Dear Editor;
In light of response from my previous letter and from feedback from some recent blogging, I have realized that there is some serious concern over our community's direction, or lack of it. I would like to address this with a new idea... What if we developed a comprehensive plan that included a well thought out vision for the future which had guidelines that balanced and encompassed the needs of our area and then actually used it?Do you think this can happen? Yes it can. It just took me about three clicks of the mouse to find an excellent example of this and it came right from our close neighbours to the west. Check out Fernie's "Official Community Plan" which entails a 150-page document that addresses issues such as housing, transportation, parks, economic development, the natural and social environment, infrastructure, etc for the next 20 years. http://fernie.ca/siteengine/ActivePage.asp?PageID=24
I understand that this plan is developed and maintained by a council-appointed committee. Do you think they use it? Anyone who has been through Fernie recently knows the answer. Imagine if we had a comprehensive plan with a specific direction that was consistent and based on the needs of our community. We could then draw on this when it came to our hot button topics including the Crowsnest Centre, and we could then make appropriate decisions with help from the plan’s mandate. Another example that immediately comes to my mind would be a situation where a developer comes into town with their own idea of what the future of the Crowsnest Pass should look like. These ideas might be different than that of the consensus of the community. We could then use the "Building Design Guideline" within our community plan, such as Fernie does, to regulate things such as architectural controls that suit our community, and not our developers. I am learning about many issues we are addressing in our community including the Crowsnest Centre crisis, devastating school enrollment numbers, heritage initiatives concerned about creating a future that reflects our past, affordable housing issues and of course the ever-present concern of the impact of our environment. In my opinion our town council should be focusing on the "bigger picture" here, and once we do, it might be surprising how a plan to help solve these individual community concerns might start to come together. I hope our mayor and our new council has realized that we are one of the last Western Canadian mountain towns to experience the need to address growth, the future and the implications and concerns that follow. There are so many resources out there, including Fernie's plan, that we could use as an example which could effectively help us deal with these situations (as well as many others).
Randall Whitesite
Blairmore
Crowsnest Centre: waste of money
Friday May 09, 2008
Dear Editor;
After living in the Crowsnest all my life and moving away, it was a really hard adjustment. After I adjusted, I thought to myself: “what am I really missing?” Nothing really came to my mind. I follow all the things that happen there in the Pass, the Internet is a really great tool and I thank you for putting your fantastic paper online each week.
Following all the issues with the Crowsnest Centre has really put my mind at ease. Trying to keep alive a worn-out facility is a total waste of tax dollars that the normal citizen in the Crowsnest Pass cannot afford.
If certain councillors were doing their job when they were on council perhaps people like myself and hordes of others would not have had to move away. Certain people are doing what they know, and that is to bully their way though any issue without any regard for the other person, either on council or not. I agree with Dean Ward’s version of things. How come there has never been a statement from the Crowsnest Centre with their expenses and income? Nothing makes sense other than someone is doing a job that really isn’t a job, all at the taxpayer’s expense. I would like to see a statement... and I don’t even live in the Crowsnest Pass anymore! With an 11 per cent tax increase coming, can the citizens afford this worn out facility? There is talk of the current tenants having no place to go. Well, man up the other facilities that aren’t in use right now. Too bad that you may have to go a few more minutes out of your way. That is a part of life in the way that we have chosen to live! We do it here, everyone does it everywhere else...that’s the way it is!
Terry Tymchyna
Fort McMurray
Proprietor and published by Bowes Publishers Limited at 13343 - 20 Avenue, Blairmore, Alberta, Canada T0K 0E0
