Lethbridge Minute: Goldfish Mitigated, Oki Signs, and Supportive Housing Approved

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

This Week In Lethbridge:

• There will be a meeting of the Economic Standing Policy Committee on Tuesday at 10:30 am. The Committee will receive a pair of Affordable Housing and Social Housing Capital Funding Requests. The first submission requests the allocation of up to $850,000 to support the Streets Alive Mission in the renovation/retrofit of a housing project at 925 - 15 Street South, and the second requests up to $1,500,000 to support Concept Investment Partners Ltd. in the renovation/retrofit of a housing project at 1730 - 10 Avenue South.
  
  
• There will be a meeting of City Council on Tuesday, beginning with a closed session at 12:30 pm. The meeting then opens up to the public at 1:30 pm. Councillor Belinda Crowson will introduce an Official Business Motion requesting that Administration look into a “City Hall 101” program for the public to learn about what goes on at City Hall. If this costs money for the taxpayer, we’d recommend people just sign up for our newsletter - it’s free!
  
  
• Wednesday’s meeting of the Audit Committee has been cancelled. No reason has been given yet. On Thursday, at 1:30 pm, there will be a meeting of the Civic Works Standing Policy Committee. At this meeting, the Committee will receive a few presentations, including one regarding implementation and feedback on the change in service levels for snow and ice removal.

Last Week In Lethbridge:

• The City's Indigenous Relations Office announced funding and materials for “Oki” signs to be integrated into the existing fencing at schools. “Oki” is the greeting that Lethbridge adopted in 2019 to promote the Blackfoot language. The Lethbridge School Division, Holy Spirit Catholic School Division, and the City of Lethbridge undertook this initiative as part of the Indigenous Place Making Strategy, approved by Council in 2021, which aims to invest in public spaces to honour the Blackfoot Confederacy Territory and promote Truth and Reconciliation.
  
  
• Council unanimously voted in favour of rezoning a property at 416 Stafford Drive North to allow the Lethbridge Housing Association to build a 30-bed supportive housing project. The decision followed a lengthy public hearing. Supporters emphasized the need to help the homeless and the importance of supportive housing, while opponents cited concerns about the location, worried that the northside is becoming a “dumping ground” for supportive services. Contrary to what some believed, the project is neither a supervised consumption site nor a drop-in centre.
  
  
• The fishy issue at Chinook Lake and Elma Groves storm pond has been dealt with. To tackle the problem of invasive goldfish and koi, the City closed the two bodies of water in order to apply Rotenone - a compound that kills fish, but does not remain in the water system or pose a threat to other wildlife. Now that we’ve practically exhausted our stock of fish puns, we reel-y hope Lethbridgians just return their unwanted fishy friends back to pet stores, rather than dropping them into ponds

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