Hundreds of Calgarians packed council chambers yesterday, waiting patiently for a chance to voice their opinion on Plan It Calgary.
With more than 100 Calgarians signed up to present their case to city council, the hearing could span over several days.
“It seems to be a bit of a grind, I think we have only had three speakers this morning and I know there are over 50 on the list so we could be here for several days,” said Ward 6 Ald. Joe Connelly.
Talk surrounding the airport tunnel ate up several hours of the first day of meetings, particularly surrounding the airport authority’s reluctance to help financially.
In airport authority CEO Garth Atkinson’s presentation he made it clear that the airport is not willing to put in any money for the building of the airport tunnel.
That decision did not sit well with council members.
“I am very disappointed, (the airport authority) stands to benefit incredibly as a result of it,” said Ward 8 Ald. John Mar. “I think that this is needed, the timing is now and certainly I would be very, very happy to work with them towards building this piece of infrastructure.”
“It’s very obvious to me that there is no will by the airport to find a way to make this happen,” said Diane Colley-Urquhart, alderman for Ward 13.
