Accessibility and Our Streets

​ME ON FACEBOOK:

​PLATFORM: Accessibility and Seniors - Reduce costs and improve flexible support for seniors and people with disabilities by enhancing trails, signage, and accessibility features.
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1. paint the yellow line back onto trails to help make multiuse trails safer for all ages and uses,
2. repair asphalt damage on existing trails before wasting money on things like bicycle roundabouts,
3. align crosswalks with cuts on the curbs,
4. increase the number of tactile surfaces at crossings for visually impaired,
5. improve street signage so people don't need a GPS to find a street right in front of them.

Examples of intersections below:

Some might ask, why make accommodations for residents who are blind, physically disabled, or seniors with mobility challenges when they represent only a small percentage of our community? The answer is simple: because we want Red Deer to be a welcoming city where people of all abilities feel included, and where new residents can see themselves building a life here regardless of their background or circumstances.

COMMENT: ​These ideas are great some needed badly . However they also cost money .How do you propose to make these changes and improvements without making cuts to other necessary services or increasing our already ridiculous taxes ?

​MY REPLY: well we could have started by not spending $11+ million dollars on a bridge that nobody wanted repaired. There was also Millions spent on infrastructure including bicycle roundabouts which didn't need to be built this year. The money is there and a lot of it comes from external sources like the province and federal government through grants but we're wasting them on ridiculous things. We need to be focused on our existing necessary infrastructure. I propose we stopped wasting money on vanity projects and start spending it on things we already have that need upgrading or maintaining.

COMMENT: ​I agree however once previous councils have committed that money to these pet projects how do you unspend what they have spent ? Can we and should we walk away from a project that's half finished? They likely borrowed the money to do these projects . We will be paying of that debt for years . I would suggest that paying down that debt is more iimportant than adding more projects ,especially if we don't know where the money is coming from to fund them . A new council will have a very difficult job ahead of them to ferret out wasteful spending and I my opinion I would prefer most of that spending be used to pay down existing debt and maintain existing programs rather than initiate new ones .

MY REPLY: Well, for starters, an unspending example would have been to claw back the $170,000 for "public art installations" at the CPR Bridge before it was announced. It was part of the $2.7* Million in 'beautification' funding for the parks next to the bridge (something the Federal grant would not have likely covered). We get enough 'free art' that we have to deal with already. But overall yes, the money is already spent. The solution is to not spend more. Every plan includes paying into the debt and our reserve (legacy) funds.
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I would also suggest that we shift department focus from "spend every dime or you will lose it" to "whatever you don't spend goes into a reserve toward your budget next year". The attitude of 'if you spend a dollar save a dollar' is also a good one to adopt.

The thing about many of these projects, including the bicycle roundabouts, is that they were dominantly not funded by Red Deer taxpayers. It was part of a much larger infrastructure grant. The point is though, if we are getting grants for infrastructure then they should be used on existing necessary infrastructure. If the money was earmarked for bicycle paths then again we look at the existing ones. It's all a matter of how the money is spent.

Take for example my discussion on the CPR Bridge with a councillor. When I said, "if the bridge is historical, then why was the first thing they did, to tear down the 57th Street overpass on the south end that was built the same time as the bridge?' They had no answer and acted like they weren't even aware the overpass existed. I think one of the problems with career politicians and 'experienced' Councils is they've fallen into the routine of "oh this is shiny and new let's do it!" without even bothering to dig into the details.

The bridge will get a new paint job (which is good since we've been slapping on paint over the lead based paint for decades now), several new girders, a new deck, new foundations, and be moved - how is it historical anymore? And how did we get from a couple million at most to upkeep the bridge to over $22 Million to move it in a matter of a few short years?

When the 'rehabilitation' work is done on the bridge it won't even be 'historical' anymore or be in the same place (albeit 15 metres away). So what we really have is a $22.3+ Million bridge for the homeless. We would have been better to find a clear path forward for homelessness (like redeveloping Michener and adding tiny homes) and developing the Cannery Row district first then using the tax revenues from that to help fund the bridge.

Thing is though, that big expensive multi-million dollar complex next to the river has been sitting half empty for years, they've even offered free rent to desperately get tenants, and now I hear the recent tower in Capstone is subsidized apartments. Our city doesn't need these mega million dollar projects it needs single family homes and the 'bread and butter' wage earners who drive our local economy and provide jobs.

We are overspending overall. Lawrence Lee spoke of the "0% tax increases" they passed for a couple years but didn't point out that wasn't Council's decision really. They followed the same suit as everyone else because of the pandemic. I know they also spent reserves/legacy money and I don't have it with me but I wouldn't be surprised if we received Fed/Prov funding through things to get us over the pandemic as well. So now the pandemic is over the tax rates jump up. Why? Because we are overspending and spending unwisely.

Let's just look at these two numbers. $11.2 Million for the bridge, Red Deer Firefighters over budget $3.4 Million. I'm not saying it's a solution at all, but I would have rather bought our fire services one more year at least until we came up with a better solution than dynamic staffing. And that would still leave us with $8 Million (less any Fed grant) to tear down the CPR Bridge if it's such a threat that it needed a $22.3M overhaul 'right now'. Again, it's focusing tax dollars toward Needs vs Wants. Necessary vs Vanity.

You and I agree, focus the money on what we got not what we'd 'like' to have. We also have to look at transferring responsibility and oversight of things - like homelessness - to special task forces and societies vs spending taxpayer money on it. Our City should be there to rubber stamp the plans of smart people who have solutions and not just drag the process out for years. Taxpayer money should be spent on core services, independent contracting of non-core services (which will cost us less) and transferring programs to third parties (a simple example is fireworks displays. We give the Cultural Heritage Society a grant and it's their responsibility to spend it wisely and provide for fireworks and Cronquist House activities). We need to take a lot of the spending off the backs of the Red Deer taxpayer.