Red Deer Minute: Enhancing Downtown, Permit Conditions, and a Very Merry Christmas

Red Deer Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Red Deer politics

This Week In Red Deer:

• It’s Christmas Day - Merry Christmas to you all! Thank you for your support this year - we hope you have a wonderful holiday season filled with friends and family. We rarely ask for financial support in these newsletters, but if you’d like to contribute to help us keep producing these newsletters next year, you can click here to make a donation. We appreciate it, and we'll see you in 2024!
  
  
• There are no meetings at City Hall this week, as Council is on break. There will also be a change to Green Cart collection this week and next, to accommodate the Christmas and New Years’ Day statutory holidays. The new pickup date depends on where you live, so click here to review the schedule. Collection schedules will return to normal on January 8th, 2024 - the same day Council gets back into Chambers.
  
  
• Bower Ponds and many community skating rinks are now open, despite the warm weather. You can check the status of your neighbourhood rink here. However, the storm water ponds in West Park and Anders will no longer be maintained as skating rinks and will permanently close to the public due to safety concerns.

Last Week In Red Deer:

• There were two Notices of Motion brought forward to address homelessness and addiction issues. Councillor Lawrence Lee’s motion requested an update on encampments within the City's publicly owned lands by the third quarter of 2024. The motion, to be considered at the January 8th, 2024 Council meeting, seeks outcomes and analysis of potential service level changes, exploring ways to reduce dismantling time, prevent the establishment of encampments in the first place, and connect individuals with social supports. Councillor Vesna Higham’s motion called for the Province to facilitate an orderly transition of the Overdose Prevention Site out of Red Deer by the end of 2024, with a focus on greater harm reduction options emphasizing health, wellness, and recovery within the community. Her motion will be considered on January 22nd, 2024.
  
  
• After approving the operation of the temporary homeless shelter at Cannery Row for another 15 months, Council has now also approved a conditional development permit. The permit requires the operator, the Safe Harbour Society, to repair any public property damage, replace part of the fence with an eight-foot-high non-climbable steel screen, install signage, define boundaries, and provide rules on-site. The shelter must also come up with a plan to address weapons carried by some clients and implement a plan for personal belongings storage.
  
  
• The newly formed Downtown Neighbourhood Alliance in Red Deer has started engaging in discussions to revitalize the city's core. During the first "visioning" exercise on December 13th, ideas were generated, including the potential establishment of an arts and culture district and the consideration of an ice surface to attract people downtown. The Alliance aims to represent all Red Deer citizens with an interest in enhancing the city's heart, working towards creating a more vibrant and thriving downtown. Working groups within the Alliance will meet monthly to explore various possibilities, with the hope of developing a framework by next spring or summer.

-----

Donate:

Common Sense Red Deer doesn't accept any government funding and never will. We think you should be free to choose, for yourself, which organizations to support. If you're in a position to contribute financially, you can make a donation here.

-----

Share:

If you're not in a position to donate, we understand, but if you appreciate our work, you can help by spreading our message. Please email this post to your friends, share it on Facebook or Twitter, and help make sure every Red Deerian knows what's really going on at City Hall.