Leong: City of Calgary’s Cowboys Park consultation is pure B.S.

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The City of Calgary picked an extremely curious time to reveal new public consultations for a refresh of Cowboys Park.

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The online public engagement began March 31, long after protective fencing went up around the Downtown West green space as heaving machinery started tearing up the grass for what is being deemed a revitalization.

The entire years-long process that led to the current state of affairs at what was once Millennium Park has been less than open.

I’d bet a fair number of us still call the place Shaw Millennium Park — named as part of a prior sponsorship agreement with the one-time Calgary-headquartered telecoms firm, since taken over by Rogers.

Rogers’ acquisition of Shaw was finalized in April 2023. Around that time, I noticed the city’s documentation about the park stopped using the word Shaw. When a colleague inquired with the city, we were told the sponsorship deal had ended in 2019, much to our surprise.

John Q. Public would never have known this: Anyone walking through there continued to be greeted by the old name on signage informing visitors of proper skatepark etiquette. And only after the new Cowboys Park moniker was unveiled did anyone learn there had actually been a process in the intervening years to find a new sponsor.

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City councillor not told about planned paving

The new name is what it is. All I cared about was that the public space would be maintained for public use.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek and other members of city council gushed over the sponsorship deal, saying it would add vibrancy to Downtown West. The park would be spruced up but exactly how wasn’t immediately made known.

Park users who spoke with a Postmedia reporter at the time said they hoped the deal would help to reinvigorate the skateboarding area — the largest such outdoor venue in Canada — which is beginning to show signs of deterioration.

Alas, crews are now ripping apart the other half of the public space for upgrades to potable water lines, lighting, washrooms, walkways, basketball/volleyball court and storage areas.

Once those upgrades are completed, much of the former grassy amphitheatre will be replaced by a flat, paved surface.

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And while local Coun. Terry Wong previously told Postmedia even he was surprised by the paving project, he also struck a reassuring tone, saying the changes weren’t made just to accommodate the new title sponsor of the space.

That politicians weren’t told what was happening should be a cause for extreme alarm. If Wong wasn’t made fully aware of what’s happening in his ward, how is he supposed to advocate for his constituents?

Meaningless public consultation process

Also surprised was the Calgary International Bluesfest, a longtime summer fixture at Millennium/Cowboys Park, which has been forced to move to The Confluence at great inconvenience and expense.

Amid all of this, someone at city hall suddenly decided this would be the perfect time for a public consultation.

What for, exactly? I’m sure Downtown West residents would very much like the grass restored for picnicking, reading and sunbathing. Local daycares would probably like the green space out back so their charges can run around without being baked by hot asphalt.

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I guess we’re supposed to be grateful for the chance to provide input, but here’s a demonstration of how hollow this exercise is: one of the feedback boxes reminds respondents that “major design and infrastructure changes can not be considered.”

What a disgraceful joke.

Meanwhile, there’s been no official word about whether the skatepark will get the TLC it deserves.

Although the public engagement is decidedly useless for the green space at Cowboys Park, skaters and BMXers should take this opportunity to make themselves heard about what should be done for their half of the park. They should not let city hall ignore them from this point forward.

I usually have really nice things to say about the city’s consultation process.

Not this time. It’s nothing short of male bovine excrement — enough to make you wonder who the hell is actually is in charge at the city, anyway?

rleong@postmedia.com

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