Calgary SE suburbs
 

Hi looking for people who have moved to the McKenzie Towne, Auburn Bay, Cranston, New Brighton areas and their experiences of community atmosphere and ability to meet new friends and also the facilities that are at hand or needed.

Your thoughts & experiences please,

Thanks,

Gav.

Re: Calgary SE suburbs
 

Hi Gav,

If you drop us a PM, we can try and connect you with some folk in those areas who can give a first hand view.

Eamonn & Janet.

Re: Calgary SE suburbs
 

The community atmosphere will be the same in those communities as it will be in virtually every community within the City of Calgary and the towns around Calgary (Okotoks, Cochrane, Chestermere, Strathmore, etc.)

They are all much of a muchness. You will find very few people that will say their community sucks and, in reality, they don't)

Re: Calgary SE suburbs
 

The impression I got, is that these are very nice communities, with nice looking houses.
However, it is suburban, and most people need to jump in their cars to take a trip to the grocery store, etc.

Not a lot of "walking around" to get places, as the car is a requirement for transportation. Because of this, I would imagine you would "run into" your neighbors less frequently.

Personally, I prefer neighborhoods where you can easily walk somewhere to get something (if you wanted to)!

Re: Calgary SE suburbs
 

Very few of those communities exist within the City of Calgary though. Not many people want to live alongside grocery stores and, I would imagine, such living is only really available close to downtown.

Re: Calgary SE suburbs
 

Very few of those communities exist in north America.

Most if not all north american cities for better or for worse were designed around the automobile.

Sadly we are starting to realise this was wrong but it's a little late in the game.

Re: Calgary SE suburbs
 

There may be few but there are some suburban communities which offer this option if it's what you're looking for.

I specifically wanted to live somewhere where I could walk to local amenities because I wanted to feel part of a community and didn't want to have to jump in the car every time I went out the door.

I live in SW Calgary neighbourhood and can walk to my local shops in 5 mins. (Sobey's, Rexal, Post Office, dry cleaners, coffee shop etc.) I do bump into people I know at the shops and really like that, it makes me feel 'at home'.

Re: Calgary SE suburbs
 

You must live very close to those shops.

Do those that drive there not speak to you then?:p

I could walk to our local supermarket, carrying a week's worth of groceries back from it would not be my idea of fun though. I would imagine that the number of people in Calgary drive to their supermarket is roughly equivalent to the number that would do so in most of the UK - very few.

Re: Calgary SE suburbs
 

Have you looked at Chaparral?
A great place if you have young kids.

We moved in, in September. Great atmosphere, friendly people, lots of events based around the lake, young kids playing in most streets.

Re: Calgary SE suburbs
 

Hadn't looked, didn't know of the area, will check it out, thanks.

Re: Calgary SE suburbs
 

Where in SW???

Re: Calgary SE suburbs
 

We live in Strathcona. (about 20 mins by bus to Downtown).

Re: Calgary SE suburbs
 

We live in Dalhousie in the NW, a 10 minute walk to Dalhousie Station shops and the LRT station which gets us downtown in about 15-20 minutes.

Re: Calgary SE suburbs
 

I think there are areas in Calgary where there are local shops to walk to if the mood takes. Where we are in the SW there are 4 sets of shops within walking distance, 2 of them about 10 mins or so away (CO-OP, Shoppers Drug Mart, Liquor Store, Dry Cleaners, Post Office etc).

I don't think anyone would contemplate carrying back a weeks worth of shopping in one go nowdays. Lifestyles have changed in the UK and is probably true of Canada also. I can remember my Grandmother going shopping ever day - 5-10 min walk to the high street in a market town in England. There was a walk in pantry/cold store but no fridge hence no buying in bulk. She didn't have a job so had the time to do this. I can also remember my mother doing this to a certain extent in the late 70s when local shopping parade still had full range of shops - butcher, baker, greengrocer, hardware shop, shoe shop, clothes shop, little supermarket, newsagents. There was only a single Presto 20 mins drive away for occasional use. Thanks to Tesco/Sainsbury/Waitrose within a 12min drive the little shops are now gone except for the nice bakers, newsagent (post office days numbered I suspect) and basic convenience store. Now we can all drive, buy in bulk at the big shops and the little shops are now restaurants, estate agents, building society, dry cleaners as well as more specialist deli and flower shop. I suspect most people in the UK drive as much to the big supermarket as in Canada but in the UK there is more likely to be an alternative locally for some items. Comparing the Costco I've been to in Calgary to the one I used in the UK there seem to be more people here buying up huge amounts of food in one trip.

Since we are just using the one car in Calgary for now, and I drive to work, Mrs jimf has made a point of walking to some of the shops during the day. Suprisingly she found there were other people doing the same who would stop and chat. It is the minority but can be done if you like doing that. I'm sure come the -30C days even the most determined will think twice before walking though.

Any areas developed in the last 15 years approx seem to be poorly served by local shops. Houses look nice enough though and I'm sure the areas are nice enough also.

Re: Calgary SE suburbs
 

Hi,

We are doing our final recce in Calgary at the moment and can say that there is still a lot of building going on and appears to be a good time to buy a house. We are looking at Cranston, mainly due to reasonable price of new lovely houses and the building of new schools. Auburn Bay is lovely too, but schooling on the doorstep for our your children was a must...Auburn bay schools is way off. Of course the building of the new hospital will bring lots of opportunities...

We havnt found a bad community in the area you are looking but is very much depends on what is important to you.


Good luck

TopCat:);)