Voices heard at Ward 3 neighbourhood meeting

Grade six student Andrew Beaver addressed the issue of pedestrian safety along River St.

“We need a crosswalk from Riverside to go to the riverbank. Our school has an outdoor education program which utilizes the riverbank quite often,” Beaver explained to the crowd. “There are many people who drive fast along the road which we need to cross.”

Referencing the traffic calming island installed near St.Francis School and Ecole Vickers last year, Beaver asked if it was possible to get one installed near Riverside Community School.

Grade six teacher Tanya Vancoughnett added to her student’s request saying many other students have come to her with the same concern.

“They could have said more about how they are concerned because they just experience it firsthand. They know they’re going to have to go across that street again … some of them may be really terrified,” Vancoughnett said.

Concerns on abandoned buildings

Many Ward 3 residents expressed their concerns over the high number of boarded-up buildings that blight the neighbourhood.

Stacia Michael says it’s an issue that should be addressed sooner than later.

“There is a lot of concern of the derelict properties and that’s a concern that I share, especially with absentee landlords,” Michael said.

“We need an affordable housing strategy and a strategy that then deals with absentee landlords and the problems that arise, because that’s all that’s available in this town. We need something for our low-income families.”

Ward 3 councillor Lee Atkinson believes a solution could be implanted in the form of an incentive program.

“Instead of chasing people with bylaw, police and fire, we need to present an incentive program either to buy back these properties or give tax benefits to these properties and create incentives to get someone to build single family dwellings on those properties. Make them viable and make our neighbourhoods viable again.”

Very recently, city council discussed broadening the term of “nuisance” to include certain derelict buildings which would give the city a chance to deal more directly with the problem.

City manager Jim Toye said the change may come soon.

“We understand some of these buildings have been shut down for years which is not acceptable. Council hears that loud and clear from the public,”

“Council has been discussing this issue for some time now … there is going to be more ability for this administration and our staff to deal with derelict and boarded up buildings.”

Phase out communal garbage, roll-in individual garbage bins

Ward 3 remains one of the last areas in the city that does not have roll-out garbage bins.

The issue of garbage and neighourhood cleanliness was discussed at length on Thursday night. With many of the residents still sharing a communal 300 gallon garbage bin, issues of overflowing garbage and increased litter was raised.

Atkinson has been vocal about the issue in the past during city council meetings but is still unsure when roll out bins will come to the neighbourhood.

“The roll out bins, I think help keep the back lanes cleaner but I would hope to see maybe this year in the sanitation manager’s budget a phase out of the 300 gallon bins and going more towards roll out bins.”

Atkinson said the sanitation budget did not include phase out from gallon bins to rollout bins last year.

“I said, ‘well what are we just forgotten? Or are the 300 gallon bins good enough? Because if that’s the case should we all go back to those,’”

Other issues raised by residents included implementing more afterschool programs, a desire for more police presence, a downtown revitalization, road repairs, and increased and extended bus routes.

Community meetings are part of a larger city initiative to communicate and work with the Prince Albert wards. This will lead to the creation of a neighbourhood plan that will be drafted at the beginning of 2016 that will then tie into the Official Community Plan currently being drafted, which will lay out the cities objectives and projects for the future.

There are five more community planning meetings scheduled throughout Sept. and Oct.

Ward 7: Tuesday. Sept. 22 @ 7 p.m. at East Hill Community Club
Ward 5: Tuesday, Oct. 13 @ 6:30 p.m. at Crescent Heights Community Club
Ward 8: Thursday, Oct. 15 @ 7 p.m. at West Hill Community Club
Ward 6: Wednesday, Oct. 21 @ 6:30 p.m. at Carlton Park Community Club
Ward 2: Thursday, Oct. 22 @ 6:30 p.m. at City Hall Foyer

knguyen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @khangvnguyen

by Khang Nguyen

Voices heard at Ward 3 neighbourhood meeting

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