I read the article We must rethink development on page 18 of the Cochrane Eagle dated June 1 written by Coun. Morgan Nagel. I can't begin to tell you how impressed I am by this young councillor. He reminds me very much of former councillor and Mayor Truper McBride. It is such a breath of fresh air to have someone from our town council with such wisdom, knowledge and the guts to tell it how it is. His article is right on the money. Everybody I have talked to agree with his comments and observations. Obviously he has been talking to ordinary Cochrane residents and taxpayers (and not builders and developers) when he says, "It is becoming increasingly obvious that our build and spend approach is irresponsible and completely unsupported by the people of Cochrane."
Our town has been turned into nothing more than a cookie cutter suburb and bedroom community to Calgary. Is that what we want? No! Our water and sewer systems, roadways, railroad crossings, schools and bridges across the Bow River simply can't support the out of control growth we have now or in the future.
Can't you just imagine what is going to happen when construction starts (sometime in 2019) on a new intersection at Highway 1A and Highway 22 and a new bridge across the Bow River on Griffin RD.
Then I turned to page 20 of the same paper and see that our Mayor (Ivan Brooker) is quoted as saying that the huge growth is a win for Cochrane. He says the whole area is booming and that in frequent talks with area builders and new residents everybody is happy. One wonders why he didn't include developers in his comments as the growth is a big win, win for them. Maybe he should be talking to ordinary citizens of Cochrane, the ones who ultimately will have to pay the piper for everything that is being built or promised in Cochrane.
When will this Council (all seven of them not just one) realize that you can't spend money you don't have. Our Provincial and Federal Governments are doing the same thing and look at the mess they are in with their horrendous deficits.
Remember 2018 is a municipal election year in Cochrane and if we are not happy with the way the Town is being run we can affect change by voting for people who will truly represent us.
C. Mashford
