Beltline - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Beltline is a region of central Calgary

Calgary

Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...

, Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, Canada. The area is located immediately to the south of Calgary's downtown

Downtown Calgary

Downtown Calgary is a region of central Calgary, Alberta. It is not a single neighbourhood per se, but is actually a larger community containing three neighbourhoods and a number of districts....

(south of 9th Avenue and the Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

tracks), and is sometimes considered part of downtown. The neighbourhood is bound on the south by the popular 17th Avenue, on the west by 14th Street West and on the east by the Elbow River

Elbow River

The Elbow River is a river located in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows from the Canadian Rockies to the city of Calgary, where it merges into the Bow River....

.

The first established district in the neighbourhood was Connaught in 1905, followed by Victoria Park in 1914. When the region and its redevelopment plan were formally established in 2003, it amalgamated the inner city

Inner city

The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...

neighbourhoods of Victoria Park and Connaught. As of April 2009, there were 18,341 people residing in the Beltline and its districts.

The district is named for an early 20th century streetcar route.

Districts

The City of Calgary officially recognizes four separate communities in the Beltline: West Connaught, Connaught Centre, Victoria Park, and East Victoria Park. They are areas of equal north-south orientation and divided by Eighth Street SW, Fourth Street SW, Macleod Trail

Macleod Trail (Calgary)

Macleod Trail is a major road in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is a six to eight lane principal arterial road extending from downtown Calgary to the south of the city, where it merges into Highway 2. South of Anderson Road, Macleod Trail is an expressway and is slated to be upgraded to a freeway in...

(1st Street SE), and the Elbow River

Elbow River

The Elbow River is a river located in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows from the Canadian Rockies to the city of Calgary, where it merges into the Bow River....

.

The Beltline contains a number of less formal city districts within its boundaries. These include Midtown, the Design District, Victoria Park Business Revitalization Zone (Victoria), the 4th Street BRZ (located mostly within Mission

Mission, Calgary

The Mission district is an inner city neighbourhood of Calgary, Alberta, Canada that originated as Notre Dame de la Paix, a Catholic mission, and was for a time the incorporated Village of Rouleauville...

), the Uptown 17th BRZ, the Warehouse District, and a portion of the Rivers District.

Rivers District

The eastern portion of the Beltline is part of the large Rivers District. This area includes the eastern section of the Beltline (the Victoria Park portion), the downtown neighbourhood of the Downtown East Village, the Stampede Grounds

Calgary Stampede

The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and features one of the world's largest rodeos, a parade, midway,...

, the Calgary Zoo

Calgary Zoo

The Calgary Zoo is located in Bridgeland, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, just east of the city's downtown and adjacent to the Inglewood and East Village neighbourhoods. It is accessible via Calgary's C-Train light rail system, by car via Memorial Drive and by bicycle and footpath via the Bow River...

, and Fort Calgary

Fort Calgary

Fort Calgary was established in 1875 as Fort Brisebois by the North-West Mounted Police, located at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers in what is now Calgary, Alberta.-History:...

. Like the Beltline, the East Village is at the forefront of major revitalization initiatives, thus making the Rivers District a hotbed for potential new and rejuvenated development. In the past, the East Village has been regarded as undesirable, mainly due to its proximity to the only remaining industrial area in the downtown

Downtown Calgary

Downtown Calgary is a region of central Calgary, Alberta. It is not a single neighbourhood per se, but is actually a larger community containing three neighbourhoods and a number of districts....

area and the railway. Currently, the East Village is notoriously rife with social problems such as drugs and prostitution. Part of the city's revitalization plan includes a large urban campus for the University of Calgary

University of Calgary

The University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...

17th Avenue

17 Avenue SW, Calgary

17 Avenue SW is a major east-west arterial road in the south-west quadrant of the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.Between the Calgary Stampede Grounds and 14 Street SW, it is a commercial street, with bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and shops, which has been designated a Business Revitalization...

, which is on the southern extremity of the Beltline district has already established itself as a vibrant mixed-use area. With a dense concentration of bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and shops, the street is effectively Calgary's primary "party street". Behind this lively commercial development are residential areas. The street also "dead-ends" at the Stampede Grounds on its east side, and is thus central to the party-like atmosphere that overtakes the city during the Calgary Stampede

Calgary Stampede

festival. 17th Avenue was nicknamed the "Red Mile

Red Mile

The Red Mile is the name given to a several-block stretch of 17th Avenue S.W. in Calgary, Alberta, Canada during the Calgary Flames 2004 Stanley Cup playoff run...

" in 2004 during the playoff run of Calgary's NHL

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

team, the Calgary Flames

Calgary Flames

The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is the third major-professional ice hockey team to represent the city of Calgary, following the...

. During this time, it was not uncommon to see over 100,000 fans crowding the street and its bars and pubs on game nights.

Midtown

Also of note, the Midtown district which comprises the northern portion of the Beltline is seeing its own unique development push. Some of the Beltline's tallest and densest residential developments are planned for this area. Its primary street, 10th Avenue, will be its focal point and may include a streetcar.

Connaught

Connaught was established in 1905, and comprises the western part of the Beltline, west of 4th Street W. Residents in this community had a median household income

Median household income

The median household income is commonly used to generate data about geographic areas and divides households into two equal segments with the first half of households earning less than the median household income and the other half earning more...

of $

Canadian dollar

The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...

38,960 in 2000, and 26.1% of residents living in the neighbourhood were low-income.

Victoria Park

Victoria Park comprises the eastern part of the Beltline, is bisected by Macleod Trail

Macleod Trail (Calgary)

, and contains the Warehouse district. It was named after Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

, who is celebrated in a monument to the Second Boer War

Second Boer War

The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...

located in Central Memorial Park

Central Memorial Park (Calgary)

Central Memorial Park is a park located in central Calgary's Beltline district. Sometimes referred to as Central Park or as Memorial Park, the area is home to the Memorial Park Library, an equestrian statue of R.L. Boyle, and a cenotaph. The former Colonel Belcher veterans hospital was located...

. Victoria Park is adjacent to the Stampede Grounds

Calgary Stampede

and the Pengrowth Saddledome

Pengrowth Saddledome

The Scotiabank Saddledome is the primary indoor arena of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It has a seating capacity of 19,289 people.Located on the Stampede Grounds, on the east end of downtown Calgary, the Saddledome was built in 1983 to replace the Stampede Corral as the home of the Calgary Flames of...

arena. Residents in this community had a median household income

Median household income

of $

Canadian dollar

28,843 in 2000, and there were 34.2% low income residents living in the neighbourhood.

Redevelopment

The Beltline is a neighbourhood in transition. The district, along with the Rivers District and the Downtown East Village, are presently in the midst of an ambitious urban planning and rejuvenation venture planned by the city's municipal government to increase the residential density of central Calgary. On May 15, 2006 the Calgary City Council approved the Beltline Area Redevelopment Plan. The plan details land use policies and implementation recommendations which are designed to be implemented concurrently with the broader Land Use Bylaw redesign, to take effect in 2008. It aims to accommodate up to 40,000 residents in the neighbourhood by 2035.

A report on the Beltline ARP was presented to the Calgary Planning Commission on September 20, 2007. A public open house and information session occurred in late October 2007, with a Public Council Hearing occurring on November 12, 2007.

The area is intended to operate as a mixed-use region and is to include a mix of commercial services and high density condominium and apartment towers. Many of these residential structures are already under construction, and even more are in the proposal stages. Currently there are over 37 major residential towers in some stage of development in the community.

Victoria Park is a region of focused municipal redevelopment. The City of Calgary has declared it a Business Revitalization Zone (BRZ) and is encouraging a progressive redevelopment of the much maligned community. The 42 and 34-story residential Arriva

Arriva Towers (Calgary)

The Arriva Towers are a complex of three residential towers in Calgary, Alberta.The high rise condominiums are built in Victoria Park, a historic neighbourhood in Calgary's Beltline neighbourhood, north of the Stampede Grounds and Pengrowth Saddledome arena...

project, the tallest condominium development west of Toronto; the Sasso and Vetro development; the Colours project; and the multi-use Hotel Arts Centre, suggest a vibrant and renewed future for Victoria Park, with a great deal of investment and interest.
The district is also one of the city's most historic. Not only does it include two of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, but it also encompasses the Stampede Grounds, the site of Calgary's annual Calgary Stampede

Calgary Stampede

which sees over 1.25 million visitors per year.

In 2007, Victoria Park was one of the first first communities to get its own Wi-Fi Network. WestNet Wireless deployed the high speed network, which offers fiber optic speeds over Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...

Education

Two public schools are located in Beltline, the Connaught Community School and the Victoria Community School. Western Canada High School

Western Canada High School

Western Canada High School is a public senior high school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It has classes for grades 10 through 12. Western is located in the 17th Avenue business district of the Lower Mount Royal community, and is the most centrally located public high school in Calgary.-History:The...

is located along the 17th Avenue boundary of the community, and serves the area. One block outside the Beltline is St. Mary's High School

St. Mary's High School (Calgary)

St. Mary's High School is a Canadian secondary school in Calgary, Alberta, operated by the Calgary Catholic School District . The school is well known in Calgary for its historical significance...

which serves most of the Roman Catholic high school students in the area

Social issues

There is a significant mix of economic groups in the community. With new revitalization, a number of middle and upper income groups are establishing themselves in the area due to the close proximity to downtown.
However, low income residents still make up a large proportion of the population (28.3% in 2001). The Mustard Seed Calgary is located in the Beltline at 102 11 Ave SE. There are also many poorly maintained and dilapidated buildings with low rents. A large portion of Victoria Park in particular is in poor condition due to the city's decision to restrict development on lands needed for Calgary Stampede

Calgary Stampede

expansion.
Owners of this land were generally not interested in improving buildings they knew would be removed soon. As a result, a number of seemingly abandoned buildings were occupied illegally by squatters. As the city has finalized land purchases and made final decisions on land use, this has decreased dramatically.

Victoria Park has been traditionally associated with drugs and prostitution. This problem persists today in the eastern portion of the Beltline. Attempts have also been made to deal with a large street drug problem, and the province of Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

operates a methadone clinic in the area. The clinic has had both positive and negative effects on the community. Despite efforts to deal with these problems, some residents and visitors still find they are frequently approached with unwanted offers to buy or sell drugs and/or sex.

The median household income

Median household income

in 2005 was $

Canadian dollar

43,087 in the Beltline. (compared with $

Canadian dollar

67,283 Calgary average). Immigrants made up 31.3% of the residents in 2006, this compares against an immigrant population of 24.8% for Calgary overall. The majority of the buildings (95.8%) are apartment

Apartment

An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...

s, and 70.9% of the dwellings were used for renting

Renting

Renting is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for all property charges regularly incurred by the ownership from landowners...

in 2006.

External links

Calgary Beltline Communities - Mainly pictures of the beltline area.
Beltline Victoria and Connaught Info Site
Victoria Park Info Site

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