Ward 11 residents take city to task over back alleys
Nickel’s informal survey also reveals displeasure with arts, culture funding
People in southeast Edmonton think back-alley maintenance and traffic flow are key issues the city is not handling well, according to an informal survey run by the local councillor.
But they also think Edmonton is doing an average to poor job of funding arts and cultural groups, enforcing bylaws and planning the development of the city, according to survey responses Coun. Mike Nickel collected from 500 people in Ward 11 for his re-election campaign.
These residents also think Edmonton is doing a great job on garbage collection, and a good job maintaining streets and sidewalks, and on clearing snow and ice.
“We’ve been door-knocking with this card for quite a while. It’s a simple philosophy: ask first, talk second,” said Nickel, who said the comments will help him set priorities for the campaign.
Ward 11 runs from Whyte Avenue to Anthony Henday Drive, including the west half of Mill Woods and older neighbourhoods including Ritchie and King Edward Park. It has substantial Valley Line LRT construction and longstanding congestion issues on 75 and 50 streets.
CRUMBLING ALLEYS
The ward also has significant alley issues. A previous city report found 77 per cent of the alleys in Ward 11 were in poor or very poor condition, compared to 60 per cent in the city overall. Edmonton has 1,117 kilometres of alley.
This term, council set up a new program to repair alleys, setting it to kick in with a special tax levy in 2019 after increases related to the neighbourhood streets and sidewalk reconstruction are complete.
But many people don’t know about that program, Nickel said.
“People are generally very unaware that we’ve taken a hard look at back alleys and we’re making an aggressive attempt to remedy that.
“Maintenance of back alleys was the hidden issue no one really thought about. In my ward at least, they want their back alleys fixed. They are absolutely apoplectic about the state of their back alleys.”
STRUGGLING TO PAY PROPERTY TAXES
Nickel released the data to the Edmonton Journal and to constituents at his campaign launch Tuesday evening.
For mosquito control, running buses and maintaining roads the city scored average (near 2 on a scale where 1 represents poor and 3 represents good).
His survey also asked residents if they were having difficulty paying their property taxes.
One in three residents age 36 to 50 said yes.
For seniors age 65 and older, the number was one in four.
The survey doesn’t have a margin of error because it’s not a scientifically randomized sample.
Nickel has been an outsider on this council, often criticizing the direction the rest of council is taking.
He said he’s hearing frustration at the doors and a sense council is too focused on downtown issues and out of touch with the suburbs.