Shelby Macleod vying for a seat on City Council

Shelby explains that her years working in Edmonton and working with MLA’s, helped her learn tha listening and being collaborative were important and she sees Lethbridge is a very collaborative community.

When it comes to critical issues, Shelby notes communication, collaboration, and listening ar crucial.

“I think this (past) council came toward a changing time. Council used to be a place where they made the decisions and that’s the way it was. Now it seems that in society there is a bureaucratic process, whether you like it or not. Everything costs money and every item needs to be managed or reviewed.”

“An item comes forward now, to an SPC (Standing Policy Committee) and then it goes to council. But behind the scene, city administration has been working with the people so it’s not just that – quick, let’s get it done – there’s a process to everything, and again, because of maintenance and on-going sustainability, everything costs money, that’s why you have to have that ‘long-lens’ approach.”

“Sometimes, I think people got a little frustrated and they forgot they were on television.”

Shelby feels there are several critical items the city needs to address right now.

“Everyone is talking about the homelessness situation and crime in the downtown core – I think we need more housing units or spaces.”

“I do not believe that anyone chooses to be homeless but, when you live in congregated living, even in an apartment, there’s rules to follow and some of the folks that are in the park and considered homeless, a lot of them have mental health issues, and self medication situations and that’s where the drug use and abuse comes in.”

“We’ve always had drug use in the community – we can’t say that we’ve never had it before. But, now we need to have proper wrap-around supports for people who are at risk to themselves and others.”

“I just heard the story on LNN about the housing starts but, they don’t have what I would call entry level housing starts and if you live on social assistance, and you don’t make a lot of money, you can’t afford much of a place, that’s where the tax payer and the provincial government have to come in and support people at risk and provide housing.”

Shelby contends that if we take care of people’s basic needs and get them on a patch to wellness, it frees-up money for other things and policing is very important.

“I’m a big supporter of our new Police Chief, Shahin Mehdizadeh, I think he is on the right track and together with his policing team, we will see changes and crime will go down because as we help people have a better quality of life, our community and businesses will thrive.

According to Shelby, prosperity and businesses will always flourish, given the right environment.

“That’s part of City Council’s purpose – either get out of the way or provide the support the business community needs so that they can grow, develop and flourish.”

email shelby@shelbyjmacleod.ca

Website www.shelbyjmacleod.ca

by Dori Modney

Shelby Macleod vying for a seat on City Council

What's Happening