Red Deer Minute: Vehicle Noise, Property Sales, and a New Passport Location

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

This Week In Red Deer:

• There are no meetings at City Hall this week. Council meetings resume next week.
  
  
• Community Culture Development Fund applications are now open. The grant program provides financial support for up to three years to help organizations provide services, manage cultural facilities, or host special events and festivals. A maximum of $30,000 per applicant is available.
  
  
• Western Canada's largest Reptile Expo is slithering into Red Deer this weekend, bringing some of the country's top reptile breeders and vendors to the city. The event is even attracting some special guests from across the pond in Europe! So bring the family and friends down to the Cambridge Hotel this weekend to check out some cool critters.

Last Week In Red Deer:

• The weather wasn't the only thing scorching in July - property sales in the city were hot last month. Newly released data showed that July home sales were up over last year. This comes at a time when the rest of the province is experiencing a market cool-down, with home sales dropping an average of 7%. Only two other cities in the province - Grande Prairie and Medicine Hat - saw home sales increase. Despite the general downward trend occurring elsewhere, it's good to see Red Deer is becoming a more attractive place to invest and live.
  
  
• As the backlog in processing passport applications continues, the federal government has announced plans to add a new passport pickup location in Red Deer. Apparently, no new federal funding was needed to open the office, which will be one of four new centres. Locations will also open in Sault Ste. Marie, Trois-Rivières, and Charlottetown. Opening another office is definitely better than the government's previous plan of spending millions on chairs for people to sit on while waiting in line.
  
  
• Police in Red Deer completed their training on new decibel meter equipment that will help them deal with excessive vehicle noise. The Community Standards Bylaw was amended in May to set acceptable decibel levels for vehicles. Enforcement efforts will continue throughout the summer and into fall with tickets of $250 for a first offence, $500 for the second, and $1,000 for a third.

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