Much as been said on other Blog sites regarding development in the Crowsnest Pass, and the silence from members of council regarding some of these developments.
First of all if a development does go bad here there is no question that lots of lawyers will find much employment, and make loads of money. Hopefully it does not come to that.
Anybody that as sat on a municipal council in the province of Alberta understands that issues discussed in camera by council that could be extremely sensitive from a legal point of view can not be discussed publicly, in fact during this term of the present council there was even an attempt by some members of council to remove one councilor because an issue that was dealt with in camera was reported by a local paper. This failed but it certainly drove home the seriousness of speaking to in camera issues.
Anyway lets clear up some misconceptions and rumors here, first of all Councilor Dean Ward as not done any of the following:
I have never been an employee of or received any kind of income from any developer,
I have never appeared in any kind of promotional video or literature for any developer,
I have never attended or lent credibility to any kind of shareholders or investors meeting.
I have never attended any kind of golf tournament, tickets to Flames games or any of those types of little perks provided by any party.
What am I guilty of? Attempting to encourage development in the Crowsnest Pass, to widen our tax base, to encourage business and people to move here. To create employment, have we been successful?
Some what on Highway 3 we have a development with 34 units built and another block of 6 units being started these units will bring in $150,000 a year in residential taxes, have created a number of construction jobs and supported some of our local businesses.
Other developers have come in to our sleepy little town and created quite a stir with flashy headlines and big proposals, yes councils, investors and numerous other folks have gotten excited and caught up in it.
Look at the following 23 headlines taken from our local paper dating back to 2005 there was a lot more people than just councilors that got caught up in this project.
Will this project or any other work out? I don't know.
We as a council just need to make sure that the communities best interests are looked after, and that taxpayer dollars are not spent pursuing somebodies dreams.
What is really amazing, over the last five years is the number of people that offered me all kinds of advice about how we needed to do everything possible to support development, and what a great thing some of these developers were.
Some of those same people today are telling me I can not believe you folks got sucked in by this stuff.
Council hears Sentinel ?resort village? Proposal Oct 3, 2005
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1933876
Subdivision approval next step for Bridgegate December 6, 2005
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1934028
Two milestones for Bridgegate development January 24, 2006
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1934169
Bridgegate budget now over a billion March 2, 2006
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1934272
Plans presented for River Run July 19, 2006
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1934547
River Run plans given go-ahead August 17, 2006
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1934641
Bridgegate rezoning approved Dec 7, 2006
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1935066
Bridgegate pressing forward Dec 22, 2006
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1935165
River Run gets go-ahead Jan 24, 2007
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1935264
Chamber hears Bridgecreek plans Feb 16, 2007
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1935350
Bridgecreek commits to millions April 19, 2007
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1935567
Local development hits minor road block May 17, 2007
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1935670
Town receives funding for Bridgegate project June 28, 2007
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1935808
River Run Rolling July 19, 2007
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1935863
Things flow well at River Run Jan 17, 2008
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1936386
Hotel/pool coming to Pass Jan 17, 2008
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1936376
Developing developments in the Pass April 17, 2008
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1936618
Crowsnest Lake construction this year April 17, 2008
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1936610
River Run project still on course June 26, 2008
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1936855
A new year: a new development? Jan 16, 2009
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1388070
A new year: a new development? Jan 16, 2009
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1521519
Coal dust threatens river Feb 6, 2009
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1420330
Bridgecreek consolidating offices July 31, 2009
http://crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1678278
2 comments:
The only thing that I do not understand is:If development is all "in Camera", then why is the mayor speaking at investor meetings.He is introduced as "Mayor", he speaks about the municipal side of things(tieing water lines in and such).Is there not a conflict of interest?Who is he representing at these investor meetings,The CNP or Bridgecreek?
Can you not put your list in chronological order. It would make it easier on everyone. Thanks!
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