Going green priority in Brooks
Andrea Klassen Medicine Hat News
Going green is a top priority for citizens in Brooks, according to the results of the city’s Sustainability Survey conducted in fall 2009.
“They'd like to see a more comprehensive recycling program, active transportation routes for biking, rollerblading and walking paths, more renewable energy utilized, less things wasted,” says city sustainability officer Lisa Tiffin. “It came up time and time again that they would like to see a stronger focus on the environment.”
Lisa Tiffin
Communications Officer The City of Brooks
About 300 people filled out the survey, Tiffin says, and the results will be used to draft the city’s Municipal Sustainability Plan. The plan will set the city’s goals for the next two decades, including its environmental strategies, and will be completed in June 2010.
Tiffin says the city has spent the last year focusing on “basic environmental awareness,” running campaigns like 2009’s Get Caught week, where residents took photos of themselves picking up litter for a chance to win prizes such as a flat-screen TV or free curbside recycling services. That promotion will likely run again this spring, she adds.
A new Environmental Advisory Committee, which reports to Brooks City Council, was also set up in 2009.
Maggie Romuld, committee chair, says the group is currently researching water conservation strategies for the city, and will look at waste management and environmentally friendly construction initiatives as well.
“We have a pretty receptive city council,” says Romuld, when asked about the city’s environmental policies. She also points to the success of the local Newell Recycling Association as a sign of Brooks’ commitment to going green.
“We were actually doing a lot of recycling before Medicine Hat,” she adds. “We would get people from Medicine Hat bringing their recycling to Brooks."
The Recycling Association recently received almost $700,000 through the federal government’s Economic Action Plan to construct a new recycling facility, something secretary-treasurer Florence Juska says is much needed.
"We outgrew our space three, four years ago, so this funding came along at the right time,” she says. “Recycling's just blossomed here in Brooks."
The new facility, expected to be completed in June 2010, will allow workers to process multiple kinds of recycling at once - shredding plastic and paper at the same time, for example.
amccuaig@medicinehatnews.com
Brooks coping well with energy sector downturn
In Brooks, where it was estimated during the last boom that oil and gas generated at least 60 per cent of the income of residents, one would think the latest bust would have stalled the area’s growth.
Think again.
Between a regional water system, a new arena, steady work at the meat packing plant, a strong agricultural sector, and a city that’s celebrating its centennial, things are going as well as could be expected in Brooks.
However, Brooks Chamber of Commerce past president George Newton says businesses took a major hit with the fall of natural gas prices.
“It’s still tough. A lot of people have moved away and to replace those people — it’s getting harder,” Newton says.
With gas prices still low, many sector industries have consolidated offices and staff in larger centres.
“But I’m part owner of a building that had plenty of empty spaces for six months that in the last two weeks have been filled,” Newton says. “Things are changing and there is a glimmer of hope.”
Murray Denoudsten, whose family has been running Brooks Stationery for more than 40 years, said businesses are adapting to the new economic climate.
“It’s been a rocky road for the businesses and services in the area,” admitted Denoudsten, who is also head of the Brooks Town-Centre Revitalization Zone (BRZ). “But by the same token, people are still optimistic about the future.”
One innovation that seems to permeate all facets of daily life these days, social networking, hasn’t passed by the Brooks business community, according to Denoudsten.
“So what the economics is doing is creating a new type of businessperson, who is looking for opportunities to get their voice out there while leveraging their advertising dollars.”
Photos Courtesy of the City of Brooks
In November 2009, MP LaVar Payne presented the Newell Recycling Association with a cheque for nearly $700,000 to be used to construct a new recycling facility. Construction should be complete in June.
According to a recent Sustainability Survey, protecting the environment is a top priority for the residents of Brooks. Besides a comprehensive recycling program, which will be enhanced but the completion of the new recycling facility, residents are committed to water conservation, waste management and environmentally-friendly construction initiatives.
REPORT ON SOUTHEAST ALBERTA 2010 ■ Celebrating our Community — 97
81640400•03/30/10
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