Both Inglewood and Kensington have a similar feel to 17th Avenue, I would say. Lots of little shops, coffee places and people out walking whenever it’s remotely nice.
Inglewood has certainly had a successful renaissance. When I worked for Aids Calgary ~15-20 years ago, we used to pass out condoms and bleach kits to the hookers over there.
They instituted a crackdown/clean up a few years ago. Didn’t exactly solve the problem, however. All the unsavory elements just migrated to Forest Lawn.
It was actually even on the news this morning; they’re starting a “downtown” crackdown, and now the badness is moving to Bridgeland.
There are a few neighbourhoods like that, Kensington/Sunnyside, Marda Loop, Mission, Bankview, parts of Inglewood and my neighbourhood Lower Mount Royal/Connaught.
All are close to downtown, one of the rivers, and almost everywhere in Calgary is close to a bike path!
Supposedly we have the best bike path system in North America.
Ack - that is what I get for getting distracted while posting - you all beat me to it.
The downtown problem is really only a small area near Stampede & the East Village. Compared to other cities - the wasteland of crack heads and junkies is relatively small. The media is making a mountain out of a molehill when it comes to the crime in that area - I can walk through that area on my way home from work, and I have many times. Nobody has ever harassed, assaulted, or even offered me drugs.
I suspect that after living in Baltimore, it won’t even ping on my nasty-area radar anymore.
Ooohkay
What can you teeming millions in the Calgary area tell me about car insurance. I was asking a buddy at work today regarding this and Alberta is a third party insurance province as opposed to Sask, which is Govt run insurance.
Would I find rates to be comparable to southern ontario , or more/less expensive.
I got a quote to have my car shipped to Alberta, for $750 if I drop the car off in Toronto, and it will take about 12 days for it to reach Alberta, but that means at some point, transfering plates , sticker , and getting an Alberta policy from an insurance agency.
I assume I can simply keep going with my Ontario plates for a while ,as well as my insurance policy , but at some point I have to transfer everything.
Any thoughts or suggestions
Declan
I have no hard figures, but everyone from ONT that I’ve spoken to tells me that rates in AB are far lower than back home. I’m a 23 yr old male and I pay about $80/month for liability insurance.
When we moved from Ontario to Alberta, we were pleased to find that in alberta, our car insurance was about half what we were paying in Ontario.
You can ship your car, and use your Ontario plates and insurance for a little while. Not sure how long, but I know we cancelled the Ontario policy and bought insurance from an Alberta broker at some point within two weeks after we arrived here. Once we had insurance, we could begin the process of getting Alberta plates–your car will need an Out of Province Inspection (available at pretty much any garage; we went to Canadian Tire) before Alberta plates can be issued and ownership can be registered with Alberta. Pretty simple process and overall, we found it to be pretty painless considering we were dealing with insurance and government paperwork.
I don’t know much about the auto insurance (other than it’s about the crookedest racket going), but here’s something for you to think about:
From this site:Calgary Home Price Stats
Single Family Home Stats:
Average Selling Price as of June 15, 2006 - $416,715
Last Year - 270,795
Number of sales over list price - June 15, 2006 - 834
Last Year - 186
Average over list price - June 15, 2006 - $12,114
Last year - $3064
Last we heard, house prices here are going up $2000 per day. If you’re planning to move here and buy a house, I suggest you do it FAST. Of course, if you’re selling one from the Toronto area, you’ll have much less of a shock than if you’re coming from a smaller market.
One thing I forgot to mention…
Get a copy of your Ontario driver’s abstract (that is, your driving record). You can get one from any Ontario Ministry of Transport office. IIRC, there is a small fee, but it will be worth it.
You see, without an abstract, your insurer won’t know how long you’ve been licensed, how many accidents and speeding tickets you have (or have not) had, and so on. Insurers generally won’t believe what you have to say about your record, but they will believe a document issued by the province you are moving from.
My wife and I did this, and we had no problem with our insurer. A friend here in Calgary moved from BC without an abstract, and ended up paying far more for insurance than he should have, because he could not prove that he had a clean driving record. He basically had to start all over again, paying the premiums of a new driver.
No , I am afraid I will be dwelling in rentals for some time to come before I can even think of buying a new or preowned home.
My only concern with those prices , is that for an average person who buys one is likely to be renting at over five hundred first and security for a simple room. I can understand supply and demand ,but it is a concern.
Declan
Thanks spoons, I would never have thought of that.
Declan