Greg's Public Awareness Blog

05/12/2026

Well, from all the responses I would say that people are not forgetting about the City plans to massacre our roads.

Good. That is my goal to keep people aware of the issues so that nothing is slipped by them.
We all should be aware of what is happening at City Hall and who is making the decisions.

Let me know what you think.

Greg

05/12/2026

Numerous people in Medicine Hat have been calling for a Provincial audit - it looks like we are not alone.
It is my opinion that the citizens that pay the taxes are fed up with "business as usual" attitudes from their governments and the waste of money that goes with it. It is too easy too raise taxes to fix the mistakes. One of the previous longstanding Councilors actually said that. How disgusting!

Chicopee is right to stand up. 72% of voters said they want an audit. Beacon Hill said no. That’s the problem.

I hope Chicopee supports this resolution. If the Legislature has nothing to hide, open the books.

On Day One, I’ll use every tool I have to force accountability on Beacon Hill.

Audit the Legislature. Restore transparency. Give taxpayers the truth.

Article in the comments.

05/12/2026

The Provincial Transportation Minister, Devin Dreeshen, is not in favor of road narrowing in Alberta.

I had suggested we contact him and request outside help with our road narrowing issues. I have been informed he will not become involved.

Here is some background to that post in a reply I made to a follower:

Author
Greg's Public Awareness Blog
Local roads are managed by the City of Medicine Hat - a municipal responsibility. Mr. Dreeshen has stated he is opposed to street narrowing. A request was made to me from a third party to find outside help with the local situation and to provide a name that could be influential, which I did. I believe he has more influence than he indicates, but if he does not want to, or will not, get involved then it is a dead end and I will delete his information.

So this indicates that we cannot expect any assistance from our MLA's or MP either.

So it is back to dealing with things locally.
My apologies for any inconvenience.

05/12/2026

My opinion sent to Paul Graham:

Paul Graham It is my opinion that the managers are going to force the same "calming" plan with only minor changes. The general time proven tactic is to wait until the public is preoccupied, slip this through then say it is too late to change. A standard ploy used over and over in the past. And we pay for it.

Further of my opinion.

This calming idea is a Federal plan to inhibit vehicular traffic. We can try to opt out if we insist that we DO NOT want to be part of the plan - not an "average city" as Alex McCauig has stated.
The City Engineers are going to push back by saying it is mandated, it is best practices, safety, industrial standards and anything else that are pseudo-facts. But when firetrucks can't make the turn, ambulances are impeded by narrow roads and average citizens are negatively affected on a daily basis - then the City has achieved its goal of discouraging vehicle use. They will have changed the " unacceptable driving culture" as stated in the Transportation Master Plan.

Let's draw a line in the sand and stop it now.

Greg

05/12/2026

Here is an interesting exchange from Cory Rarick and followed up by 2 comments.

Cory Rarik:
This needs to STOP! The citizens made this crystal clear over the last 8 months as to what we DON’T want…road narrowing/ bump outs/ less parking etc!! If the city wants bike lanes then connect the path at the bottom of Brier Park Road with a bike lane running down 1st NW!! Ask ANY bicycle rider or bicycle shop owner and they will agree…less traffic and way more safe to put a bike lane on 1st North. Leave 3rd st North with a fresh layer of pavement and some permanent photo radar and carry on! Why is this so difficult? Do the right thing or deal with some serious opposition (for the umteenth time) can anyone on council please respond???

Stephen Campbell
Perfectly said!

Brian Christmann
All we have to do is look up the road to Calgary. It seems the lack of upgrade to their water infrastructure by previous councils has led to the mess they are now in. Med Hat needs to focus on real priorities. And not individual pipe dreams. This new council knew very clearly what priorities and concerns were for the roadways, even with the Cities lack of real public engagement. I have go back to the Council meeting last July when Ramona Robins called out Stan Nowicki for road upgrades in Riverside and Kingsway and he clearly said it this was not happening and it was In the draft phase, yet he clearly had it in his PP presentation. Then his back peddling began. The Riverside Community had a petition against this project yet these managers seem have their own agendas. When is honesty and integrity gonna be common practice at City Hall. Who is steering the ship? Warren Pister is 100% correct. Provide the hard data. Why isn’t the City doing this. It’s because they can’t. IMO

From Greg - wasn't it Stan Nowiki that told Council that
(quote) " the trouble with the roads in Medicine Hat is that they WERE BUILT FOR VEHICLES" (!!!).

I was very choked when I saw and heard him say this.
What do you think about all this?

Lets share this and see what people think.

05/12/2026

very true.

05/12/2026

Here is an extremely well written summary of what we, as tax paying citizens, are experiencing here - in Medicine Hat.

This comes from Warren Pister - former RCMP - who has a great deal of professional experience with traffic issues. He has PRACTICAL solutions to our issues. That is something that seems to be missing in our Planning department. Read on:

I have said this too many times already, but apparently it still is not getting through.
For any of these pet projects to survive public scrutiny, they should be backed by hard data — not ideology, assumptions, or the latest planning trend being pushed by administration. Where are the statistics showing these intersections are genuinely high-risk? Where are the collision numbers? The traffic studies? The verified speeding data? The emergency response impact assessments? Police reports and insurance data would clearly identify the worst problem areas if they actually existed at the scale being claimed.
If the numbers were overwhelming, council would already be waving them around publicly. Instead, taxpayers are being asked to blindly trust recommendations coming from administration while elected officials rubber-stamp proposals that carry real-world consequences and long-term costs.
Across Canada, municipalities are facing growing backlash over expensive traffic redesigns and “urban modernization” projects that produce little measurable benefit while infrastructure deficits continue to grow into the billions. Meanwhile, roads, utilities, emergency infrastructure, and core services continue aging underneath us. Cities everywhere are now warning about massive replacement costs for electrical systems, water systems, roads, and public infrastructure because too many councils prioritized optics and experimental planning over basic maintenance and fiscal discipline.
And here is the part nobody wants to say out loud: city administration was never elected by the public. Council was. Yet more and more, councils across this country behave like spectators instead of decision-makers. Recommendations come down from administration, consultants cash their cheques, and council votes yes while taxpayers absorb the risk when things go sideways.
One delayed emergency response resulting in preventable injury, death, or major property loss changes everything. Then the lawsuits start, the blame shifting begins, and taxpayers are the ones left paying for it all over again.
At some point the Province, the Minister of Municipal Affairs, the Minister of Transportation, and our MLA/Premier need to seriously examine how these projects keep moving forward without transparent, publicly presented evidence proving they are necessary, effective, and financially responsible.
What exactly is it going to take before people admit that many municipalities are being managed more by bureaucracy and consultants than by the elected officials supposedly representing the public?

What do you think? Do you agree? So far only Alex McCauig has disagreed with the anti-narrowing people.

Please share this post.

05/11/2026

The City needs more workhorses and less duplicate management.

05/09/2026

Well - another example of the difficulty dealing with the Licensing department of City Hall. I hear the same complaint - and recently I had the same issues with relocating my Medical Clinic from one established Medical building to another Medical building. We had 2 months to move and we had to fight to get approval.
This department needs immediate reform. We need a department that encourages and supports new and established business, not restricts the process.
With all the money funneled into Licensing and Inspections = do we really only have ONE person doing the licensing??

Question: what are the rest of them doing?

Harassing the applicants?

Here is another area - and it is a very important one - that needs a tune up. Will Council do it?

Let's hope so.

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"Hi Greg 🙂 my daughter just started her own business. It took almost 2 months to get the city to give her a business license. After multiple phone calls to figure out why it was taking soooo long, after doing everything right, the lady at city hall told her to be patient as she was the only one that does business licensing. This process will scare off anyone who wants to do a legal business. I know you are great at getting to the bottom of things and holding the city accountable. Is there something you can say/do so we don't scare off the next entrepreneur from starting a business in our city?"

05/08/2026

Where can I get one of these???

🤣😃

05/08/2026

I am reposting this because because I think it is absolutely hilarious!!!