Having lived in all those places as well and others. I think Oakland has some very unique problems that Calgary doesn't. Namely that it has historically had a high crime rate (I was in a conference called and watched a drive by with about 15 shots fired off in midday - granted this is 4 years ago but still).

Calgary has a lifeless core and the worst urban sprawl in america but it's also because Calgary is wicked cold - the plus 15 (an above ground network walking between office buildings throughout the core for cold winter days) takes a lot of the foot traffic off the streets making it tough for street level businesses and the quality of produce/food is pretty bleak in Alberta unless you love beef and beets.

Vancouver never gets cold so you can literally walk there all year around and has a vibrant food scene and has geographical constraints limiting outward development.

Im not defending Calgarys lack of vision and innovation but they are dealing with completely different market dynamics (boom and bust) and environment.

In terms of tax payers, Alberta has the lowest tax across the country, not sure how much of it really falls on the tax payers but I'm curious about that.

All in all agree with most of your points, just expanding some of the thoughts.