While some people seem to be welcoming the new community gazebo with open arms, others have expressed reservations about the cost.
However, the funds earmarked for the project were allocated in last year’s budget and merely carried over. We can also think of the community gazebo’s modest $10,000 expense as an investment in the community.
The already appealingly picturesque Greenwood Campground will be improved with the introduction of a new venue that could host events like music festivals and community functions or private gatherings such as weddings and family reunions. It will bring more people through Sundre’s core, many of whom will undoubtedly succumb to the temptation of the numerous mouth-watering dining options in town.
And make no mistake.
While plenty of small towns barely have a franchise or two, deciding where to eat here can almost be stress inducing! In rough order of proximity, primarily in the Main Avenue corridor within easy walking distance of the gazebo, are Harvest Moon, the Sundre Hotel Restaurant, Backwoods Bakery and Cafe, Burger Baron, Swamp Donkey’s, Piros, Cedar’s Pub, Original T’s, Kodiak and just recently, the Twisted Pantry.
There are also a few franchises, Subway, Canadian Pizza Unlimited, and if one is willing to walk a bit further, A&W. We think that covers all of the bases, but apologize if any establishments have been overlooked.
All of these eateries — not to mention local accommodations and other businesses — benefit from any increase in local foot traffic, and surely that’s something we can all agree indirectly benefits the whole community.
Also worth mentioning is the bulk of the project’s cost is being largely borne by local businesses and volunteers who are contributing to the project, which Sundre’s administrator Linda Nelson described as a “gift to the community.”
Besides, $10,000 represents roughly 0.1 per cent of a more than $8-million budget funded largely through the provincial and federal governments with the outstanding more than $3-million balance on operational expenses levied from residential and business taxpayers.
The municipality is facing a more than $10 million upgrade to the wastewater treatment facility. The few million spent repaving Main Avenue West and upgrading the underground infrastructure, with Phase 2 to be completed this year — was unquestionably a move to be welcomed by all the businesses there. While recognizing that every little bit counts, the gazebo by contrast barely registers as a budgetary statistical anomaly when compared with the projected costs for major projects.
Meanwhile, voters continue to make a complete non-issue of the all-but innumerable billions of dollars legally siphoned out of the Canadian economy into tax shelters every year. In fact, many unfathomably vote to give them even more tax breaks. The irony is that 10,000 public dollars infused into the local economy provides a far greater social return on investment in the community than tax breaks for billionaires ever will.
— Ducatel is the Round Up’s editor
