Wetaskiwin Tomorrow

“So what’s good about Wetaskiwin you ask? Well, one of the best things about our city is that pretty much everything here is accessible by walking. I can easily leave my house with baby in tow and walk to get my groceries, do my banking and run any other errands. Wetaskiwin also has really great business people. Shops like Nutter’s, Blurbs and the Co-op are all run by people who make you feel like your business is important to them. The level of customer service in our city is way above that of Edmonton or Red Deer. We also have an awesome Parent Link Center which has introduced me to so many other parents in our community whom I would have never had the opportunity to meet without it being open. Wetaskiwin really has a more relaxed pace of life where the people are friendly and warm.

That being said however my family has lived in Wetaskiwin for just over three years now and although I’ve grown to like the city I feel that this is not the place that we will be raising our children once they are school age. Since we’ve moved here I’ve had to call the police 3 times for incidences of serious violence in our area, our home has been vandalized with spray paint and I have been verbally harassed by vagrants while out shopping on main street.

We moved here from Edmonton as I thought a smaller community would be safer but it seems that it is just not true. Wetaskiwin is sporting the same kind of major city problems without any of the larger city amenities. There isn’t even a trade off here but rather a lose-lose situation when it comes to safety and services. I find it extremely frustrating that you cannot go safely into your bank or the post office at night and the city seems to be doing nothing about it. It seems like the city is more focused on Community in Blooms than having a safe community.

If you want to know why there are no new stores being opened here look at the theft rate! Not to mention that no one wants to work in a store where they are threatened and harassed by malicious people. I use to work in a pharmacy when we first moved here and I can tell you I will never work in Wetaskiwin again. The only way new businesses will open in Wetaskiwin is if theft and harassment are dealt with seriously. By-law and police officers need to be visibly seen in the downtown core and they need to get those people who are bad for business off our streets.

Wetaskiwin really needs to get it’s citizens out into the community in large numbers. The parks and pathways need desperate improvement. For example the toddler park behind the pool is filthy, the equipment is damaged, people have carved dirty images into the wood and the ground is littered with cigarette butts and other garbage. Coupled with the fact that there is no place for parents to sit there, who is going to want to take their children there? There are very few garbage cans along the sidewalks and trails which has lead to a huge litter problem. Also there is no place to take your dogs off leash in the city. A fenced in dog park would be a real asset especially to those with low mobility. Why must the best parts of the city like By The Lake Park and the walking trails be on the outskirts of town where many people cannot go?

Doesn’t city council see that if there are good people out in the community keeping an eye on things bad apples won’t want to congregate there as well? The key to making Wetaskiwin great is getting the city up to a standard where people will want to get out and enjoy it. I know I for one would gladly volunteer my time to help re-paint the playgrounds around the city, but the city needs to step up to the plate and get coordinating events where citizens can do things to improve our city.

If you look in Community Events magazine there is very little listed for Wetaskiwin. Why is that? How is it that Camrose can have so many different, fitness classes, craft workshops and community events but we have so little? Once again the City of Wetaskiwin is missing out on getting it’s citizens involved in the community. When you look at things like the Pioneer Days Parade and how many people were out watching its pretty easy to see that if the city plans something and gets the word out the people will come.

On a minor note there needs to be better focus on noise levels. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been awakened in the night because of excessively loud vehicles or barking dogs. I find it ironic that the city has cut off the walking path at the railway (and not offered a safe alternate route to reconnect with the other side) in favor of no more train whistles but yet we have ridiculously loud planes flying over the city from dawn until dusk. Also, how can the city find it all right to clean up and fine people for weedy yards when the area around the arena and the neighbourhood parks have more weeds in it than most of the yards combined. There seems to be a real double standard going on here.

I really hope that the city can improve on some of these issues. I love our home and our neighbours and would hate to have to leave here once my daughter is ready to go to school but I will if things do not get better.

… I really feel passionately that our city can be a great place to live if city council can get working with us citizens on the real problems plaguing our community.”

– submitted on www.wetaskiwintomorrow.ca