Letter: City must weigh wants and needs

By Letter to the Editor on January 29, 2021.

Dear editor,

A recent report stated that $2 million will be spent on “expanding of city offices.”

What!?

Most or all of this money may be coming from other levels of governments and expediency was necessary, but surely there are better end uses of this money. Why not use the cash to replace the ice surface at the Moose Rec Centre ($1.2 million), or for an engineering study and initial work on a pedestrian bridge crossing the river for trail connectivity between Police Point Park (Crescent Heights) and Strathcona Island Park?

That bridge has been talked about for 25 years. Either would serve a lot more residents than a few city staffers. We are told the city is tightening the belt, cutting expenses and laying off staff due to budget constraints. Why then would expanding city offices even make any sense at all? Or is it for a few ‘Golden Palaces?’ No matter how you cut the pie, this is very, very poor optics!

John MacLaren

Medicine Hat

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