Veer highlights crime fighting efforts in State of the City Address

Red Deer’s identity took centre stage during Mayor Tara Veer’s State of the City Address to the Red Deer and District Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

To close out her remarks, Veer introduced one of the recently produced and unveiled Uncover Red Deer videos.

Veer says the videos show the real Red Deer, but admits our city does have real challenges.

“We’ll use crime and public safety as a great example. Red Deer has ranked unfavourably high in a couple of areas over the last couple of years. In our annual policing plan, which council is working with the RCMP right now to develop for next year, we have identified property crime as an area of priority that we need to get a handle on,” she says.

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“We have had great success on the organized crime front, but obviously the more arrests you make, the more high profile that becomes, but those in essence are good news stories because we’d rather know about it and be addressing it than be burying our head in the sand.  [The crime is] certainly causing an identity detriment, not to mention the real life impacts that’s having on our citizens and businesses.”

Veer also stated how important it was to have the federal infrastructure minister visit Red Deer not once, but twice in 2016. She says it showed there’s a bigger eye on our city and region.

“We hosted a forum and that gave us the opportunity to identify the needs of not just Red Deer, but mid-sized cities across the country. Our hope is that will translate into infrastructure funding agreements and funding envelopes for communities of our size,” she says.

Veer also emphasized the impact the 2019 Canada Winter Games is already having on our city.game chang

“The moment we won the games, it attracted provincial and federal dollars that were going to go to another community in Alberta, so that money has come here and it’s brought stability to our local economy at a time when we needed it the most. Had that not occurred, we certainly wouldn’t have attracted other infrastructure dollars. Those projects (QE2 interchange, airport runway expansion) would not have happened had it not been for Red Deer being the choice city,” she says.

Looking ahead, Veer spoke about the Riverlands development, stating one recently recommended amendment to the Municipal Government Act could be a game changer.

“They did identify an amendment that would allow municipalities to split mill rates. Municipalities have asked for that as a tool in the MGA for many years. Right now, when taxes are applied, they are applied equally and we have no ability to incent or disincent development. For example, people will often complain that there are derelict properties or sterilized lands downtown or elsewhere in the community, but as a city, we have no tools right now to currently address that, other than bylaw enforcement,” she explains.

“So splitting out mill rates would allow us to disincent certain types of uses or incent types of development.  For example, if residential development was something that was needed to revitalize an area, currently we have no ability to incent or disincent.”

The comments came following a question about business leaving the downtown for greener pastures, often in Red Deer County. Veer said there are a variety of social issues which need addressing, something Rick More, interim CEO with the Chamber of Commerce agrees with.

“What we got from [the Mayor] is that it’s obviously not being ignored by council. They are looking at some infrastructure cures to help relocate or to get those with mental illness together instead of skewing it all over the downtown and the city. There is a lot of work to do in that area. I don’t think just planning buildings is the full answer to it,” he says.

An update is expected in the coming months on the City’s shelter study and what they’ll eventually be asking the provincial government for, according to Veer.

“Going into 2019, I think Red Deer is really going to be on the map with an influx of people coming here,” More adds. “All the businesses are going to reap the benefits. That’s certainly a feather in Red Deer’s cap and [means] a bright future for this city.”