Editor:
I was heartened to see the mayor’s column introduced to your pages to enhance communication and to highlight transparency from the mayor’s office.
Last week’s paper article alluded to lots going on around Canmore, yet the mayor presented the majority of his column on photo radar?
I am disturbed/puzzled/reassured by the mayor’s claims that this program is not a cash grab.
Mayor Borrowman, as a member of the council that introduced photo radar to Canmore, should have been well aware of the fact that this program arrived in Canmore without meeting any of the provincial criteria for the deployment of automated traffic enforcement (a.k.a. photo radar).
Yet an agreement was signed. Revenue generation? While this is not a “cash cow” as defined by Wikipedia, this contract is used to feed us the story that police staffing is tied to photo radar revenue.
While one full-time RCMP position is currently funded by photo radar revenue, this is a choice of council and photo radar revenue is not the only way to achieve that staffing level. Does the decrease in tickets alluded to by the mayor perhaps come from the returning highly visible, and welcomed, presence of RCMP and Alberta sheriffs patrolling our streets and roads rather than from photo radar?
Please, fellow citizens, do not accept incomplete information from your elected officials. Please Mayor Borrowman, devote your time and efforts to what you promised with this monthly report.
Ed Russell,
Canmore
