City Notebook: Slippy, drippy, nippy

By COLLIN GALLANT on January 21, 2023.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Like the first robin of the spring, snow clearing is back in the News this week as rutted icy roads mangle suspension systems ahead of a sure chinook.

New to the discussion however, is a cost estimate.

It’s a big ballpark, but $1.5 million per snow storm would be the expected cost to plow residential streets in the city, say municipal works officials.

Hatters have fits over 1 or 2 per cent added to tax bills, and that’s what $1.5 million in the city budget adds up to.

On another cold front, snow plows are also an increasing topic as more and more Canadian cities make a contest out of naming them via online suggestions and voting.

Edmonton recently christened various pieces of machinery as Conner Mc-Blade-It, Darth Blader, Plowasaurus Rex and the Big LePlowSki.

It beats “Unit 24” or something utilitarian, but wouldn’t the winner in Medicine Hat be “The Snowplow?”

Used in a sentence: The snow plow travelled across the Maple Avenue Bridge toward The Arena and then Athletic Park.

Can we still make that joke, since hockey moved from The Arena to the Event Centre and the Event Centre became Co-op Place?

Speaking of

The Arena

Another bout of consternation regarding the old rink is likely underway after a deal between the city and a developer to see high-end condos built on the North River Flats site fell through this week.

The project, of course, was the big headline announcement in the 2021 State of the City address. It was to be the focus of the Waterfront District redevelopment effort from Invest Medicine Hat.

It blended into the wallpaper however, since then, during the pandemic and the general ebb of enthusiasm regarding local economic development.

Now, some social media commentators are hoping to relitigate the Event Centre location debate.

That rink may see a rare sell-out early next month, thanks to the arrival of super prospect Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats paying a visit.

Lethbridge

In the last week, Lethbridge opened a new federal office of PrairiesCan, formerly known as Western Diversification, and a bureau of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

The CBC thing is likely a Lethbridge-based reporter to file stories from the city, rather than a full newscast. But it gives the national broadcaster a presence in the city and that city a presence on provincial and national broadcasts.

As for PrairiesCan office, Ottawa came bearing gifts worth $11 million in grants for the city’s post-secondary institutes (plural), business groups, as well as the Alberta Sugar Beet Growers in Taber.

It certainly beats a poke in the eye, as my dad used to say.

Hatters afar

A name that appears in the way back file is Irv Shore, who passed away this month. The Hatter was one of the first staff announcers at CHAT Radio (we’re talking shortly after the Second World War). Shore, who grew up on Fourth Street, went on to be a morning man in Edmonton for 20 years, and then a broadcast executive after that.

A look ahead

The State of the City address is set for Tuesday, the second such speech from Mayor Linnsie Clark. Proposed changes to the local smoking bylaw could be unveiled Monday.

100 years ago

The United Farmers of Alberta unanimously shot down a potential partnership with the federal progressives, the News reported in early 1923, as delegates of the governing Alberta provincial party met in Calgary.

Attendees also bristled against motions to centralize decision-making power in the party executive.

France was prepared to enforce reparations laid out in the Treaty of Versailles by seizing and operating mining, coal and steelmaking equipment in the Ruhr Valley that had been idled by Germany.

The German Communist Party called for the government to issue a declaration of war.

A Lloydminster farmer would stand trial after he found his daughter “in the arms” of a farm labourer and shot the man twice, wounding him badly.

A supposed new record for steamship travel between Yokohama and Victoria was invalidated after a harbour master recognized the international dateline had not been considered. Therefore the CP steamship “the Empress of Russia” retained the title of fastest crossing in 1914 having crossed in eight days, 18 hours and 21 minutes.

The new feature “Mainly about People” page debuted in the News, providing readers with breezy items about notables in nobility, captains of industry, politics and those with other celebrity.

In local basketball at the firehall, the Hat’s married men dispatched bachelors 23-11.

Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com