Lee Atkinson is one of the three people vying for the Ward 3 seat in the P.A. civic election.(submitted photo/Lee Atkinson) 

By Glenn Hicks

civic election

P.A. council contender bemoans ‘stifling’ of voices

Oct 8, 2020 | 5:00 PM

A contender for Ward 3 in the Prince Albert municipal election next month says things need to change on city council so other points of view are heard.

Lee Atkinson, who has lived in the area for more than four decades and held the seat for 16 years before a very narrow loss to incumbent Evert Botha in 2016, also has ideas to combat the increase in crime in the neighbourhood and questions some aspects around the proposed new recreation centre.

“The best decisions are made with the most amount of input, not the least,” he told paNOW. “I think things need to turn around at council. I’ve never seen things where there’s stifling [of] other members and their points of view, and not listening to them and walking out on them. I thought the reason we’re there on a council is to participate and listen to [different] perspectives.”

Atkinson said the increasing crime rate, including numerous homicides in the Midtown area the last few years, forced people to leave and divest from the neighborhood.

“Crime, poverty and sub-standard housing are issues. It’s been my belief all along that the revitalization of downtown should also include the adjacent neighborhoods, because that’s a natural progression of where we can walk to for shops and goods and services,” he explained.

Final numbers

Local RM results finalized

4h ago

Commitment

Hildebrand commits to Bemidji State in NCAA DI, first NCAA commitment in Raiders history

6h ago

Inflation

Rent inflation to slow in the next few years, Desjardins predicts

7h ago

Atkinson, who is presently retired after his work as technical officer at the satellite tracking station for Sed systems, has previously served on various entities including the P.A. Police Commission, fire services, race relations, and waste management.

He took aim at the city’s handling of recent or proposed projects – including the new recreation and aquatic centre — in that he’s concerned widespread public community input was not sought.

“Instead we’re just ploughing through. What do we need in a new facility? Somebody has already decided,” he said, noting he has lots of experience in past projects like the Rawlinson Centre, Art Hauser, and soccer centre.

“We need to go into these projects with our eyes wide open. What are the operating costs going to look like? Where will the funds come from?” he said.

He also questioned what other facilities would need to shut down or be changed to accommodate the proposed recreation and aquatic centre, making it clear that he thought investment in a new hospital would attract more jobs and economic potential for the city

“Let’s begin a new hospital rather than a new recreational facility,” he said.

Evert Botha and Tony Head are also running in Ward 3.

—

For all things election – municipal and provincial – head to our special elections pages which can be found on the Sections bar at the top of our main page.

–

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow