Lethbridge Minute: Sober Shelter, Legacy Park, and an Economic Impact Assessment

Lethbridge Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Lethbridge politics

This Week In Lethbridge:

• It’s going to be a very slow week at City Hall with no meetings scheduled at all.
  
  
• If, like Council, you also have the week off and would like to enjoy a day of golf, check out the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce Public Image Golf Tournament at the Henderson Lake Golf Club on Thursday. Lunch and registration begin at 11:30 am with a shotgun start at 1:00 pm and an after-event at 6:45 pm.
  
  
• Lethbridge College researchers are aiming to simplify potato quality testing. Currently, some potatoes are cut open to visually assess any damage to the crop, which is time-consuming and destructive. The researchers are looking at cutting-edge near-infrared hyperspectral imaging technology to speed up the assessment and reduce the need to damage some of the produce in the process. Neat!

Last Week In Lethbridge:

• City Council voted to proceed with steps to set up an interim sober shelter at the Civic Ice Centre. As we predicted, the Petty Trespass Act didn’t do much to prevent tents and encampments from returning. ​​The vote was not a unanimous one -  Councillors Ryan Parker and John Middleton-Hope were opposed. According to the City Solicitor, the Province’s Municipal Government Act does not allow the City to force homeless people to leave.
  
  
• The final phase of Legacy Park was opened to the public. The park’s amenity list includes a discovery playground, spray park, pavilion, and picnic shelter. An estimated 500 people each day are using the spray park to beat the heat. Multiple levels of government helped to fund the park, with Ottawa providing just under $5 million, the Province contributing just over $4 million, and the City covering the remaining costs of around $5 million.
  
  
• According to Sport Tourism Canada's Economic Impact Assessment report, the 2022 Tim Horton's Brier generated $16.8 million in economic activity for Lethbridge. The curling tournament was held at Lethbridge’s ENMAX Centre in March and was a big hit with residents and tourists alike. Some 18,500 visitors to Lethbridge for the event spent their dollars in the city, with more than 90% of them staying overnight. We have a general skepticism towards this type of government cost-benefit analysis, as they tend to significantly over-count benefits and undercount costs, but we're glad everyone had fun regardless!

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