this end, the City of Medicine Hat has sponsored a very successful downtown incentive program which has helped old buildings get face-lifts and infrastructure upgrades. By helping owners cover the costs of such things as putting in modern pipes and electrical systems, and by helping off-set the costs of things like environmental assessments or structural engineering consultation, the incentive program has brought nearly $20 million in private investment into the downtown core over the last few years. In conjunction with the incentive program, the City has also made a massive capital investment to upgrade the aged sewer, water and electrical infrastructure in key areas in desperate need of rehabilitation.
“Reflecting on how we came to implement the downtown redevelopment plans,” explains Crush. “The plan was a vision created in 2009, and there was a fair amount of public engagement. We had a public consultant, and really there had been some pent up desire by both the community and the political leadership to do something about the downtown.”
Crush is blown away by the results.
“We have excitement around events like the Folk Fest, the Art Walk or JazzFest. We have people coming downtown because they want to be there. It has become an interesting and neat place to be, and people like the vibe and the feel that’s beginning to emerge.”
Mayor Ted Clugston also takes pride in how far the downtown has come in the past few years. And says there will be more good things to come in the year ahead with new businesses opening up, with several important renovations finally being completed, and with work
set to start on sewer and electrical infrastructure of the 400 and 500 blocks of Second Street this summer.
“For the first time in a long while downtown is cool again,” says Clugston. “Downtown is still your heart of your city. For 40 years every single council and every single person running for council has been saying I am going to fix the downtown, but it just got worse and worse. This council said we were going to fix the downtown and we meant it.”
Clugston says he still has high hopes for riverfront redevelopment and new residential construction going forward in the years ahead. These things should provide the last pieces of the puzzle for a complete downtown renaissance. However, he feels city government has taken its own contribution nearly as far as it can with $1 of public money spent for every $10 of private capital to get things this far. It will be up to the private sector and Medicine Hat’s residents to bring the rest of the dream to life.
“You are seeing the fruits of a massive public investment in the city both by the province and our municipal government. That is going to dry up because we need the private sector now. We have built the fundamentals, and it is money well spent. There is a whole group of Hatters out there who love this city and want to see it be the best it can be.”
A city dreams itself to life and whispers its way down back alleys, through public parks, across bridges and up asphalt streets. The city’s dream is the dream which lies in heart of its residents. It is their aspirations which mould the future. In downtown Medicine Hat those aspirations have finally begun to be realized. ■
SALESPERSON OF THE YEAR 2014
Congratulations! LEO FREY
www.rodeoford.ca • 403.529.2777 our communities ❚ our region ❚ our people
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