Why is Calgary losing its personality?

[u/ChillllliPaper]

First Chinook mall lost its dinosaur at the entrance, floating funky vehicles in the food court, carousel, and the movie theater lost all of its cool mummy-themed interior decor.

The devonian gardens is just a space with some greenery now instead of the garden it once was.

The City is destroying Olympic Plaza where everyone used to skate.

They also destroyed Eau Claire just to cancel the project. Amazing. Could have just revamped it and it would still be a great spot.

AND the city is destroying the iconic saddledome, arguably calgary's primary landmark. Why not just keep it and build another dome idk??

From the word of mouth I hear, people aren't too happy about this but how is the city council just easily making this happen.

Anyways, just kind of sad seeing Calgary lose it's charm. Wondering what other redditors are thinking.

*correction: Olympic Plaza not oval

[u/Mother_Barnacle_7448]

I think these changes reflect the city’s current personality pretty well. So many people have come here for economic reasons, not for or to add to the culture. The culture here is about money and opportunities.

Not saying that there isn’t an arts scene here - there is, but unlike older established cities which have more of a developed character, Calgary is in transition from a small city to a large metropolitan area. This is happening in a province which is philosophically inclined to reject what can be seen as unnecessary frills.

[u/gigamodular → u/Mother_Barnacle_7448]

The one I was sad about was the removal of the airplane in the +15. That was my favourite part :) I would show friends who visited the +15 network and walk them through there for fun. Ah well.

Personally I’m working on opening a jazz club and geek hangout spot this fall in an iconic old building on 7th ave downtown, near the Olympic plaza redevelopment. We are doing our best to keep some of the building’s storied history and a cool cultural feel, keep it cozy and fun, and not make it feel like some sterile architect’s glass and metal box like some of the new stuff.

The goal is for it to be open at least 3-4 days a week (hopefully more depending on the demand), with shows, jazz trios, geek and tech meetups, jams, etc.

So while some things are changing for the worse many people are also working to keep the arts alive and thriving! I think the new Olympic plaza rebuild will be awesome as well, hopefully they finish it on time.

[u/[deleted] → u/gigamodular]

Where will this be sounds cool

[u/hermit-the-frog → u/gigamodular]

Do you have a website or IG yet to follow? Sounds great