The Schooling Crisis

Schools are not a City issue.

The current City Council have taken this position and though they say they are concerned about school shortages, so far have not actually done anything about it.  Though schools are not directly a City issue - it is an issue with the residents of the City.  A City Council should recognize this and become an advocate on their behalf.

There are over 6000 Public school students attending 10 schools within the City of Airdrie.  There are also 2 Private Schools and 3 Catholic Schools with a total population of over 2000 students.  There are a large number of parents that home-school their children too.  Given that there are at least 8 registered pre-schools within the City, it is not likely that our student numbers will be decreasing in the near future.  There are public schools operating withing the City that are over capacity and with the expected rate of growth of 4% per year, these overages have no end in sight with our current school locations.

How did Calgary get 9 new school this September?  Why did Airdrie get none?  Why is this acceptable?

I want to bring the relationship between the City and Rockyview School Board to a new level.  I want to increase the dialog between our schools, our MLA and the Education Minister.  As a representative of the people of Airdrie, I will be the squeaky wheel and really fight for our current students and for our future students.  Education should NEVER be put on a back burner, should NEVER have funding cut and should NEVER be an election issue.  We should not have to wait  until the next provincial election to get the schools we need now.  We as citizens must demand that more is done for our children and having a passionate voice on City Council is extremely important.

Obviously creating and maintaining dialogue is only a small part of the solution.  Working with the developers of new sub-divisions and new phases to incorporate more land space available for future schools giving the school more room to grow if necessary.  Requiring the developer to fully complete an alloted section of the development before moving on to the next phases giving the existing infrastructure and schools the chance to absorb the increase rather than be bombarded with it.  Re-evaluating the Neighbourhood Structure Plans to allow for a good mix of density and ammenities.

As much as I will this to just happen - it will take time, I am not dilusional about the many hoops and hands I will have to go through.  I am not going to change the world in one day - heck I won't even change the City in one day - all I have to do is change one mind at a time and before long we will have the voice that can no longer be ignored.

I look forward to your comments.

Jennifer Berg
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It's Official!

On September 20th I became an official nominee in the City of Airdrie Civic Election as an Alderman candidate.

Thank you to the support that so many of you have shown so far - I am thrilled that you all trust me to be your voice on City Council. Here comes the really busy part of campaigning - the actual campaign!

You may have seen a couple articles in the local newspapers and while I appreciate the page space, an entire interview can get summed up into 750 -1000 words and really not show an entire picture. Yes, I am for curbside recycling and yes I am definitely for more recreational space both indoors and outdoors. I am also for more schools, a 24 hour health care facility, a stream-lined and more efficiently run city services, a higher police presence and a clear vision on our future developments and infrastructure.

The City thus far has had to deal with a tremendous amount of growth - but it wasn't a surprising event. All indications were that our area was going to grow and keep growing at an unprecedented rate. The Neighbourhood Structure Plans were not developed to accommodate this type of "boom". Our infrastructure was built to accommodate a current level or small percentage of population increase. Where is the forward thinking?

I will be doing a series of posts over the next week with details of how I plan to deal with the problems that us Citizens of Airdrie currently face.  My first post will be about schools and what the city's responisibility is and what it should be.

I look forward to your comments, and if you are looking for a personal response, please be sure to include an email address or email me off blog at jennifer.berg@shaw.ca.

Curbside Recycling

I, like many others, pay for a weekly recycling pick-up. Since using a private company to pick-up my recycling, the amount I recycle has increased and the total volume of garbage that I put out each week has dropped dramatically. It is convenient, easy and most importantly good for our environment.

Allowing every household to have the same opportunities and access to city services shouldn't come at the expense of the small business owner. I most certainly do not want to create a situation where by offering curbside recycling as a city service individual companies would suffer. Just the opposite in fact. The City will contract out, just as they do garbage, the recycing pick-up. The great recycling depot right here in the city will be the drop-off point for all city collected recyling actually increasing the revenue of the recycling depot.

Win for you, win for small business and a big win for our environment.

What are your thoughts?