Last week in the Gazette, a pathetic and cowardly group (or individual), chose to take out a half page ad to basically discredit the work that our current mayor and council have been doing.
To launch an attack ad, and be so gutless as to not even bother signing it, is weak and spineless at best. She or he seems to assume that the citizens of St. Albert are uninformed and/or uneducated and will buy into their Gestapo tactics of electoral character assassination. I disagree.
The downtown area redevelopment plan (DARP) is a great vision; we finally have a mayor with the guts to lead it. We've needed a full redevelopment of downtown for a quarter century already. Do they want to hold us back even longer? How long should we wait to be progressive — until costs go up again and we are eventually dragged kicking and screaming into the future?
On 70 Arlington Dr., the proposed Habitat for Humanity project, units planned there have dwindled from 63 to 58 to 34 to 30 to 24. Is the mayor listening? The mayor is listening to those that live the closest to that site. I say St. Albert was built by families for families — and now it is time to build the 24 Habitat homes for 24 families in this city. I hope Mayor Crouse gets to present the keys to all 24 families during the next term on council. I could possibly be one, because I am married and have a family of four and I actually qualify.
Our municipal property taxes rose by less than three per cent last year, compared to Edmonton's seven per cent! That's less than a percentage point off the rate of inflation. Almost every other city in the country would be blessed to have those numbers.
To the cowards in the shadows behind the half-page of propaganda: step up and tell everyone who you are. Sign your names next time just like it is a letter to the editor. Does the word spineless come to mind? Or are you representing a small number of special interest individuals who live near Arlington Drive?
Jason MacDonald, St. Albert
