Our city council needs to rescind the not-needed storefront library project and put $796,200 towards the Repair, Maintain and Replace (RMR) budget.
Maintaining and repairing our roadway system is of utmost importance, considering the amount of traffic flowing on our main roads now.
Maybe we could even get our dismal traffic light system operating better!
How many times does the mayor and council need to hear from residents that a storefront library or any other kind of library is not needed at this time – 13,346 (61.7 per cent) on the plebiscite and 60 per cent on the informal poll of the Gazette Facebook page. No means no!
A 0.4 per cent increase next year in taxes and rising for future years.
Servus Credit Union Place opened in September 2006 and we are still paying a capital levy on our tax notices every year for who knows how many more years. We do not need another levy for a storefront library or any other kind of library.
Coun. Ken MacKay and Peter Bailey (CEO for the St. Albert Public Library) stated that the people who live in the north end of the city are facing a library services gap. What does this mean?
Are they insinuating that these residents in the north never travel south to Superstore, the outdoor market, Arden Theatre, St. Albert Trail to Edmonton, etc. and can’t go to the library?
We already have pop-up libraries in various locations around St. Albert which service more residents in their neighbourhoods than one location in the north would. Online services, children’s programs, book checkout, etc. are offered with this program. The locations for the pop-up libraries are always advertised in the “What’s On” page in the Gazette for residents. This program is more practical and economic than having a storefront library located in the north part of the city.
My second comment is regarding the top-up of salaries for the mayor and councillors. A couple of the councillors felt uncomfortable and the mayor felt “squeamish”. So they should! Many Alberta and St. Albert workers are facing reduced hours of work, layoffs or job losses, and now we taxpayers will be paying the $51,900 difference.
How many of us had one-third of our salary tax-free? We all pay taxes. We are not in the boom times any more. All I can say is this was a shameful and selfish move on this council’s part.
Sylvia Bilsky, St. Albert
