‘The only motion we see is going backwards.’
Wetaskiwin has so much potential, I’m sure allot of people know that, but [a lot] of people ask them sel[ves], why isn’t Wetaskiwin growing? Our retail in Wetaskiwin is nothing compared to other cities like Leduc and Camrose, in fact Lacombe has more going on then Wetaskiwin does, same goes for Ponoka, so why is it that Wetaskiwin is so dead behind in the times? Isn’t the slogan “City In Motion”? But the only motion we see is going backwards.
… I’ve come to one conclusion, people here really don’t care, not at all. Pick up the Wetaskiwin times newspaper, a local newspaper, how many adds do you see a week for the small businesses in Wetaskiwin? I can say from my view and speaking for myself here and not everyone, that unless I actually go searching for the store or happen to come across it on a walk or drive, I wouldn’t have even known the store existed. Small Businesses here need to start advertising.
…I think that Wetaskiwin needs to act like Camrose, we need to really pull together as a community and become one, not a bunch of strangers, if we acted anything like Camrose we would see nothing but development happening here, if we actually did more then just sit around, we could actually call our-self’s “City In Motion” as of right now Wetaskiwin does not deserve such a title because there is no motion going on, not forward anyways.
– submitted www.wetaskiwintomorrow.ca
I would agree with you. I don't think that Wetaskiwin is really moving forward. I've lived here for five years now, and all I've seen happen is a new Walmart and a new Canadian tire, which were businesses we had already. I think Wetaskiwin needs to have more community events, we need to do more things in the community. For one, Camrose recently had a Jubilee, they closed off main street and had booths and rides and all of the community showed up and it was a huge event, lots of things went on for all their small businesses and for the town as a whole. If wetaskiwin got involved more with community functions then I think that more business would come and more people would want to open things up. I am currently aiming to open up a Game shop, I was interested in doing it here in Wetaskiwin but I don't really like the feel I get from the community sometimes. As someone who wants to start a business I asked other businesses and they them self's feel that Wetaskiwin doesn't give very much support. I'm not saying I can really say who to solve the problem but I do think if Wetaskiwin did more around the town more people would be interested in our city and want to do business here,I for one right now am not considering doing my business here.
no doubt. this towns small businesses are going out of business constantly. i mean look at our mall, if you can call it a mall, few years back it had loads of stores, like San-Fransisco's, that store was great, but it went, and slowly but surely the mall today is not a mall, i class it as a indoor walk way. but yea know it's like yea said, businesses here don't do anything to attract people, they start up a store and wait for people to come, yea need to do more then that. this town has been going downhill for years and sadly it aint getting no better, it's getting worse and worse. maybe if we did some events it would be good, i don't know, hard to say how we could get people caring about our small businesses, though seeing as wetaskiwin has pretty much declined every large business they don't have to worry about that anymore.
I like the idea of having more Community events as well actually. I think more community involvement might really get the spirits of this town up again and really make things move! We would all like to see the city jump into action at the blink of an eye but that isn't the case. I have my doubts that Wetaskiwin will ever be like Camrose or any other city like that, but we can try our best to build a better community. We can't just leave it up to the city, we the citizens should try as well, no?
The Wetaskiwin Mall is an eye sore as soon as you see it. I say bull doze it down and build something else. I wish there was a Staples here and some decent coffee shops. And though Camrose and Leduc are all great and all we ought not try to copy cat them. Wetaskiwin just needs to get the city cleaned up and focus on getting rid of the stigma that this place is a dirty hole. First of all, there are too few public trash bins to dispose of trash so guess where it ends up? on the road. Police ought give out stiffer fines for littering. The best way to get rid of that stigma is to start on Beautification which means, cleaning up the garbage, creating more parks, bicycle paths, fix sidewalks, plant more trees, flowers…ect… I grew up in Ponoka and (at the time) it was not that great of a place but if anyone even mentioned Wetaskiwin they all spoke of the place as dirty hole and you couldn't even MAKE someone come here if you wanted to. lol. Ah, but now I live here and I see that this city does have potential to be better than what it is, but how to make it happen?
The Air Show last year was excellent!
another related comment received from the Wetaskiwin Tomorrow Survey:
" Wetaskiwin needs a "signature" event around which the community can shape itself. Camrose has Big Valley, Ponoka has the Stampede. Edmonton has multiple festivals. As far as I know, there is no where in Canada where there is a "blues only" venue – I wonder if an "Amateur Blues Plus" Festival wouldn't fill a niche – by this I mean a 2 – 3 day festival where amateurs can try out their material and the "plus" would be 2 or 3 "big" names. Use the rodeo grounds – bus people from Edmonton – better yet, have a train service just for the weekend."
I think that's an excellent idea. If anyone wants to get the ball rolling count me in. I would volunteer for this anytime.
Maybe we should stop letting the people who own the retail stores here take control over what happens. If I want to build a Super Store in front of Walmart who the hell says the Denhams have the right to try to stop it?
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