LIFA #5 Wednesday, 06July11 @7pm @SPOLUMBO'S
Fine Foods & Deli
1308 - 9 Avenue S.E.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
LIFA #5 Wednesday, 06July11 @7pm @SPOLUMBO'S
LIFA #5 Wednesday, 06July11 @7pm @SPOLUMBO'S
Fine Foods & Deli
1308 - 9 Avenue S.E.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
LIFA #4 Sunday.26June11@7pm @Ironwood Stage & Grill, Inglewood
LIFA #4 Sunday.26June11@7pm @Ironwood Stage & Grill, Inglewood
LIFA Target #1 is Inglewood. We are beta testing our unique data collection process on the inner city community of Inglewood.
All citizens are invited to participate in the Citizen LIFA.
LIFA Target #1 is Inglewood. We are beta testing our unique data collection process on the inner city community of Inglewood.
All citizens are invited to participate in the Citizen LIFA.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Letter to Office of the Mayor requesting supports for Citizen LIFA
Chima Nkemdirim
Chief of Staff, Office of the Mayor
Sir,
I was very pleased to receive your e-mail today and thank you for your interest in LIFA. As you may be aware, Paul Hughes requested funding from Ald Druh Farrell, which was unfortunately denied. As a result we do not have a budget for purchasing maps from the City or access to a printer/plotter. This is where we hope you may be able to help us, so that our objectives can still be reached by October 1, 2011.
The Calgary Food Policy Council initiated the Food Policy agenda for the City of Calgary in June 2008. On 08Feb11, a motion was made by Paul Hughes at the EAC to create a LIFA: Land Inventory Food Assessment for Calgary. This motion was passed unanimously. We note that the EAC has not met on the LIFA file since February 8th. As interested parties in a grassroots, citizen-driven movement who are aware of our stake in this project, we have continued the process to the point where we are ready to gather information about unused land. Our first area of study will be Inglewood. As the site of the first European settlement in the area, it is a fitting tribute to begin there and also somewhat ironical that this neighbourhood has so much unused land and yet so little in the way of local retail grocery outlets.
We want to build a sustainable local food system, for many reasons which at this point in time should be evident to everyone. The way to begin is with information about both all facets of Calgary’s local food system, from the land to the existing food infrastructure in our communities.
What we are looking for from the City of Calgary administration is access to the digital resources we need to complete this project:
• .dwg files of the more than 300 Land Use District maps, that would be most helpful. I understand these would contain the legal survey fabric with street names, plan, block, lot numbers and boundary lines, easements and Utility ROWs
• One set of 11X17 plus one set of A1 or D size hard copies of these maps would also be very much appreciated
• .dwg files of the boundaries and names of neighhourhoods, to give more context to the above maps
• Water utilities such as hydrants and storm runoff catch basins
• Above and below grade electrical utilities
• Access to other key information would be appreciated, if possible. For example, can we please find out how many parcels of unused land the City currently has on record, and what is the total area in hectares of this land. It would be very helpful if I had a counterpart to contact with the city administration.
Our objective is to use Inglewood as the first test of our project, work out the bugs in the process in the month ahead and then expand to all the other neighbourhoods city wide immediately afterward. Currently we have the manpower necessary to begin. Our team will find out the information we need by taking along the four land use district maps to physically make site visits and use the Web to gather additional publically available information. At the same time we have begun to formulate plans as to how to reach the larger community, identify keen citizens in every neighbourhood. Not only do many hands make light work but we feel it is important for as many citizens as possible to become aware of their community’s vacant land, its potential and to become familiar with food policy issues. The data collected will be linked to the drawings I will be producing along with images of the sites under consideration. As such, the digital information the City would provide me with will be referenced in the background and as such not be changed in any way, shape or form.
LIFA takes the position that we are now facing long-term challenging weather, oil, fertilizer and agricultural commodity price hikes and even potential crop shortages. We are confident the city is equally concerned in ensuring that no one starves in Calgary for the lack of a robust food infrastructure.
I hope I have given you enough information to proceed with, and please contact me if you require further information. I can appreciate that the data contained in city maps are proprietary information and that there may be a need to strip out some of the data, both for security reasons and also to keep file sizes down. Any digital information I receive will remain only on my home office and I will not alter it in any way, but I will need to reference the graphical information into my own drawing environment. It is my hope that you will find enough value in the information gathered that we can share it with the city at the end of our project. We look forward to working together to build a sustainable local food system, meeting or exceeding imagine Calgary Food Targets & providing access to nutritious food for all Calgarians for many healthy, happy and prosperous years ahead. I look forward to hearing back from you as soon as possible.
Regards,
Janet Gratton
City Liason for LIFA
Chief of Staff, Office of the Mayor
Sir,
I was very pleased to receive your e-mail today and thank you for your interest in LIFA. As you may be aware, Paul Hughes requested funding from Ald Druh Farrell, which was unfortunately denied. As a result we do not have a budget for purchasing maps from the City or access to a printer/plotter. This is where we hope you may be able to help us, so that our objectives can still be reached by October 1, 2011.
The Calgary Food Policy Council initiated the Food Policy agenda for the City of Calgary in June 2008. On 08Feb11, a motion was made by Paul Hughes at the EAC to create a LIFA: Land Inventory Food Assessment for Calgary. This motion was passed unanimously. We note that the EAC has not met on the LIFA file since February 8th. As interested parties in a grassroots, citizen-driven movement who are aware of our stake in this project, we have continued the process to the point where we are ready to gather information about unused land. Our first area of study will be Inglewood. As the site of the first European settlement in the area, it is a fitting tribute to begin there and also somewhat ironical that this neighbourhood has so much unused land and yet so little in the way of local retail grocery outlets.
We want to build a sustainable local food system, for many reasons which at this point in time should be evident to everyone. The way to begin is with information about both all facets of Calgary’s local food system, from the land to the existing food infrastructure in our communities.
What we are looking for from the City of Calgary administration is access to the digital resources we need to complete this project:
• .dwg files of the more than 300 Land Use District maps, that would be most helpful. I understand these would contain the legal survey fabric with street names, plan, block, lot numbers and boundary lines, easements and Utility ROWs
• One set of 11X17 plus one set of A1 or D size hard copies of these maps would also be very much appreciated
• .dwg files of the boundaries and names of neighhourhoods, to give more context to the above maps
• Water utilities such as hydrants and storm runoff catch basins
• Above and below grade electrical utilities
• Access to other key information would be appreciated, if possible. For example, can we please find out how many parcels of unused land the City currently has on record, and what is the total area in hectares of this land. It would be very helpful if I had a counterpart to contact with the city administration.
Our objective is to use Inglewood as the first test of our project, work out the bugs in the process in the month ahead and then expand to all the other neighbourhoods city wide immediately afterward. Currently we have the manpower necessary to begin. Our team will find out the information we need by taking along the four land use district maps to physically make site visits and use the Web to gather additional publically available information. At the same time we have begun to formulate plans as to how to reach the larger community, identify keen citizens in every neighbourhood. Not only do many hands make light work but we feel it is important for as many citizens as possible to become aware of their community’s vacant land, its potential and to become familiar with food policy issues. The data collected will be linked to the drawings I will be producing along with images of the sites under consideration. As such, the digital information the City would provide me with will be referenced in the background and as such not be changed in any way, shape or form.
LIFA takes the position that we are now facing long-term challenging weather, oil, fertilizer and agricultural commodity price hikes and even potential crop shortages. We are confident the city is equally concerned in ensuring that no one starves in Calgary for the lack of a robust food infrastructure.
I hope I have given you enough information to proceed with, and please contact me if you require further information. I can appreciate that the data contained in city maps are proprietary information and that there may be a need to strip out some of the data, both for security reasons and also to keep file sizes down. Any digital information I receive will remain only on my home office and I will not alter it in any way, but I will need to reference the graphical information into my own drawing environment. It is my hope that you will find enough value in the information gathered that we can share it with the city at the end of our project. We look forward to working together to build a sustainable local food system, meeting or exceeding imagine Calgary Food Targets & providing access to nutritious food for all Calgarians for many healthy, happy and prosperous years ahead. I look forward to hearing back from you as soon as possible.
Regards,
Janet Gratton
City Liason for LIFA
Monday, June 20, 2011
LIFA #4 Sunday @26June11 @7pm
LIFA Mtg & Interactive Session #4 Sunday @26June11 @7pm
Citizen & Social Media Driven Land Inventory Food Assessment
Nurturing Deep Local Knowledge Roots about our Food System
Citizen & Social Media Driven Land Inventory Food Assessment
Nurturing Deep Local Knowledge Roots about our Food System
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
LIFA #3 19June11 @7pm @Old Y
LIFA #3 19June11 @7pm @Old Y: Inglewood LIFA: The Info Gathering Campaign by Citizens
Interactive Info Session on the Citizen Driven LIFA
Previous LIFA meetings:
This is an Interactive Info Session on LIFA.
...LIFA #2-12May11 @1830 @6.30pm Thursday
"What to do with all that land?!"
The Old Y 101-223 12 Ave SW Calgary, AB T2R 0G9
If there is one upside to Calgary's urban sprawl it is the abundance of city (citizen) owned land that can be used for stuff... like growing food.
At LIFA #1 meeting we discussed the various elements of a Land Inventory and Food Assessment.
Calgary Food Organizations (Retail, Production, Distribution, Preparation, Assistance, etc)
In this meeting we will discuss the role of citizens, city admin and the provincial government.
We will also be addressing the potential uses for a LIFA. Calgary's first official Urban Spin Farmer, Sandy Aberdeen will be attending to share his experiences as he enters into his second growing season.
http://locavorefarms.blogspot.com/
Calgarians are embarking on what is arguably the most important Local Food System related engagement process in the history of Calgary, a LIFA: Land Inventory & Food Assessment. Citizens are welcome to participate in this process.
http://paulin8.blogspot.com/2011/03/lifa-land-inventoryfood-assessment.html
You can also contact Paul Hughes for more deets: paul [at] paulin8 [dot] com
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Citizen Driven LIFA: Land Inventory Food Assessment Request to City of Calgary Council
For immediate distribution to all City of Calgary Aldermen: Release date: 07June11
Dear Mayor Nenshi and City of Calgary Aldermen,
RE: Citizen Driven LIFA: Land Inventory Food Assessment
As per "Chain of Command", I approached my Ward 7 Rep, Alderman Druh Farrell, to sponsor the LIFA Council Innovation Fund (CIF) request for $11K.
This request was denied.
I am now approaching, on behalf of the Citizen Driven LIFA Team, the remaining Aldermen of the City of Calgary for sponsorship of the LIFA application.
Will you sponsor a CIF app for $11K to complete the LIFA for Calgary via a unique citizen driven, citizen engagement, collective intelligence, crowdsourcing process?
Background:
CIF: Council Innovation Fund, the same fund that gave $150K to Bow2Bluff for citizen engagement which essentially duplicates the Mission Road Main Street Innovation Project Charrette, which was granted $300,000.
LIFA: Land Inventory & Food Assessment, a term used to describe a unique community food system assessment approach, the first of its kind in Canada.
CIF Criteria: Successful applications will address one of the following:
a) One-time start up or “seed” funds for initiatives or programs which will support or contribute to
Council's priorities.
b) Pilot projects or experiments that have the potential to change city-wide policies and
procedures.
The Citizen driven LIFA committee would be applying as they would be using the funds to complete the project. Compare this request for $11K vs Edmonton's budget of $416,000 and City of Calgary's EAC LIFA Sub Committee potential budget of >$200,000+.
LIFA is an innovative approach to assessment/analysis that the City of Calgary has never embraced previously. All Calgarians would benefit from the information. Decision makers (Aldermen/YYCCC) would also benefit from the superior understanding of empirical data on the local food system, not to mention the socioeconomic potential of such.
LIFA is a 2 month process. The report will take another 2 weeks to author. We will deliver by 01Oct11. It involves unique citizen engagement at multiple levels. It is cost effective & provides unrivalled ROI. It creates deep knowledge roots municipally and actively engages citizens in their own Food System.
LIFA meets the criteria of the CIF application guidelines, including seven (7) City of Calgary Council Priorities.
Having access to this knowledge in advance of the City Driven LIFA deliverable date of April 2012, essentially means we will not miss the 2012 growing season to begin initial implementation of any critical Food Policy outcomes from the LIFA process.
We look forward to working with all of you to build a sustainable local food system, meeting or exceeding imagineCalgary Food Targets & providing access to nutritious food for all Calgarians.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the Calgary Citizen Driven LIFA Initiative.
Respectfully,
Paul Hughes
Volunteer Citizen Coordinator,
Citizen Driven LIFA
Calgary.AB
@hughes4yyc
Friday, June 3, 2011
LIFA: Land Inventory Food Assessment
LIFA: Land Inventory Food Assessment
Email LIFA
LIFA: Land Inventory & Food Assessment, a term describing a community food system assessment.
This is a grassroots, citizen driven movement to examine all the facets of Calgary’s local food system.
This is arguably the most important Local Food System related engagement process in the history of Calgary, a LIFA: Land Inventory & Food Assessment.
This process is designed to give ordinary Calgarians a better understanding about their food supply.
The Citizen driven LIFA committee applied for Council Innovation Funds of $11K via Alderman Druh Farrell. Farrell refused/declined to support our application.
LIFA: It is an innovative approach to assessment that the city has never embraced previously. All Calgarians would benefit from the information. Decision makers (YYCCC) would benefit from the superior understanding of empirical data on the local food system, not to mention the socioeconomic potential of such.
It is a 2 month process. The report will take another 2 weeks to author. We will deliver by 01Oct11. It involves unique citizen engagement at multiple levels. It is cost effective & provides unrivalled ROI for all Calgarians.
Email LIFA
LIFA: Land Inventory & Food Assessment, a term describing a community food system assessment.
This is a grassroots, citizen driven movement to examine all the facets of Calgary’s local food system.
This is arguably the most important Local Food System related engagement process in the history of Calgary, a LIFA: Land Inventory & Food Assessment.
This process is designed to give ordinary Calgarians a better understanding about their food supply.
The Citizen driven LIFA committee applied for Council Innovation Funds of $11K via Alderman Druh Farrell. Farrell refused/declined to support our application.
LIFA: It is an innovative approach to assessment that the city has never embraced previously. All Calgarians would benefit from the information. Decision makers (YYCCC) would benefit from the superior understanding of empirical data on the local food system, not to mention the socioeconomic potential of such.
It is a 2 month process. The report will take another 2 weeks to author. We will deliver by 01Oct11. It involves unique citizen engagement at multiple levels. It is cost effective & provides unrivalled ROI for all Calgarians.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)