#but a lot of cities with decent/good public transit are expensive bc cities are expensive in general

[comerosas]

i wish i was rich so i could constantly donate to fellow trans people. i really really wish i could. its so unfair that ppl like me are doomed to stay in poverty/working class when i wish i could help ppl :(

[lily-liegh]

So lately I’ve seen several posts about how expensive conventions have become and how this is limiting attendance rates bc fans simply can’t afford to go. And that’s valid bc conventions should be accessible to people and you shouldn’t have to starve all weekend just so you can go to a con and maybe buy two pins. There’s something wrong with that.

But there’s also something wrong with people arguing that conventions should have dirt-cheap prices or even be free. And I think people just don’t realise how expensive it is to run a convention. (Time-consuming is another fact altogether, but not a part of this post).

Conventions are expensive to run. As someone who have helped run a con for several years, including participating on the financial committee, conventions occur massive costs. And it’s not necessarily the fault of con-goers to know a con’s budget and expenses, but dismissing ticket prices because “cons just want your money and don’t care about fans” puts a lot of shade on many conventions that have higher ticket prices because of what they are offering.

So let’s run through some expenses a typical convention might have.

Primary costs:

The venue itself. Con staff must take into account the size of their convention and whether the venue will accommodate this attendance. The larger the convention, the larger the venue - you may even need multiple venues. You’ll also need to consider location - is this accessible to your general population (near public transit)? 

Printing costs. Tickets, event schedules, posters, advertising - that all costs money to print, and depending on the size of the event and attendance, you might need to print several thousand, hundred thousand, or even a million copies so as not to run out. 

Advertising. You can advertise for free on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, but you’re also probably going to put up flyers around the city - and that’s not always free to do. If you’re advertising outside of the city too, you might be paying for transport to get out and advertise. For larger conventions, billboards and larger signage are often rented and have a monthly/yearly fee. And a website. And upkeep for the website. 

Security. The more people you have gathered in a place, the likelihood something is going to go wrong. For smaller conventions, you might just need a couple designated people to make sure attendees are treating themselves, each other, and the venue respectfully. If you’re convention has 50,000 or more people, you’ll probably need to hire security. Bad stuff happens.

Moving/storage. You won’t have the venue for the entire year, so likely you’ll need to transport all your equipment (tables, chairs, indoor/outdoor advertising, etc.) to the venue. You’ll also need a place to store the equipment for the rest of the year.

Entertainment costs:

Guests. For many conventions, this is one of the largest expenses simply because guests are not cheap and you are hosting them. You are paying for them to come to your city, visit your convention, and host panels. Thus, you are paying for every aspect of their trip. Therefore, this includes:

Hotel. If you want to make a good impression to your guest, you get them a nice hotel close to your convention. Depending on where you con is located, this could be quite pricey.

Food/drink. Again, you’ll be taking them for dinners, as what convention has time to cook their guests meals, and you should not expect guests to cook (and many hotels don’t have kitchens).

Travel. If you couldn’t find a hotel close by, you’ll probably be driving your guests to and from the convention.

Entertainment/leisure. In most cases, guests don’t stay at the con for the entire duration. They need breaks and leisure - and as their hosts, you’ll likely take them around to attractions in your city. This won’t always be a large expense, but it’s nonetheless a factor con staff must consider - and if you have multiple guests, how will you be entertaining all of them?

Sound/lighting. For every panel you go to, there are probably hundreds of wires, lights, speakers, projectors, and other equipment needed to make the panel run without a hitch. Some cons have all this equipment; others don’t, in which case you’ll need to buy/rent it. That shit’s expensive.

Giveaways. Often cons give away prizes at special ceremonies. In some cases, these items can be gifted to the con and regifted to attendees. In many more cases, the conventions purchase these prizes out of their pocket.

And many more costs, and sometimes budgeting for large expenses the convention might save up for (a large display, powerful cleaners because you often have to clean the venue spotless after the con).

Conventions are expensive.

There are ways to save money, such as not putting years on your advertising and merchandise (that way you can use it for multiple years); inviting local talented guests who would already have food/boarding and do not need to be flown halfway across the country/world; and seeking prizes and donations from local game and fan shops in exchange for perhaps giving them a table in your Artist and Vendor Alley and some free advertising.

But even with saving money, you won’t get a cheap or free convention if you expect that very same convention to host multiple guests, including overseas guests; have a large-scale event spanning multiple venues; have prizes, raffles, and other such attractions; and run seamlessly and efficiently on a shoestring budget.

Yes, not all cons price their conventions effectively. Some are for-profit and cashing in on your interest.

But many more cons are not-for-profit, locally run, and/or trying to provide you what you want while also considering what they can actually afford. 

And without decently-priced ticket prices, the convention’s largest revenue, cons can’t give you shit.

[nuald]

Living in Calgary

I've been living in Calgary for 2 years already, and I think it's time to recap few things about living here, pros/cons and possible remedies to the issues you might face here.

Please note that life now is different compared with what you could have even 10 years ago. I guess both Vancouver and Calgary (as those are the only cities I've lived in long enough) were nice for newcomers (by newcomers I've meant people who just moved there and didn't have a lot of money to settle in). Right now, both cities have changed and introduced more obstructions to residents.

That's why despite a lot of cons of Calgary below, it doesn't mean that this city shouldn't be considered for living. It's all about tolerance and life choices. If you have proper expectations, it will be easier to adapt. There are definitely people who love Calgary (esp. if they are mortgage-free and/or love winter activities), and who hate it (e.g. who got their houses ruined by hail or flood).

I'm not going to provide a simple list of pros/cons (as cons for me could be pros for you, for example, long winter season), but rather take the most important areas and describe them.

Services

Calgary is definitely a family-friendly city, much more friendlier than Vancouver. Schools and kindergartens are not so busy and expensive. If you want some particular school, you still need to be in the wait-list though, but if you’re not picky, there are definitely some options available. All levels of education, including universities, are presented.

It’s not a problem to get the family doctor too. Walk-in clinics are not so busy too, and emergency wait times are bearable.

Entertainment options are quite good: museums, libraries, one of biggest YMCA in Canada, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Alberta Ballet, Calgary Zoo etc

However, I have to note the prices of the dental services. Alberta has the highest prices for dental. Historically, oil and gas companies provided full dental coverage and didn’t care much about prices. It’s all changed, but the prices are still high. I hope it’s going to change, but right now please be careful about it.

Transportation

I can’t say much about public transit, I guess it's ok-ish in downtown and not so good in the outskirts, but that's applicable for all cities in general. For reference, in 2020 the single fare for adults is $3.50 for 90 minutes (there are no zones in Calgary). There is CTrain too (light rail transit), but it's not as extensive as in Vancouver. There are some plans to improve it (e.g. add Green Line), but it has been delayed many times already, and it's difficult to predict when they will finish it.

Calgary is a private car city - it has 2 major highways (100 km/h limit) through the city, plus there some long streets and avenues which could be considered minor highways (the speed limit up to 80 km/h). Essentially, you can get to any location in Calgary in 30 minutes on average. I guess the only real traffic jams I’ve seen was during Stampede, and it’s just a week in a year. In general, it’s a real pleasure to drive here, especially if you leave Calgary core and takes any of the scenic routes it has on the outskirts and further in the numerous parks.

Despite that there are few obstacles for being a happy driver here:

 a lot of speed cameras. Speed tickets are a source of income for the city, and sometimes they abuse it. Radars are legal, including hidden mobile radars, and the abuses include sudden speed sign changes and school zones limits which disregard the school days, and enforced from 7am to 9pm everyday including weekends and holidays.

gravel on the road. They use sharp-edged gravel in the winter, and considering speeds on highways and lots of semi, you may forget about having a nice non-cracked windshield and sunroof (I've got huge cracks on both). Glass insurance is not included in the basic packages, and should be bought separately.

a note about insurance. It's not cheaper than ICBC, it's actually more expensive and has more restrictions (at least for immigrants).

a lot of construction. Mostly closer to downtown, but major highways are affected too. Fortunately, there are not many two-lane highways like in BC (mostly 4 or 6 lanes), so the delays are not so huge, but could easily take 20-30 minutes.

My recommendations: don’t buy luxury cars (not only winter tires and windshields are expensive, it’s difficult to maintain the low speed), get glass insurance ASAP, use apps like Waze to check the road condition ahead.

Climate

Calgary has more sun than Vancouver, however I can't say it's a sunny city (I guess Canada just in general doesn't have a lot of sun). Moreover, the sun doesn't matter so much as it doesn't mean that the city is getting a lot of its heat - it has snow for at least 6 months a year (first snow could fall in Sep, but usually it doesn’t stay for long, and the last snow is melted in Apr/May).

Sun is very bright (due to altitude), and the humidity is low. Nice green grass requires either irrigation or rainy days. There is no dedicated line for irrigation, so you would need to use the “drinking” water, and a lot of it.

A note about “drinking” water - its quality definitely worse than in Vancouver (it's quite hard and has other chemicals). While they allow us to drink it from the tap, we don't risk it, plus we don't like having stains on every glass surface we have in the house. Fortunately, it's possible to avoid it with softener (plus we have a reverse osmosis system for actual drinking). It’s not cheap though, but it’s a long term investment that could be worth thinking about (we’ve installed the systems from https://www.jugfree.com/ and they have prices there for reference).

Short summers don't always bring warmth and sun only, but also heavy rains, hail and tornado. Hail damages houses and cars, and the last storm in Calgary (June 2020) has the estimation in damages nearly $1 billion: https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/cost-of-damage-from-weekend-storm-could-total-1-billion-nenshi 

Winter is not so harsh though due to Chinook. Visually it looks like huge dark clouds cover the city and the temperature is rising. Even without it, the winter is mild enough, but it's not always good. As the day/night temperature could differ in 20C, the ice (usual or black) is the real issue here, and winter tires are strongly recommended.

My recommendations: South Calgary has a better climate and usually hail is not so bad here (we live in South East). It’s better to avoid the north (besides that, North East has a high crime rate).

Real Estate

The houses are cheaper in Vancouver, definitely. Medium income families can afford decent living conditions here. Surely, nothing fancy, the same overpriced wood frame houses as in North America overall, as the construction lobby is very strong here, and having sound-proof, properly thermal insulated houses, preferably from bricks, is a luxury.

Please note though that the taxes are increasing. As Calgary (and Alberta overall) in a financial crisis (they put in motion a lot of expensive projects when the oil/gas industry boomed, and still couldn’t recover after its collapse), so they burden their problems on residents.

Also, they have tons of other cash grabs there (carbon tax, some administrative fees nobody can explain), so the utilities are not cheap either. Insurance is also one of the highest in Canada (the official excuse is they are losing money because of hail storms and other disasters).

My recommendations: Towns near Calgary could be worth researching (like Okotoks or Chestermere). Surely, there are some disadvantages living there (for example, I’m literally 5 minutes drive from both major highways, so don’t have to deal with the slow traffic), but it’s definitely cheaper. https://www.realtor.ca/ is a Canada-wide database, you can look up the property ahead.

Geography

Calgary has quite a good location if you like nature. It has the unique position to provide access to several big natural areas at once, so if you have bad weather in one region, you can drive to the opposite direction and still find something nice. Please note that Calgary has the international airport with the decent choice of direct flights too.

On the west:

Banff National Park. It's a two hour drive (depending on traffic jams, usually they have some esp. on weekends). Please note that you don’t necessarily need to visit Banff and the park, and can find nice places near Canmore and Kananaskis (K-country).

East K-country, has several provincial parks. More accessible, shorter (1+ hour) drive (not necessary Hwy 1, but also Hwy 22), almost no traffic jams. A lot of ATV options, lakes and mountain hikes.

On the east:

Badlands. Surely, the most famous is Drumheller region (1.5+ hour drive), but they have much more than that as the badlands are presented in many places in Southeast Alberta, like Dinosaur Provincial Park (2h drive).

A lot of lakes with kayaking, fishing and jet skis options. The examples are Lake McGregor (a little over an hour drive) and Lake Newell (2 hours drive).

On the south:

Waterton Lakes National Park, 2.5 hours drive, a lot of activities there, but due to recent forest fires not everything is open.

US border (the traffic is much lighter compared with Vancouver, almost no waits). The prominent examples are Glacier National Park, Montana (3 hours drive) and Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming (10 hours drive).

On the north:

Shortcut to Jasper. While driving through Banff in theory faster (5 hours), in reality due to constructions, traffic jams and two-lane Icefield Parkway it could be faster to drive through Rocky Mountain House (6 hours).

There are a lot of parks there too, we just never got a chance to explore them yet. I guess Big Hill Springs Provincial Park could be an example of those (1 hour drive).

Shopping

It’s easier to shop here due to easy commuting and close availability of the big stores: Costco, Walmart, Superstore, Save-on-Foods, Home Depot, Lowes etc. Definitely, there are big malls (i.e. Chinook Center, CF Market Mall), outlets (i.e. CrossIron Mills) and big specialized stores (i.e. Cabela’s) too.

Diversity is not so good though - mostly North America merchandise. We found only one decent store for Asian products: T&T Supermarket. There are some small Asian stores too (mostly in the North), but they usually don’t have anything extra special compared with T&T.

Seafood options are not so great too (both in restaurants and in stores). Oysters and lobsters are quite uncommon for Calgary. I guess T&T has the best selection, but still less than in Vancouver.