Medicine Hat Minute: Park Access, Weed Whacking, and a Very Successful Stampede

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

This Week In Medicine Hat:

• There are no Council or Committee meetings this week because of Council’s summer holidays. The next meeting at City Hall will be a meeting of the Energy and Infrastructure Committee on August 17th.
  
  
• The City says it is continuing to work on removing the overgrowth of weeds caused by procedural delays in rolling out a new procurement plan and securing contractors for weed control. Sidewalks, curbs, and medians along main routes are being worked on by dedicated Parks and Recreation crews, who will then move on to less-used areas. The City is aiming to have the worst of the areas cleared by August 4th.
  
  
• Speaking of maintenance, a new device is in use for mowing berms around the city. The City contracted Avara Landscaping and the company’s remote-controlled mower to keep the berms looking their best. If the mower is successful, the City might look at remote-controlled snow removal, too.

Last Week In Medicine Hat:

• Medicine Hat Police have taken proactive measures to increase public safety, having asked for the traffic gates at several city parks to be locked overnight in order to curb bush parties, bonfires, and brawls. The police say the issues are mostly created by large groups of teenagers. The change is already in effect at Kin Coulee, Strathcona Island Park, and Police Point Park, and vehicle traffic will be blocked from 11:00 pm to 6:00 am. This comes shortly after a decision was made to lock the pedestrian underpass that connects North and South Railway Streets overnight to curb unwanted behaviour.
  
  
• The Medicine Hat Stampede was a resounding success. To kick off the festivities, Premier and Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Danielle Smith and Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Justin Wright held a community BBQ. A crowd of about 300 people turned up, and Smith spoke about the event's 100-year history. The next morning, large crowds lined the streets as bagpipers, bands, and horses made their way along the parade route. The parade almost didn’t take place due to manpower issues, but volunteers stepped up and organized the 102 entries to make it happen!
  
  
• Scammers have been targeting Hatters and the police are warning people to be on alert. The “grandparent” scam, where a fraudster poses as someone’s grandchild and requests money for an emergency situation, has been reported in the City several times. Fraudulent companies have also been targeting the area, going door to door and offering​ asphalt paving at a discounted rate, claiming they have leftover material from prior jobs. But, the product provided is basically just gravel and is not at all up to industry standards. You should call the police if you encounter either of these scams. Shame on these people for taking advantage of Hatters!

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