Dear editor:
Coun. Morgan Nagel’s lone voice questioning council’s determination to forge ahead with the new aquatic/curling facility, despite the threat that crashing oil prices pose to funding sources, led me to ponder what might have been had the previous council’s 10-year plan still been in effect.
The first priority on the previous capital-spending list was transit. If Cochrane had transit now, those two-income, two-vehicle families that become one-income families when the oil industry layoffs hit our town might not face the prospect of losing their homes if they could get by without a vehicle.
Many children living close to downtown would still be able to walk to Cochrane’s existing centrally-located pool, curling rink, bowling alley and movie theatre, but a modestly-priced bus pass would make these facilities and also the rather remote Spray Lake Sawmills (SLS) Family Sports Centre, or the private music teacher across town accessible to children in all neighbourhoods, independent of a parental chauffeur.
Stay-at-home parents without a second vehicle would have affordable access to shopping, medical appointments and recreation. Students proceeding to post-secondary education in Calgary might still be able to do so even if their families could no longer finance an extra vehicle or accommodation in the city.
Admittedly, a recession might result in lower construction costs to the planned aquatic/curling centre and provide some employment, but the SLS Centre location would make these facilities less accessible to those without a vehicle.
Government social services are meant to ensure that everyone can participate in community life. Cochrane has often been painted as a caring and compassionate town, but when I see choices made to prioritize taxpayer money for facilities that will effectively be accessible only to the prospering among us, I wonder if we truly are.
Ardell Ramage
