44 Replies to “The City Of Calgary Requests Your Input”

  1. I was in Ontario this summer and let me tell you that there is NO dandelion control in Hamilton or any other Ontario city that I was in.There may have been attempts at control but non that worked.

  2. We have those moronic pesticide bylaws here in Halifax.
    Very easy to tell who the folks are that go over to the next county and buy “weed and feed” as opposed to those that abide by this foolishness.

  6. I have considered it eljay.
    Lot less work in the long run. Rarely have to water or mow concrete and asphalt.

  7. Slope the concrete towards the street or alley, it make yard maintenance a lot easier. It only requires a garden hose and a beer for the other hand.

  8. Rodenticide?
    I think we already have a capable rodenticide resident; known in common parlance as “Buster the cat”. Pretty efficient mouser and is friendly to humans.
    Cheers
    Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht-Commander in Chief
    Army Group “True North”
    1st St. Nicolaas Army

  10. And yet only a few days ago, the City Bylaw gestapo was out in northeast Calgary tearing apart back yards and setting out rat traps with poison in them. This is nothing more than a make work project for City Bylaw which has gotten entirely out of hand under this mayor and council. Next election, time to boot these clowns to the curb.

  11. “Is there a chemical that will prevent government “workers” from concocting these stupid schemes?”
    Is a massive, immediate and permanent tax cut close enough?

  12. We have some real tree hugging oddballs on City Council that I swear are stuck in the ’60’s-I’m looking at you Druh Farrel! They are the mini Obamas of Calgary.
    Whatever they or Bronc want gets pushed thru. This place is becoming Toronto lite what with the Libs and Dippers dominating silly hall.
    /stockpiled my roundup and weed bars.

  14. Just got back from Paris. Their city gardens are beautiful – Luxembourg, Trocadéro, etc etc. One thing noticably lacking were the yellow signs saying “careful, we may have applied pesticides (etc etc)”. I hate those signs!! (omnipresent in YYC)

  15. The idiots who lobby to stop me from using pesticides on my lawn, are the same jerk offs who allow their dogs to use my lawn as a toilet.
    And I do not give a rat’s a$$ if they stoop and scoop….there is still a residue of the feces, and the urine leaves yellow patches.
    I told my wife that next time it happens, I am following the yuppy’s home and I am going to take a pi$$ on their lawn…..only seems fair to me!

  16. Thanks for putting this up front, Kate.
    I answered their questions. Suffice to say, I am not in favor. As has been previously stated, until at least fall 2010, we have a council in Calgary that is largely a front for the zealots in administration.

  17. The Calgary city council considered a bylaw to make Calgarians get permission before removing trees from their own property. It failed to pass.
    Did it occur to the moron that suggested this bylaw that it might actually reduce the number of trees in Calgary, since people might plant fewer trees if they know it’s difficult to remove them? And that sometimes trees “winter kill” for no obvious reason (drilling out a core and packing it with salt works well)?
    God I’m tired of people trying to run other people’s lives.

  18. kingstonlad I sprinkle Cayenne pepper at their favourite watering bush and surrounding area. Seems to work for cats too.

  19. Weed killer that kills weeds and just about everything else. 4 cups white vinegar, 2 tsps liquid dish soap, quarter cup salt. Apply on a warm day in sun only on things you want dead.

  22. ” …I sprinkle Cayenne pepper at their favourite watering bush… ”
    Trouble is then only chihuahuas will show up.
    ¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba

  23. Good one TC-LOL!
    It is such a waste of cayenne, gotta save it for some Tex-Mex. Paint gun works great. Lots of loose dogs in my area but they and the owner know to keep off my damn lawn! They bin marked.

  24. If someone wishes to use chemical-free methods in their own gardens, fine. I just don’t want that mandated by some yahoo at city hall who is scared by some hippy.
    Just my thoughts.

  25. “This place is becoming Toronto lite what with the Libs and Dippers dominating silly hall.”
    It is true. Most civic politics attracts the Left wing for two reasons:
    1. civic politics attracts little news interest
    2. no need to display party colours.
    Calgary attracted a while bunch of these failed socialists (think Bob Hawksworth, former NDP MLA) who got run off of the provincial scene when Klein came in. These tweed jacketed tax n’ spenders dropped their colours and used whatever apparatus they had left to organize locally.
    Municipal politics is littered with these professional ‘civil servants’ who hire their buddies, and ensure that the union bosses and new hires are all aligned for communication, and consistency.
    They scare the fixed income seniors with horror stories about privatization, they annex private assets with the force of law (blue box anyone?), and the radicals who are plugged into the mindset (enviro nutjobs) exert waaay more influence over public policy than they ever should.
    The result is this nanny state mindset – where bureaucracies metastasize, budgets bloat, and another legion of people living off taxpayer money is created.
    Thanks to Kate and SDA’ers for their common sense…and great comments.

  26. oh ya, the soap and vinegar thing.
    add that to the list of snake oil remedies. if soap and vinegar are toxic to life forms, howcum humahns go thru 1,000s of tonnes of the stuff yearly?
    I didn’t bother trying it.
    this week I tore out a tomato crop suffering from some sort of botanical bubonic plague. f*^%ing politishuns.
    oh, furthermore, I stockpiled killex and a couple other familiar very effective ‘remedies’ before the ban kicked in. g*&^$^#@&@^#damn politishuns sticking their noses in every nook and cranny of society.

  28. Calgary should hire better educated pollsters.
    “If The City were to adopt a bylaw that restricts the use of pesticides within the city, how would you eliminate or control weeds in your lawn or garden?”
    Restrict pesticide and we’ll use herbicide. heh

  29. hardboiled wrote: “These tweed jacketed tax n’ spenders dropped their colours and used whatever apparatus they had left to organize locally.”
    Whoa! It’s not the fault of perfectly respectable tweed jackets that some buffoons are seen in them.
    In a small yard, the dandelion crop yields sufficient leaves for a salad with boiled potato and a nice vinaigrette, but if the neighbours want to kill theirs off, I have no objection.

  30. The biggest problem with dandelions in Calgary is that they show up in the colours of the Edmonton Eskimos.

  31. About two weeks ago I received a phone poll about this sponsored by the city of Calgary. Needless to say my answers were along the lines that this is a complete waste of time and money and the biggest problem is that we are not receiving good value for our tax dollars.

  32. heh…great point,ol hoss.The better half decided to try something natural this year on an ant mountain around a front tree. 2 cups boiling water,2 tbls maple syrup,and 2 tbls baking soda. Absolutly ZERO ants after 5 applications in June,and still have not returned.And,yes,if they migrated,it wasn’t to any other spot on our property.

  33. This is a page out of the Ontario Fiberals Book of Things Banned as the whole damn province (including rural areas) can’t buy pesticides…least the good ones that actually work and KILL weeds.
    The Nanny-state is forever creeping in this country. My daughter in Edmonton thought she’d pick up a litre of Roundup to put in my Christmas stocking as a precious gift and found out that pesticides are banned in that city.
    All these “bans” end up creating are a black market for the products…just one more thing besides smokes for the smugglers to retail.

  35. City Hall needs to be cleaned out of every friggin “progressive” they have, starting with Druh Farrell (who I hope gets trampled on Memorial Drive on a Sunday in August) and Bronconnier (who should have to spit polish the graffiti off that $25M eyesore about to be erected).
    Of course last election only 20% of the whiners actually showed up to vote so let’s hope more show up next year otherwise we will get another 3 years of both of these fools.

  36. I left my comments on the site letting them know what I think of this idiocy. I’ve managed to do my gardening without having to use much in the way of chemical help although when a favorite plant of mine gets infested I use whatever pesticide is at my disposal. Found an old bottle of an organochlorine based pesticide in the greenhouse and the stuff works wonderfully.
    For a few years it was fun to weed as it was mindless work and ripping weeds out of the ground was a good way to get rid of my frustrations. Then the practice here got a lot busier and it was time to take shortcuts. It was at this point I discovered glyphosate (roundup). This stuff is wonderfull as it doesn’t affect any organism higher than a plant. Vertebrates simply don’t use the shikimic acid pathway to make aromatic amino acids (we mammals are really lazy and get other organisms to make our aromatic amino acides for us). Glyphosate works by preventing shikimic acid from being made. That’s it and the stuff is essentially non-toxic to non-plants. The only reason I can think of anyone wanting to ban it is because they have a mental illness (too bad I hadn’t thought of this when I did the Calgary survey). Time to head out and buy about 50 gallons of the stuff although it is such a simple molecule I’m sure people will be cooking it up in their basements real soon.

  37. This pesticide issue brings out the worst in people. It shows how hopelessly and abysmally ignorant some people are. Herbicides were invented during WWII for use on the battlefield–nothing to do with lawns. Before herbicides were invented lawns didn’t drown in weeds. People have become addicted to toxic poisons and stupidly accuse those who disagree with them of being left wing. Hating poisons and avoiding them has nothing to do with one’s political orientation. It is a matter of common sense and scientific knowledge. This year, with all this rain, especially in Ontario, weeds have become especially troublesome, period, so the Ontario ban has little to do with it. Killex kills, period. It is not exactly kind to people’s health, especially children’s. Surely, there is nothing as important as health, especially children’s! Ignorant people, however, are notorious for cutting their nose to spite their faces.

  38. Pesticides kill bugs, herbisides kill weeds, Drew Farrell and Dave Bronconnier can’t seperate the two. Rick Mcgyver might be confused also as he is a greenie weenie. Pay attention next time you vote.

  39. Posted by: K. Jean Cottam at September 11, 2009 8:58 AM
    Common sense and scientific knowledge reveal that herbicides, used as directed, are safe and effective.
    Forcing your ideology on others is the most political action one can perform upon another.
    Ignorance? Indeed. …

  40. Without the use of chemicals y’all are gonna have to learn how to actually grow grass rather than weeds.
    I know it might take some practice and research but weed free lawns are possible without chemical assistance. try http://www.lawncare.about.com for some decent organic lawn maintenance tips.

  41. to wuberman
    Pesticide is an umbrella term for anything that kills pests. including Fungicides,insecticides, and hebicides.
    It is true that when used according to the label most pesticides are relatively harmless, unfortunately the average homeowner does not use them responsibly. Professional landscapers are required to be licensed in pesticide applications for the same products that Joe Shmoe can buy at Home Depot.
    Believe me, we’re all better off not using the stuff. Learn how to grow grass instead of weeds and you’ll be fine.

  42. Posted by: K. Jean Cottam at September 11, 2009 8:58 AM
    Educate people then. Don’t try to rule them.

  43. Here is what I posted for the ‘Advantages’ to a pesticide ban.
    Think of the vast increase in revenue from fines applied to people like me who won’t pay the slightest attention to the by-law. We will be easy to spot as we will be the only ones with nice looking green lawns instead of dandelion patches. The homeless will benefit from the endless dandelion salads that will be made available to them. Maybe they will get so sick of them that they will move to Vancouver and lighten the burden on the overcrowded Homeless Hilton.
    Knowing our council – the fine revenue is probably a huge consideration on the ‘ban em all’ side.

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