Is there anyone at City Hall smarter than a fifth grader? Some days it sure doesn’t seem like it.
Here we go with another task force (the Sustainable Active Friendly Economically-viable task force).
It seems like it’s the same couple of dozen people going from one committee to the next. The number of times they’ve done it, they should be able to write a paper now from memory.
The subject of SAFE’s efforts has been studied so many times a deaf and dumb blind man can not only tell you what the problems are, but also what the solutions are.
If City Hall quit awarding contracts that continually come in over budget and late they could afford to do things that matter to the city and downtown community. Clean and fix the sidewalks so they’re not obstacle courses. Give the police the support they need. Make the parking affordable. Get safe lighting on the streets and in the alleys downtown.
Painting light posts, hanging flowerpots, adding more or new banners doesn’t put customers in my store.
I got a downtown revitalization tax bill today. If I have to pay it, I will close my store. This new Downtown Action Plan is all about Riverlands, the rail yards and River Bend. All of them ignore the problems that are downtown. They try to put the focus everyplace but downtown.
Why have we got so many boarded up, fenced up properties, empty lots and holes in the ground? It’s property owners looking for more speculators like the Executive Place Group. Just what we need, more white elephants with no tenants. And we all know what happens next, a parade to City Hall with hands out looking for tax breaks so the banks don’t take the buildings from them.
The last time I know of was five or six years ago to the tune of about $40,000: money the rest of us have to make up in more taxes or less services.
This next election can’t come soon enough. We need more people who care about this city, not people who can brag about what they’ve done or how long they’ve been there.
I not only have a store downtown, I live downtown.
Jerry Anderson
Red Deer