City Hall and Municipal Complex

A great looking building filled with no doubt wonderful people and currently being occupied by a mayor that spends his days raising our property taxes and bickering with people on twitter like a 14 year old girl.
Each time I have visited City Hall I have been treated with courtesy and professionalism by the staff working there. Other then Mayor Spendshi, the staff here go out of their way to help make my day a little brighter each visit.

On city parks:
I often call 311 because of glass cleanup needed in our park. 9 out of 10 parks and recreation do come and clean the area. However, I find that I have to describe the color of the glass, exact location. Sometimes it takes couple of days before they come to cleanup.
Being winter, that park I walk my baby in (Bailee the labradoodle) is hilly. When snow is thawing, it is very slippery.
I don’t understand why as residents we have to shovel our sidewalks or else, we get fined. Why is it a public park like that with residential houses surrounded by it, with multiple schools from elementary to highschool, daycare establishments… but city doesn’t clear the pathway.
I slipped once only this year thank goodness, considering I walk Bailee almost everyday. I wear my crampons coz I can’t afford to be off work.
Now, its also mind buggling that they do now the lawn during summer time, but not plow during winter time. I was also told that they don’t plow it because its not a high traffic area. I went to nova Scotia in Sydney… After snowfall, everything was clear before noon… even the sidewalk! They don’t even have as much population as we do… hmmmm

I have to say that I’m pretty darn impressed!
I was looking into getting a business license moved for the boss and went down on Friday morning to ask some questions and see what was needed to make this happen. The lady at the reception desk was very friendly and asked a few questions to point me in the right direction. She gave me a number and I was pleasantly surprised that I was next to be helped. I didn’t even have time to grab a seat when my number was being called.
The gentleman helping me was great. He asked a bunch of questions about the business and the new location. He took the floor plan I brought and got a couple of different people to look at it to make sure he was giving me the right information. Within about 20 minutes I was on my way with the different forms and documents to take back to the office.
Unfortunately, for the time frame to get everything in order for the city to be able to move into a new location, it wasn’t feasble. So there was a change of plans and I was sent back to city hall to look at options for plan B.
It was the same deal on Tuesday morning. Friendly, though different, lady at reception, and another helpful person at the business license desk. I had to answer a few questions then sit there for about 10 minutes while she typed away on her computer. Everything was approved with no issues, no waiting, and no additional permits. Success!

*thumbsup

The City of Calgary office offers many services. It gives tons of information for people buying a building, building one or starting a business. It gives information on most of the detours and road construction in the city and gives residents advice on road clearing and sweeping.
The most wonderful service for me is that you can rent gymnasium spaces or community centres for your events and you organization.
They are abreast on what is available in the city and will try to accommodate putting you in the right direction in Calgary and what resources the city has to offer you.
Just call 311 and apply online and the City of Calgary will give you really reasonable pricing for space rental. The people on the line are incredibly cooperative and many times they have come up with very creative ideas for my very special events.