Latest news with #Calgarians
Calgary Herald
2 hours ago
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Full steam ahead for Neighbour Day despite rainfall warning
Article content Calgary's annual Neighbour Day is going forward this weekend 'rain or shine,' Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek announced at a press conference Friday morning. Article content 'And it feels a little bit like it's going to be more rain than shine,' she added. Article content Article content The celebration has run yearly since 2014 to commemorate outpourings of community support during the 2013 floods. This year saw the launch of the Neighbour Day micro-grant program, letting Calgarians apply for up to $2,500 to host a celebration. Grants on offer totalled $70,000, and the fund was quickly fully expended across the city. Article content Article content The microgrants helped fund 43 community events, expected to reach more than 20,000 Calgarians. An additional 22 green space events are expected across Calgary, along with 55 block parties. More than 50 fire trucks have been requested to visit events, although working crews may be called away from their planned attendance. Article content Article content While no official Neighbour Day event had been cancelled at the time of the press conference, other events in the city have not been so lucky. Article content A vintage western wear weekend dubbed the Honky Tonk Market was forced to postpone and abbreviate its three-day event. The likelihood of the Tomkins Park market had been in question for days, as organizers, the city, and the 17th Avenue Business Improvement Association worked their way through weather reports, before finally cancelling the event Thursday morning. Article content Article content 'We're all taking this weatherman hat, and putting it on and trying to predict what's going to happen,' said Ashlee Popowich, vendor co-ordinator for the market. Expected rainfall varied between both days and weather apps, but the safety risk of winds tearing down tents was what forced the final call. Article content Popowich says the city has been a great partner through the meteorological chaos, and with that support, they were able to postpone the market to take place on June 27, albeit shortened to a single day. While grateful to reschedule on such a short timeline, she says that the 50 vendors expected for the market are still feeling the loss. Article content 'A lot of small businesses really rely on these kinds of events, especially at a peak point of tourism for our city, to be able to carry their businesses through the rest of the year.' Article content Neighbour Day events able to run despite the forecast are likely to see Gondek herself, who plans to visit every quadrant and at least 17 communities. She'll be leaving behind Mayor Jyoti's Buckets of Fun — small sand pails filled with candy, sidewalk chalk, and 'even a rain poncho, because here in Calgary you need to be prepared for everything,' Gondek said. Article content She says she would be disappointed if events were forced to reschedule but would understand given the conditions.
Calgary Herald
2 hours ago
- Climate
- Calgary Herald
Calgary braces for rainfall and riverbank risks on anniversary of 2013 floods
Article content On the anniversary of the 2013 floods, heavy rainfall event is expected to begin later tonight, dragging on over the weekend. Article content While the weather has remained mild through the morning, heavy rain is expected to pick up this evening, continuing on through Saturday and easing up starting on Sunday morning. Article content Article content 'This would be considered a significant rainfall event,' said Christy Climenhega, a scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. Article content Article content The most recent event of this scope was in 2022, when a similar system came through southern Alberta. In that case, the precipitation was less uniform, and a drop in alpine temperatures turned much of the expected rainfall into snow. Article content Article content This time, officials say the rain is expected to be more widespread and sustained. Article content 'In an event like this, we're looking at rainfall totals in the area of 100 millimeters over a broad area. That's not something we see every year,' said Frank Frigo, manager of environmental management with the City of Calgary's Climate and Environmental Business unit. Article content With that in mind, residents should still look out for locally higher amounts, especially in the foothills. Article content The city has been preparing for the weather for days, according to Frigo. Forecasts have been consistent since Sunday, giving them time to lower water levels in key reservoirs along the Bow and Elbow rivers. Article content Article content This type of rapid response is necessary in Calgary's river system, which behaves differently from slower-moving floodplains like those in other prairie cities like Winnipeg. Article content 'These are very changeable, mountain-driven basins. Conditions can swing wildly,' Frigo said, 'We have to be able to turn on a dime.' Article content Calgarians should be cautious around riverbanks Article content 'Calgarians will still see elevated flows, and if anyone is out walking near pathways or recreating near river areas, we do urge caution,' Frigo said. Article content 'We ask people to stay a little further away during periods like this. The water is colder, more turbid and harder to see through. It's carrying more debris and can cause erosion of the riverbanks that you might not be able to detect from the surface.'
Global News
11 hours ago
- Global News
What secrets did Calgary serial killer Gary Srery take to the grave?
Over the course of a year in the late 1970s, Calgarians woke up to horrifying headlines splashed across newspaper front pages. In just over 12 months, four young women's lives were extinguished under mysterious circumstances. Friends Eva Dvorak and Patsy McQueen, both 14, were found dead on the side of the Trans-Canada highway west of Calgary on Feb. 15, 1976. The body of Melissa Rehorek, 20, was found in a ditch on a quiet gravel road 22 km west of the city seven months later. And in February of 1977, the body of Barbara MacLean, 19, was discovered by a dog walker just outside the city's northeast quadrant. For years, despite evidence, interviews and autopsies, the explanations into all four deaths were scant. The cause of death for McQueen and Dvorak, who had been sent home the day they died after being caught drinking at their junior high school, was listed as undetermined. Autopsies revealed the pair had drugs and alcohol in their systems when they died, but their deaths were never ruled as murder. Story continues below advertisement Rehorek and MacLean's deaths showed similarities, leading investigators to believe they might have been victims of a single killer, but a suspect was never identified. For decades, the families and friend of each young woman waited for more information, for the cold cases to run hot. As the years ticked by, hope diminished. View image in full screen The photos of Eva Dvorak, 14, Patricia McQueen, 14, Melissa Rehorek, 20, and Barbara MacLean, 19, are displayed at a police press conference. Shane Struck / Global News Almost half a century later, in 2024, the RCMP released a bombshell press release. 'American believed to be serial killer behind deaths of 4 young Calgarians,' read Global News' headline on May 17, 2024, as police announced a break in not one, but all four cases. At a news conference in Edmonton, police announced that all four young women were victims of a serial killer by the name of Gary Srery — an American citizen living in Canada illegally at the time of the homicides. Story continues below advertisement Police said ahead of each of the four victims' deaths, they had been walking in the evening. All four died of asphyxiation and their bodies were left outside of Calgary's city limits. In each case, seminal fluid was found on the victims but police noted that at the time of their deaths there was no way to test for a DNA profile of a suspect. View image in full screen The underpass where the bodies of Patsy McQueen and Eva Dvorak were discovered. File photo / Global News Now, Global's true crime offering, Crime Beat, is looking back on the case, with exclusive interviews from the detectives who helped link the crimes, never-before-heard details from one of the victim's sisters and a jaw-dropping interview with the serial killer's own son, who provides insight into how his father became a serial killer — and the reasons he believes his dad is responsible for the death of another young Alberta woman. On May 17, 2024, the RCMP said Gary Srery was responsible for the deaths of four young Calgarians. Supplied by RCMP Keep reading to learn more about Srery, how advances in forensic technology helped link the Calgary murders and why investigators think he may be connected to additional murders and sexual assaults. Story continues below advertisement Who is Gary Srery? Gary Allen Srery was born in Illinois in 1942, the first of three siblings, and moved with his family to California in the mid-1950s. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy While little is known about his formative years, by the 1960s he began to rack up an extensive rap sheet, particularly for violent and sexual offences, starting with a forcible rape conviction in 1965. He faced additional charges of kidnapping, sexual perversion and burglary around that time, leading to the State of California to classify him as a 'mentally disordered sex offender,' and he was committed to a mental health facility. In and out of incarceration, the next few years saw Srery rack up additional charges, including rape, drug possession, kidnapping and sodomy. Gary Srery is shown in an undated photo. Handout / RCMP In 1974, Srery attacked a female hitchhiker in the San Fernando Valley in California, and, attempting to escape the Los Angeles rape charge, he crossed into Canada illegally. Story continues below advertisement He was a bit of a chameleon, ever-changing his appearance, his vehicles and his aliases. Once in Canada he became an under-the-table drifter, working as a salesman or in kitchens in Southern Alberta and B.C., and staying off the radar of police. He often used the names 'Willy Blackman' and 'Rex Long.' View image in full screen Gary Srery often changed his looks, vehicles and aliases. Handout / Alberta RCMP Srery's deception worked. It wasn't until his 1998 arrest in New Westminster, B.C., for a violent sexual assault, that his crimes north of the border caught up with him. Following a five-year sentence in Canadian prison, he was deported back to the U.S. in 2003. A trickle of tips and leads With Srery back in the U.S., investigators continued to pick away at the cold cases. In 2003, taking advantage of advancements in forensic technology, evidence from Rehorek and MacLean's crime scenes were sent in for DNA testing and confirmed what police suspected all along — seminal DNA found on their clothing matched a single, unknown offender. Story continues below advertisement It was almost another 20 years, in the fall of 2022, when Dvorak's sister, Anita Vukovich-Kohut, learned that the case of the two junior high students had been reopened after she called police to check in on the case. 'I don't know what the trigger was that got [police] to start looking into it,' she told Crime Beat, 'but when I asked about it they had already begun the process.' View image in full screen Anita Vukovich-Kohut was surprised to learn her sister's case had been reopened. Crime Beat / Global News RCMP told Crime Beat that two months before receiving Vukovich-Kohut's call, they had received a tip that spurred further investigation: an inmate had found McQueen's name in the notes of another inmate. While the tip turned out to be a dead end, the investigator handling the case realized there were exhibits in the McQueen and Dvorak case that hadn't been tested using new DNA technology. Story continues below advertisement While waiting for the results of the testing to come back, and inspired by the capture of the Golden State Killer using investigative genetic genealogy (IGG), police, in partnership with the RCMP, reopened the cases of Rehorek and MacLean. When they uploaded the DNA samples from the cases into the genetic genealogy databank, it spit back a family tree of more than 6,400 people related to the unknown offender, dating back to the early 1700s. Within months, they narrowed down their search to a small group of brothers. One of the siblings, Gary Srery, had already made headlines about being a serial rapist, giving investigators their No. 1 suspect. Meanwhile, police were able to link Srery to the Calgary area during the time of the four murders, and reviewed the cases of eight other women who survived attacks by Srery, painting a picture of how the suspected serial killer moved and operated. When the DNA results came back, police were finally able to confirm that Srery had violently raped and murdered all four young women. View image in full screen Left to right: Calgary serial killer victims Melissa Rehorek, 20, Patricia 'Patsy' McQueen, 14, Eva Dvorak, 14, and Barbara MacLean, 19. Alberta RCMP Are there other Canadian victims? While the families of each Calgary victim say they were relieved to finally have some closure, Srery was long dead, having died from natural causes in an Idaho prison in 2011 while serving a life sentence for another violent rape. Story continues below advertisement Investigators say he's likely responsible for other unsolved murders, but his death means there's a good chance Srery took secrets of other committed crimes to the grave. Even his son, Richard, believes there are other crimes at the hands of his dad that are waiting to be uncovered. View image in full screen Gary Srery's son, Richard, told Crime Beat in an exclusive interview that he believes his dad is responsible for more crimes. Crime Beat 'He is one of the most charismatic, convincing, intellectual people I have ever actually ever encountered,' he told Crime Beat in an exclusive interview, explaining he believes his dad used his smarts and social skills to prey on his victims. 'I can't help thinking, even to this day, how many do we not know about?' 0:33 Gary Srery's son speaks out about his father's crimes The case of Kelly Cook One of the unsolved cases he believes is connected to his dad, said Richard, is the mysterious 1981 kidnapping and murder of a 15-year-old girl in rural Alberta. Story continues below advertisement Revealing a letter written to him by his father from prison, Richard said the note mentioned several aliases Srery had used in the past, including the name 'Bill Christensen.' Bill Christensen was also the name used by a man in Standard, Alta., 70 km north of Calgary, who called up an unsuspecting teenager by the name of Kelly Cook, luring her to her death under the guise of a babysitting job. View image in full screen Kelly Cook disappeared from her home in Alberta in 1981, in one of the highest profile cases in the province's history. File / Global News Two months later, Cook's body was found in the Chin Lake Reservoir, east of Lethbridge, tied up with ropes and anchored by concrete blocks. Years later, anticipating a visit from RCMP to his home in the U.S. to talk about cases linked to his father, Richard said he had stumbled across Cook's case in another Crime Beat episode: The Case of Kelly Cook: The Backup Babysitter. Story continues below advertisement 'I was convinced from watching it, this is him, this is the (case) they're going to talk to me about,' he said. 'He lived there, the aliases…everything about it just adds up.' Surprised when Cook's case didn't come up in their conversation, Richard said he brought it up with the investigators, who quickly shot him down, saying they didn't have a connection between the case and his dad. The RCMP claims there's no mention of the alias Bill Christensen in Srery's file, nor evidence that connects him to Cook's death. — Crime Beat airs its penultimate episode of the season at 10 p.m. ET on Global, examining a series of serial killings in Calgary in the 1970s and how the man responsible, Gary Srery, might have had more victims. Check your local listings for airtimes. Episodes appear streaming and on the StackTV app the following day. Story continues below advertisement — Global News and Global TV are both properties of Corus Entertainment.
Calgary Herald
a day ago
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Calgary needs 45 per cent more housing annually: CMHC
Despite a surge in housing construction in the past few years, Calgary needs to increase its annual production by more than 45 per cent to reverse the city's affordability woes ushered in by COVID-19, according to a new report by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Article content The finding is part of a broader examination of the real estate landscape in Canada, which also concludes the country will need to double its housing starts to bring its levels of affordability down to those of 2019. That means an addition of between 430,000 to 480,000 homes. Article content Article content Article content House prices, an important indicator of affordability, have steadily increased in the past few years. In Calgary, the average annual growth in prices between 2004 and 2019 was 4.3 per cent. The average rate between 2019 and 2024 grew to 7.3 per cent, making it harder for average Calgarians to afford a home in the city. Article content Article content The organization deems a housing unit affordable when its owner or renter is paying 30 per cent or less of their gross income towards shelter costs. Homeowners in Calgary, on average, paid 38 per cent of their gross income to housing expenses between 2019 and 2024, a sharp rise from 27 per cent 15 years before. Article content Rent prices, meanwhile, have more than doubled in those time periods, rising from 3.4 per cent between 2004 and 2019 to 7.9 per cent in the last five years. Article content Comparing CMHC's data on home prices and rent is complicated by the fact the organization calculates rent growth based on rates at most purpose-built rental units and not just those available for new tenants at the current market price. Article content Article content Although CMHC says it has started to report on rents when units are turned over to new tenants, reflecting market transactions, 'these are insufficient for modelling.' Article content Article content 'The loss of affordability over the past (two) decades has been large and is becoming larger,' the report stated. Article content Aled ab Iorwerth, deputy chief economist for CMHC, ascribes this problem to the pandemic, when people in cities, mainly Toronto and Vancouver, grew tired of housing costs and long commutes, and eventually moved to other cities. This was made possible by the option to work remotely. Article content As a result, demand rose in other parts of the country, as did prices. However, living costs didn't get any cheaper in Toronto and Vancouver, where demand for housing continued to rise with a higher population. Article content 'You're still seeing population growth and income growth in those cities, so it's just that they still have positive population and income growth, albeit slower than in Alberta,' he added.
Calgary Herald
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Civic partner criticized for spending $65,000 on phone line to listen to Bow River
A fiscal watchdog is taking the city's public art authority to task for spending tens of thousands of dollars on a phone line that allowed people to listen to recorded sounds of the Bow River. Article content The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) issued a freedom of information request to the city in 2024, revealing that the Reconnecting to the Bow public art project cost taxpayers $65,194. Article content Article content Article content 'If someone wants to listen to a river, they can go sit next to one, but the City of Calgary should not force taxpayers to pay for this,' the federation's Alberta director, Kris Sims, said in a news release on Thursday. Article content Article content The project was led by Calgary Arts Development, which has run the city's public art program since 2021. Article content A web page devoted to the audio art project states Reconnecting to the Bow invited Calgarians to 'connect to the Bow River' by calling a hotline to listen to recordings of the river water as it gurgled and babbled. Article content The toll-free phone number — (1-855-269-5786) — was active from August to December 2024. Article content Calling that number now returns an automated message stating the project has concluded. Article content The public art project, a relaunch of a 2014 initiative called Varying Proximities, also included several promotions for the hotline throughout the city on billboards, at transit stations and on social media platforms. Article content Article content Emails the federation obtained from the city revealed the project cost just over $65,000. The budget included approximately $32,000 in installation costs, $15,000 in artist fees, $14,000 in consulting fees and technical support, and $3,500 for communication and research. The project also included the costs to activate the phone number. Article content The arts group collaborated with Broken City Lab, a Windsor, Ont.-based interdisciplinary artist collective.
