Medicine Hat Minute: Land Discounts, Cycle Plans, and the State Of The City

Medicine Hat Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Medicine Hat politics

This Week In Medicine Hat:

• There are two meetings scheduled this week. The Public Services Committee will meet today at 8:00 am to discuss the Parks and Recreation Facilities Plan, the Parks and Recreation Master Plan, and the Healthy Communities by Design program.
  
  
• On Thursday, there will be a meeting of the Energy and Infrastructure Committee meeting at 3:30 pm, but no agenda has been posted for this meeting yet.
  
  
• In the month of March, local police will focus on school zone traffic safety. The Southeastern Alberta Safety Coalition, in conjunction with the Medicine Hat Police Service, will be educating drivers about safety when picking up and dropping off kids from school and while driving in school zones.

Last Week In Medicine Hat:

• In her first State of the City address as Mayor, Linnsie Clark said the future looks bright in Medicine Hat, but in her words “We’ve got to calm down and sink some putts". The mayor addressed a small group of about 240 people at the Medicine Hat Lodge last Tuesday, using the event to advertise and lay out the City’s hydrogen hub and carbon capture strategy, as well as its workforce attraction plan.
  
  
• City Council approved two major land sales at Tuesday's Administrative Committee Meeting. Interestingly, while most property owners are seeing valuations going up, the City is opting to sell this land at a reduced price, letting go of a four-acre parcel at 48 Ranchlands Boulevard for $1.3 million – about $271,000 less than its five-year-old appraisal. The City says the market value of the land has dropped recently.
  
  
• At last Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Council heard a presentation from “Bike Medicine Hat”, a group asking City Council to revisit the notion of a dedicated cycling plan in the year ahead. The group said the previous plan, which was proposed over 12 years ago, has fallen by the wayside and that they want to see Council provide more funding and updates to it in the coming year. What do you think? Is now the time to dedicate and spend millions of dollars on cycle paths? Let us know how you think City Council should be prioritizing your hard-earned taxpayer dollars.

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