Clean it up

Get rid of all the old/rundown buildings on main street. Give businesses some incentives to clean up their street frontage space. Need a nice green, gathering space for community events. Need more trees, flowers & maybe even painted murals depicting our history on those blank walls. Clean up the potholes on streets and in parking lots. Slow the traffic down as well so people can appreciate the new fix-ups and so that it's not a hazard to cross the street with all the speeding vehicles.

Posted on Monday April 28, 2008 at 01:19PM by EL

anything may help

-greenery>trees,flowers,shrubs,grass
-school fields fences fixed refurbished
-home owners need to do something about delapatated houses (looks horendous)
-possibly parking meters to pay for new sidewalks,signs, potholes etc.
-a set of lights at the TD intersection!!
-fix or paint mfc bulding at basketball court.
-fix basketball court
-clean up all parks not sanitary for any children
-take down donald hotel,macdaddys,insist on the hanson hotel putting up different signage I do not want to explain to my daughter what the bunny is representing.
-murals on buildings
-pave the alleys
-un-stink the lake
-re-vamp the pool (i hear rumours its not at its finest.)
-look into a multi plex building
-put up incentives or help for business owners to help fix the front of buildings the cost is quite high and it may not be affordable for most
-start a down town commitee
-down town video cameras help stop vandalism
-don't park for sale cars next to a&w
-re-vamp visitor info. new coat of paint to start?
-tone down neon sign near tourist info. blinding at night very dangerous
-city buses? maybe team with bonneyville and elk point and glendon? would provide ideal transport. allowing people to travel into town to work.
-work with businesses to expand fill in empty business fronts.
-set stronger fines for speeding down 50th ave. should not be afraid to cross at cross walks!!
-speed traps.
-a landscaping fine..other communities have set up if your residential home is not properly landscaped you will have a warning than a fine.
-not just downtown businesses need to fix up buildings im sick of going any further towards the lake and looking at rusted silos etc. nasty
just to name a few, there is so much to be done or so much that can be done and rather than always starting disscusion boards why not do something about it! this town will die if nothing is done. haven't we noticed everyone is already leaving on weekends...

Posted on Tuesday April 29, 2008 at 11:35AM by concerened resident

Start small, dream big

I would start with looking at what Bonnyville has done to improve their downtown area. The difference between the two neighbouring municipalities is astounding. Even Vilna, a much smaller community, has done something commendable with its historic look.
The street lamps that are being put up are a joke. They're a waste of money, it's not noticeable, and do little to detract from downtown's run-down buildings. I understand there's a tax incentive for downtown businesses, but can there be any additional incentives to get them to give their storefronts much needed upgrades!??! It looks like a page out of the 1960s/70s here.
Like I say, start with looking at what other communities are doing. Also, the Avi Friedman workshop was full of good ideas. I'd be well pleased if my tax dollars went towards hiring someone to come up with/IMPLEMENT these ideas. Being debt-free is a commendable achievement, but the town really needs to start spending money to see some tangible results for this community.

Posted on Tuesday April 29, 2008 at 03:39PM

Lipstick on a pig

Trees are good, but replacing sidewalks is another great waste of money, in my opinion. Fancy sidewalks won't detract from downtown's huge eyesores - again, it's like putting lipstick on a pig.

Posted on Wednesday April 30, 2008 at 03:11PM

Lets give St.Paul a makeover. We are the only place with a landing pad, lets start from there. How about orbit shaped garbage cans so people can take the HINT and dispose of trash properly, lets face it it's dirty. The old buildings and empty lots are dreary and should be replaced with a park or water park like Ft. Mc Murray has. A gathering place for our community. And how about we do something about the transient people of our downtown. I don't take my children for a walk downtown to window shop because it's scary. Not to mention the speeders. I would love to volunteer for any event that is motivated to making our hometown shine.
Why? Because I love St. Paul, AB.

Posted on Thursday May 01, 2008 at 12:45PM by Barbie Paquette

Architectural theme?

For a good start I think the town should choose one architectural style to name as an "official" style for the town, or even just a set of guidelines. think of how beautiful people think canmore is. And its not just because of the mountains. The businesses there see the mountains as a good them for when building their new shop and tend to go for a mountain themed style. what happens here in town? people just go for cheap and easy. i understand the need for cheap but if there were incentives to look nicer then they would probably put in an effort to do so, also it would stir more business to downtown if it looked better and felt more "approachable" for things like window shopping.
On top of architecture, i think the twon should concentrate on a smaller area of downtwon, like from the credit union to weasel's, to start. if you can revitalize this area it will help spur economic growth and then we can expand to encompass more and more of the town.

Posted on Tuesday May 06, 2008 at 04:10PM by Day