flights.
It is not a question of whether there is enough demand for commercial and residential land today…but the issue of what we want our growing city to look like 50 years from now..a massive environmental footprint spread out across hundreds of miles..or a more compact, high density, environmentally friendly, public transit oriented city.
Edmonton residents had the foresight and vision more than 10 years ago to vote soundly in favour of eliminating scheduled air traffic at the CCA. We have avoided implementing their decision for years and we finally have a Council that has the courage tyo address the issue and look at what Edmonton can become in the future and not just what it has been in the past.
Yes, the CCA served us well, but so did paddlewheel steamboats and horse-drawn carts and we eventually had to move on from them. So too do we now need to move on from the “good old days” of having an airport in the middle of our city (though when it was first built it clearly wasn’t.
Let’s make a clear decision to rid ourselves of what will eventually become a white elephant…and if Dave Jolly wants to drive to Calgary in a hummer then so be it. Part of the lobby to keep the CCA is being led by a senior Telus Executive, Tim Sipton…and we all know that Telus chose to move their HQ to vancouver desopite our having a city centre airport..now they want the convenience for those few executives that have to fly to edmonton ocassionally. Maybe Dave can give them a ride in his humnmer.

By: David J. Parker

David J. Parker — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:41:09 +0000

Mr. Iveson clearly indicates that the advantages closure far outweigh the trivial benefits.
Edmonton is a large city but not a mega city and must compete with cities of similar size.
This means that Edmonton can only support one airport, if we truly value where our taxation dollars are spent.
As with all the moribund industries that have shown themselves since the economic meltdown the muni is seen to be a financial sinkhole.
Of course, certain vested interests will be fically hurt.
That is the nature of economies, both socialist and free market capitalist, sometimes things have to be left to die.
Such is the nature of of human existence.

By: john henker

john henker — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:17:07 +0000

I still feel that past councils made a mistake abandoning our City Center Airport to the ERAA which only had one real (and cleverly hidden) mandate: manipulate things and put up roadblocks to produce a slow death and eventual closing of the Muni, to serve the interests of the International Airport. And it looks like Councillor Iveson and others are just going give up on the CCA,kill it off like the ERAA wants, and re-develop it— for what? Tax dollars of course. More money. So more downtown-employed couples and singles can live closer to work. Or, will the new neighborhood with it’s cute historical names like Wop May Crescent be aimed at families, too? Hello spin merchants! And with no planes around, no restrictions on how high the high rises will go up. Hey, more tax dollars!

I challenge Councillor Iveson, with all his green messages on the website, to walk his talk and introduce Option Three: Use the land to build an interesting treed and landscaped park with many water features, for ALL citizens of Edmonton to enjoy. Walking and running paths, air museum, monument to air pioneers, Aeronautical Science Center for school age kids,

The city of New York did this, because it gives their concrete jungle some GREEN—-for all to enjoy. Its famous! It was the right decision. Lets do the same!

If city council really is interested in what’s best for ALL Edmontonians, and decides to close our City Center Airport, I would hope Councillor Iveson and other green-thinking Councillors would jump in lead council to develop a City Central Park, instead. Please think about it Don….

Or is this whole thing about real estate for the tax dollars—not what’s best for the environment AND all Edmontonians. I guess we’ll know the answer soon.

By: Gerry Tertzakian

Gerry Tertzakian — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:24:00 +0000

Don,
Thanks for the positive and well reflected stand on the CCA issue. Please look to the future and vote to redevelop the land instead of being among those who wish to turn the clock back. Develop this downtown land instead of the remote suburbs that have a high overall cost. I am neither a developer nor have any interest in anyhting but a brighter future for Edmonton. And yes, I am a frequent flyer and the International Airport has served me admirably over the years but more so in the last five or so years.
Sincerely,
Gerry