Opinion
Downtown Revitalization is not “THE” issue for our new city council. There are other more pressing issues.
Downtown revitalization was a key issue in the 1980 Red Deer municipal election that saw Bob McGhee become our mayor.
Downtown revitalization was a key issue in the 1992 Red Deer municipal election that saw Gail Surkan become our mayor.
Downtown revitalization was a key issue in the 2004 Red Deer municipal election that saw Morris Flewwelling become our mayor.
Downtown revitalization was a key issue in the 2013 Red Deer municipal election that saw Tara Veer become our mayor.
Downtown revitalization was a key issue in the 2021 Red Deer municipal election that saw Ken Johnston become our mayor.
Downtown revitalization has always been “a” key issue in Red Deer but it is not “the” key issue in Red Deer.
There have been many ideas for revitalizing the downtown. From tax freezes, tax holidays, grants for store front restorations, pedestrian walkways, patios, one- way streets, free parking, river lands, pedestrian bridge, even a canal and they all cost money.
Parkland Mall use to be the powerhouse destination point for central Alberta and some of their taxes went to pay for many of the downtown revitalization incentives. Now the malls could use some help. Anyone?
I used to work out of an office downtown, but I still felt alienated from the downtown culture, and it all became clear in one incident. I was leaving a store on Ross Street and as I stepped out the door I was bowled over by a bicyclist. My pants were torn, my leg was cut but no one spoke to me, but the staff fussed over the bicyclist by name. I got up leaned the bicycle against the parking meter and left, amazed that nobody even asked if I was okay.
I remember a business owner saying that every time the city invests in the downtown my rent goes up. The landlords benefit the most. Another talked about how losing parking stalls hurt his business, another spoke of walk-in traffic increases theft more than sales.
Councilor Frank Wong retired from city council this year citing “Unresolvable issues” and I think that the downtown is one of them. Perhaps it is time to think bigger picture.
Capstone, for example, even after all these decades and the hundreds of millions spent moving the public yards, burying services, aligning roads and promoting this 23-acre futuristic miracle neighbourhood, won’t save the downtown for such simple reasons as most pedestrians won’t cross Taylor Drive.
We have spent decades developing 30 Avenue, shopping centres, plans for 5 high schools, 2 Aquatic Centres, Pickleball courts, new firehall, walkways and playgrounds so let us make 30 Avenue the new Ross Street.
We have new shopping destinations on Gaetz south and I see they are currently upgrading storefronts without taxpayers money, shouldn’t the landlords downtown pay for their updating.
So, after voting a dozen times municipally talking about downtown revitalization, perhaps it is time to rethink the way forward.
Perhaps there is more to Red Deer than downtown? Perhaps the powers that be could expand their circle of influence?
Remember there are other key subjects that need attention, stagnant population growth, no high school for the 30% population living north of the river, crumbling infrastructure in older neighbourhoods, gangs and homeless stealing in neighbourhoods, and the mere fact that Red Deer continues to have the poorest air quality in Alberta, and Alberta has the poorest air quality in Canada. The list goes on.
So perhaps the new council will look outwards too and address other issues, like they do on downtown revitalization, too.
Just saying.
Garfield Marks
Business
You Are Not Eating Ze Bugs…
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Cricket Farm Axes Jobs
I remember back a few years ago, making my way down to the midway of the Calgary Stampede to check out all of the new flavorful wares.
The Midway hasn’t really offered much by way of new rides since I was a kid, not entirely sure I’d be interested in riding them, even if they did…
The Budweiser beer grounds get old, when a cold beer sets you back over $10.
Mini donuts have lost their luster…
But every year, there are new menu items that had given a reason to at least make the cost of admission worth giving this another shot.
Walking through the grounds, the wife and I noticed that one of the new Stampede Delicacies was pizza with bugs on it…
And I remember commenting to the wife that commercially made pizza has always had bugs in it…just nothing that they’d admit too for fear of being closed down by health regulations.
I mean…what’s next – boasting about mouse droppings in your soup?
But this bug thing has seemingly still managed to take off for reasons I cannot fathom. Are cow farts really impacting the planet that much?
It’d be hard to believe and harder to prove, even if this were true.
But then to read about some massive cricket farm in Eastern Canada, where cricket proteins were to be used in the mass production food items – chips, crackers, protein and energy bars and even flour – were soon to become a thing made me even more leery of processed foods.
Acheta Powder, by listing in ingredients…because this is the soft way to slip something onto the “may contain”, listings…which seems more innocuous than bugs or crickets…
But because my consumption of processed food items is low, were never much of a consideration and hunting for this on items I had no intention on purchasing anyways, seemed an awful waste of time.
The Eastern Canadian Cricket farm was built by Aspire Foods, for the tune of about $90 Million Bucks…$8.5 million provided by yup – you guessed it, Your Taxes, through federal grants.
Which, while is nothing in relation to the $40 Billion that has been extorted by the governments, out of your hard earned paycheque, to subsidize EV Batteries, with a 20 year ROI of ZERO…is still as big of a loss because…apparently, like the failure in trying to force people into expensive and unpractical EVs or turning plants into meat looking substitutes…
Mmmmmmmmmmmm…
Is also a Huge Failure.
Not enough people are eating Ze Bugs…which has turned out to shutter 2/3rds of the staffing in the workforce, in London, Ontario at the Aspire Cricket Farm.
Now…I’m all for innovation.
It’s what has created the device I’ve used to create this post and share it with all of you. I love some of the items that have leant to making my life easier and reduced efforts for tasks that offer little by way of satisfaction or payoff…
But with this being said…the market will always be the decider on what will or will not take off…and even with the bombardment of fear mongering around climate change and sustainability, bugs as a protein substitute are rapidly proving themselves out of market because…like me, you are not eating Ze Bugs!
Business
Sanctuary State Told To Cut Spending On Hotel Stays For Migrants As Costs Expected To Hit $1 Billion
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Jason Hopkins
A state commission is encouraging Massachusetts to cut costs on emergency shelter services for migrants and other families by spending less on expensive hotels.
The emergency shelter system in Massachusetts housing migrant families and others experiencing homelessness is expected to spend over $1 billion in fiscal year 2025, according to a state commission report investigating the matter. The report comes as Massachusetts, a sanctuary state that limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities, is continuing to experience financial hardship over the border crisis and an influx of migrants into their communities.
The draft report proposed spending less on the most expensive accommodations for migrants — which would include hotels and motels. Prior reports have found that housing migrants in hotels or motels in the state can be as costly as $300 per night.
“Since the EA shelter system reached capacity at 7,500 families last year, approximately 50% of families have been in hotels and motels across the state,” the report stated. “The Commission recommends limiting reliance on hotels and motels to best serve families and increase the financial and operational efficiency of the system, while recognizing that hotels and motels may be a last-resort option for surge capacity at times of rapid changes in demand.”
“Data suggests that hotels and motels are the most expensive type of shelter in the EA system,” the report concluded. It also noted that the state’s shelter caseload and system costs have skyrocketed to “unsustainable levels” since 2022.
The immigration crisis taking place under the Biden-Harris administration has hit Massachusetts particularly hard. Roughly 355,000 illegal migrants and other inadmissible foreign nationals live in the state, and approximately 50,000 have arrived since 2021, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.
Democrat Gov. Maura Healey, in her efforts to clamp down on the state’s crisis, has publicly called on illegal immigrants to not go to Massachusetts, offered plane tickets for them to leave, and has asked residents to take in migrant families. The state has also experienced a rising number of deportation cases as illegal migrants continue to flock there.
Despite the growing pains with mass illegal immigration, the governor has remained steadfast in her opposition to President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for an immigration crackdown, and she confirmed that her state’s law enforcement would “absolutely not” help with mass deportation efforts. The entire state of Massachusetts is considered a sanctuary for illegal migrants for its laws limiting cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The state legislature appropriated $639 million to the emergency assistance shelter system for fiscal year 2025, according to the report. However, expense projections are expected to hit $1.094 billion – leaving a shortfall of roughly $455 million for the fiscal year.
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