When canvassing, it sometimes gets dark before you complete a neighbourhood. Somedays, I spend the whole time circling the community and finishing off neighbourhoods where this has happened. Yesterday, I really enjoyed all these visits, despite the rain.
In Riverside Place, I met Paul and Ed who took the time to tell me about their common issues with the Millenium Creek restoration which has altered the nature of the spring fed creek they used to enjoy. I will definitely be looking into this matter. Sometimes, these restoration projects can interfere with nature, so to speak, and this is what seems to have occurred. Apparently, that area used to have several species of birds and now they are gone. This indicates interference with food sources and nesting habitat. It is worth looking into. As well, while the sound barrier is much appreciated, it is a concern that the bottom of the barrier was never finished properly. That should be attended to. The concern is that the Town does not follow through on its construction contracts to completion and we get substandard installations. I checked the sound barrier on the way out, and the residents' concerns are valid.
In Riverview, several citizens spoke with me. I did not find those missing eyeglasses on my tour-sorry! However, I did speak with two families quite extensively. The major concern is speeding, but second to that is the concern that the neighbourhood is being redeveloped without Area Structure Planning. For example, Rocky View is selling its property near the bridge, and the Town is not acquiring it as was assumed. Who is buying that land, and for what purposes? While some citizens welcome Walmart, some are worried about the fate of the local business community who cannot compete with such a large retailer downtown. All are pleased to have the Domtar lands redeveloped after clean-up, and hope that the Town will require a sidewalk on Griffin Road to connect them to the new commercial area and the Safeway/Canadian Tire complex. They were also concerned that there is no direct connection between Riverview and Bow Valley School where their children attend. I agree that there should be walking paths to enable a healthier lifestyle for the kids to get to school rather than having to be bussed.
People I spoke with in Riverview are concerned with the Fireside development in the southwest corner of Town. They were worried about the Town's treatment of wetlands and natural habitat, and don't understand why development was allowed to leapfrog over the country residential homes adjacent to George Fox Trail. I too am concerned by this development and have spoken out many times about the issues. The development should not have preceded a proper Area C Area Structure Planning process that was promised during annexation talks with Rocky View. It seems that the last two councils have breached that annexation agreement in several ways. The relationships between Cochrane and Rocky View were fantastic in 2004, and I wonder what is going on.
There are also issues with lack of maintenance of green spaces and playgrounds, and care for trees that were planted in the park areas. This issue is common everywhere I go-the Town is not maintaining the parks and common areas with any level of attention that people can enjoy.
I finished off the evening on Carolina Drive. Great conversations there. I was very happy to chat about the Town's Request For Proposal process that does not seem to target local entrepreneurs and businesses. The "shop local" mantra of the late 1990s has been set aside, even though shopping locally is one of the 13 Pathways of the Cochrane Sustainability Plan. The Town needs to ensure that local entrepreneurs are sought out in the RFP process and can fairly tender on projects. For example, if the Town wants Dell computers, no local company can bid on that because only Dell sells Dell. Maybe what the Town needs to do is look at what they want the computer system to achieve and then ask for proposal from local companies who can provide those exact specifications at the most reasonable price. If you say you want IPads and IPhones only Mac can provide those. If you want the computer capabilities of those specific models maybe we could ask the local computer agencies to tender on the required specifications. As well, introducing Macs into the Town is not cost effective because we have PCs throughout the corporation. Interesting, huh!?
The Town's RFP process is something I want to look at carefully. It is unacceptable to have 2-5 people tendering proposals for the work we need done in any project. Why are we not attracting a whole bunch of tenders? Who is on the RFP list? How do you get on the RFP list? Great questions that I will review once elected.
Water supply was the topic of the evening with one citizen. We discussed the transfer system and the selling of water. Cochrane needs a secure water supply, and once elected I will go after it. We cannot continue to grow without a secure water supply in place.
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