Public safety, measured growth and development, accountability and access are the three issues one candidate is planning to focus on during his run for re-election to Lethbridge City Council.
John Middleton-Hope says public safety was a key focus he ran on in 2021, with the downtown core being a significant challenge. Middleton-Hope says one of the ways council addressed this concern over the past four years was the implementation of the Downtown Lawlessness Reduction Task Force, which got businesses and administration working together, along with outside agencies that supported a cross-functional approach to managing the crime and disorder in downtown Lethbridge. According to the council candidate, this program has seemed to be an effective one.
“You’ve seen how the police have now stepped up; they’ve got the resources, they’ve got the personnel. We’re taking the low-level dealers off the street, the alert program, which is the integrated model with regional police services funded by the provincial government,” Middleton-Hope says.
He adds that something he would like to continue to work on if elected for another term is to continue cleaning up and making the best use of Galt Gardens. According to the former Lethbridge Chief of Police, in the past year, there have been a lot of positive changes made in a short amount of time, with all the shrubs, bushes and ground cover having been removed.
When it comes to future major infrastructure projects, Middleton-Hope says it is important that there is community consultation, where the city can lay out options to the citizens, including the cost impacts associated with them. One example is the third bridge, which he says has a significant cost associated with it.
“We estimate that it will be somewhere in the vicinity of close to $300 million to build a third bridge. Now I live in Paradise Canyon. I’d love a third bridge. I’d love to have a third bridge, but there are other options that we can utilize,” he says. “We can build out our town centres. So the crossings up in Legacy where Walmart is. There are almost no businesses up there. Most of the buildings up there are vacant. So at the end of the day, we need to cooperate with businesses. We need to be encouraging businesses to move into these areas. There’s going to be significant development on the west side in the crossings.”
Middleton-Hope says if re-elected, he will help promote business growth on the west side so those who live on that side of the bridge can shop locally rather than having to go across the city for things such as a lumber yard. He explains that having something such as a lumber yard and hardware store on the west side is important as construction and growth continue to happen on the side of the city.
“Fifty per cent of the development of the city is on the west side. So there are contractors here that have to do the same thing. Either they get product brought to them, so lumber and steel and all of the equipment that they require, piping, and you name it, has to be transported across to the building that’s going on, or they’ve got to go and get it.”
The airport and creating an easier transportation connection from Lethbridge to other parts of the province are high on his list. He says between the city and the provincial government, there has been money invested into the airport, and now it is important to leverage those funds and resources to get regular, consistent, predictable air service into Lethbridge.
He says if reelected, it is important to him that the community can readily get ahold of councillors and that is something he is encouraging even throughout his campaign. He is doing this by handing out cards with his personal cell number on them so he can set up coffees with members of the community to have a conversation.
“In order to be transparent, we clearly need to be accessible. During Coffees with Council, for example, that Blaine [Hyggen] and I started four years ago, we hit 43 locations. Hundreds of people had an opportunity to sit down with us and talk and listen to what we had to say, but also have their say. That was really important.”
The candidate, who ran in a provincial by-election for MLA last year, says he will not be running again in a provincial election.
“The opportunity arose and I was requested to run for the nomination last August and so I said, okay, this is an opportunity. I saw this as an opportunity for the city to have representation in government that we could leverage to advocate for the City of Lethbridge and for our region for the many things that we require.”
“I saw that as a great opportunity. I wasn’t successful. I have no interest in running again. Even though we may be going to we may be going to multiple ridings.”
Other items the candidate says he hopes to address if re-elected include again championing a ward system, or even a hybrid ward system that would see councillors voted at large, who would be responsible for one of four quadrants of the city on a rotating basis over the course of the four years.
