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LETTER: Skate park an example of wasteful spending

letter-sta

To Mayor Cathy Heron: The April 29 Gazette has a picture of the "former" skate park under demolition and a comment that it's going to be replaced with a new one with improved terrain and features for users of all ages.

That edition's editorial ("Tough choices ahead," page 29) references you saying St. Albert is facing a deficit of between $4.6 million to $6 million. The only course of action is to increase taxes or reduce spending ... the latter is unlikely to happen.

St. Albert property taxes are in the top three province-wide, with nowhere to go but up.

We continue to have hundreds of empty buses travel through the city on a daily basis, and empty buses to and from Edmonton on a regular daily basis.

It has been estimated by economists that upwards of 50 to 60 per cent of small business will not survive this pandemic, thousands of residents will not return to work, and bankruptcies will skyrocket.

Provincial and federal governments are deep in debt, posting record breaking deficits; residents are trying desperately to hang on.

I realize this project is "in the budget", but given the state of the economy, is this not a flagrant display of elitism?

Rome is burning, but St. Albert can afford to build a million-dollar skate park.

Norm Harley

St. Albert

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