Council excited to get working with new government
By Lethbridge Herald on June 17, 2023.
FROM THE HALL
Blaine Hyggen – Mayor of Lethbridge
ngratulating both newly-elected Alberta Premier Danielle Smith as well as Rachel Notley for their contributions to this great province of ours. It was a hard-fought election as both main party leaders shared their visions for Alberta.
Congratulations to Lethbridge East MLA Nathan Neudorf – the newly-named Minister of Affordability and Utilities and vice-chair of the Treasury Board – and to Lethbridge West MLA Shannon Phillips for their victories locally.
It takes a great amount of courage and passion to put your name forth for public office. Thank you, candidates, for your determination and commitment to Alberta.
As always, Lethbridge city council and I will continue to advocate for the supports we need in our city to best serve our residents. We are excited to begin working with our local MLAs and with the new provincial government.
We have already been in conversation with several of the new cabinet Ministers and look forward to engaging with the rest to ensure election promises to advance Lethbridge’s priorities are followed up on.
Now let us get to the fun stuff – summer 2023 officially begins next week! Plenty of places are open and a whole host of events will be happening in our city and region during the next couple of months:
* Spray parks are open for families to enjoy
Henderson Pool is open with regular hours starting June 29.
* The Lethbridge Bulls baseball season is underway. Check out their schedule here: https://www.bullsbaseball.com/
* National Indigenous Peoples Week is coming June 18-24 with National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21. Stay tuned for details on several events planned in the city
* The ATB Financial Lethbridge Rotary Dragon Boat Festival runs June 23-25. More information here: https://lethbridgedragonfest.ca/
* The Lethbridge Pride Fest Society Pride Parade and Pride in the Park are set for June 24. More information here: https://www.lethbridgepride.com/
* A full slate of Canada Day events on July 1. More information here: https://www.lethbridge.ca/news/posts/2023-canada-day-celebrations/
* The 2023 Street Machine Weekend is set to rev up from July 14-16. More information here: https://www.streetwheelers.com/
* The 2023 Lethbridge International Air Show is set to hit skies from July 29-30. More information here: https://lethbridgeairshow.com/
* Whoop-Up Days (August 22-26) plus the Lethbridge & District Pro Rodeo & Relay Races (August 24-26) are set for later this summer. More information is here: https://whoopupdays.ca/
There are many other events throughout our city and region I would encourage people to seek out. City staff earlier this week also compiled a list of hidden gems that can be enjoyed by residents and visitors of all ages.
These fun (and often free) activities will help you embrace the amazing recreation, culture and nature our community has to offer. Read more here: https://www.lethbridge.ca/news/posts/summer-in-the-city/
The first full week of June was Seniors’ Week, so I want to recognize all of the contributions that our wisest residents have provided in their years.
The City of Lethbridge also celebrated Environment Week from June 4-10.
The Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan survey is open until June 26 for residents to provide their feedback on how we can adapt to changing climates in Lethbridge. The survey is live on the City’s public engagement website at getinvolvedlethbridge.ca. The feedback gathered will help inform the strategic direction of the strategy and action plan.
Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services (LFES) recently issued several reminders for everyone to be safe while using bodies of water in and around the city during the summer months. The Oldman River is a very popular place to cool down, but before using the river there should be a few safety items to check off before you get on the water. More information here: https://www.lethbridge.ca/news/posts/reminders-for-river-safety-this-summer/
Summer also, of course, means road closures and road construction.
I encourage all motorists to please follow posted detours and signage to keep the workers safe.
City council has recently received many calls about the new Galt Gardens Inclusive and Accessible Play Space currently under construction. We understand people have concerns on some of the social issues with that location, as well as the costs.
In 2022, the City of Lethbridge was successful in securing $375,000 in grant funding through the Government of Canada’s Community Revitalization Fund (CCRF). This grant represents more than 50 per cent of the $662,000 total project cost.
The remaining $287,000 comes from a previously-approved budget in Public Realm Enhancements for $152,000, plus $125,000 approved by Lethbridge city council in the 2022-2031 Capital Improvement Program, as well as $10,000 from the Kal-Tire Replay Fund.
The CCRF is a two-year $500-million national infrastructure program designed to support communities across the country with projects that revitalize downtown cores and main streets, reinvent outdoor spaces, create green infrastructure, and address accessibility of community space. PrairiesCan is administering the CCRF in Alberta.
This new amenity, which will be located immediately adjacent to the Rotary Centennial Fountain in the southeast corner of the four-hectare park, will consist of inclusive and accessible play equipment, rubber surfacing, plaza space and park furniture. It is tentatively scheduled to open in mid-September.
As Galt Gardens is the primary downtown festival and events park in Lethbridge, this project will add to community vibrancy and the vitality of downtown by fostering active, social, educational, inclusive and accessible play opportunities.
It will contribute to the attraction of more families to events in the park as well as utilize the space daily throughout the year.
We are aware that there are challenges, but this project will add to the ever-increasing amount of positive development in Downtown Lethbridge and we believe this play space will be a major step forward to helping public perception.
Parks and public spaces bring people together, attract people to downtown cores and provide opportunities for residents and visitors to benefit from nearby local businesses and attractions. It will also address a notable gap in recreation and play opportunities within a 10-minute walking distance of Downtown Lethbridge.
The Galt Gardens Inclusive and Accessible Play Space will also continue to leverage exciting synergies created between Festival Square, 3 Avenue Reconstruction, Casa, the Rotary Fountain, new and existing businesses downtown and future Southern Alberta Art Gallery (SAAG) expansion.
In other positive news, stay tuned to hear more about new electric vehicle chargers coming to the city soon, as well as our 2023 Municipal Census results coming soon.
As always, be kind to one another and Happy Fathers’ Day weekend, everyone!
39
-38
Lipstick on a pig! Expensive lipstick on pig!
If I built a house on a lot that was already purchased and the cost of the house and landscaping was $662,000, it would be a very nice property, because the lot Lethbridge, lets say in Riverstone would be around $300,000, making the total value $1 million.
Now, the property in Galt Gardens is already paid for so that means that the play area is extremely expensive. At night and in the winter when there is no security the addicts will be all over the playground, tagging it and building fires. Let me remind all of you administrators and Councilors that federal grants and funds all come from the taxpayer, it does not just fall from the sky!
You have blown over $12 million in the area to revitalize third avenue, build the Festival Square and that doesn’t include monies to SAAG.
When will you stop burning up our money? The park has been taken over by addicts and many of the people who use the spray park are addicts, even washing their clothes there and let me ask, is that water recycled? Do my kids have to then get sprayed with the same water the addicts just used to bathe and wash their clothes in?
Try using the washrooms in that park and see the condition they are in, if you can chase out the addicts using them to inject drugs. I would never allow my kids to use the washrooms or the spray park after witnessing what I see in that park daily!
You have zero fiscal responsibility or common sense and fail to provide the safety for citizens which is mandated by law! Lets bus all those addicts to the parks in your neighborhoods!
You now threaten the safety of our children! There should be a right to recall for Councilors and we should have a right to fire our administrators!
Before spending further money there, Galt Gardens must be returned to its citizens. Addicts currently rule the park and venues there. Give us back our park, all of it.
I’m amazed no downtown businesses have banded together and filed lawsuits. It appears to be the only method that works for encouraging people to pay attention.
Phoenix businesses recently did just that and won.
https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2023/03/27/arizona-homeless-business-lawsuit-trial-date-set.html
They sued the city – and won
Debbie and Joe Faillace have owned Old Station Sub Shop, next to where the camp cropped up, for more than 30 years. They frequently discover property damage, drug paraphernalia and feces when they get to work, they said.
“There’s just a complete lawlessness, and it’s getting worse,” Debbie Faillace said. “We want our neighborhood back. We want to feel safe.”
The Faillaces and others already had sued last year in state court over the Zone, an unofficial nickname that isn’t universally embraced. They claimed the city had allowed its public spaces to violate its own public nuisance laws, with unsanitary conditions, drug use, violence and property crimes, fire hazards and blocked rights of way, court documents show.
A judge in March ruled in their favor, giving the city a few months to eliminate the nuisance conditions, records show.
“We basically showed a proof of concept to use the courts to force cities’ hands to actually do something about the humanitarian aspect of this crisis,” Wurman said.
According to the preliminary injunction, the city has been ordered to clean up the encampment. The order specifies that the city has to keep its public property and rights-of-way free of tents and makeshift structures, biohazardous materials, drug paraphernalia, trash and people committing crimes and implement a plan in compliance with the order.
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People are sick of this, and I’m amazed Lethbridge hasn’t already seen some legal action. Only a question of when. The city isn’t listening.
I do agree with some of the comments, that it is ALL taxpayer money and it doesn’t matter where it comes from. It is not FREE!
We have been pushed out of Galt Gardens, with visible Canada Day participants drastically reduced in numbers even with extra funds thrown at events that day to attract people. You are not going to force people into areas that are not safe! I am not going to point out all of the unsafe conditions and incidents I witness and experience as I do my daily walk through the park, we already know it, but our city leadership wants to say, SHHHHH . . .quiet . . . don’t say anything and people won’t know . . . really? Ask the 2 senior women who were assaulted last year within a week in the same area of downtown while they tried to keep their purses from being stolen . . . just one of many examples!
There are more efforts in place that protect the addicts than the taxpayers of this city and the downtown business community, the ones who foot the bill . . . it is not free money!
I applaud the efforts and planning it took for the encampment strategy, but it doesn’t do anything for us who want our park back. Several events refuse to use Galt Gardens as a venue and we are no longer able to just walk down to the park to enjoy those events, instead we have to drive across town.
The addicts pushed us out of the park! We now have a small piece on the end of a street with a small stage that cost over $1.4 million, while the addicts get Galt Gardens. The government has allowed addicts to push out the taxpayers and dictate their rights, while the taxpayer now have no rights and government no longer listens to our concerns.
The park is only the tip of the iceberg! My calculations show that last year over $14 million of just local tax dollars, not provincial or federal, were spent on dealing with the addiction issues in our city and that doesn’t account for the tens of millions poured in here of provincial and federal taxpayer dollars . . . yet we cannot enjoy the centerpiece park of this city and instead are given a little section across the street.
Those of us who work, live and walk downtown all know that this overpriced playground will be like the rest of infrastructure in Galt Gardens and get destroyed and have graffiti on it. Pentagrams have been spraypainted on the sidewalk near where it is being built and when you look close at the rest of the buildings, you can see it is a slum! Plus . . . they are spending millions more on the SAAG building in the park, which will include a patio looking at the park . . . the addicts sleeping, doing drugs, urinating, fighting . . . I guess the artsy types enjoy that type of scenery!
Cities across this country are waking up and they now realized that it will only get worse if they don’t act . . . and they are acting.
This city has already taken a major step to end this with the encampment strategy, and stated they will need to make adjustments as it is enforced . . . they needed to realize those people would go elsewhere and that we now need to enforce our loitering and vagrancy laws.
In one of the Council meetings we were told that the shelter is now operating as a shelter should, protecting their clients and keeping out troublemakers, and that the ones rejected who are on the streets refused to obey the policies and rules of the shelter, because they want to continue their criminal activities, yet we let them continue to do it on the streets while taking over our park and fronts of city businesses.
I know this will take time . . . I know LPS is undermanned thanks to the brilliant Councillors who cut their budget three years ago . . . but we need someone to end this and for that, there needs to be a plan using whatever resources they can find: peace officers, more security, increased Watch patrols all focused on a lower tolerance to sleeping on the streets and parks and open drug use, which is still illegal in Alberta!
I am not saying it is easy or will be easy, but it needs to get done!
And our elected officials supported this playground idea? Vancouver city mayor and councilors were recently voted out for just such nonsense. Unfortunately it is hard to follow and record the votes that our councilors make. The herald used to print those years ago. Guess who put a stop to that? Plus people believe the talk they hear at election time and forget the many votes that show a complete lack of common sense.