Slowing Them Down!

At our Council meeting on Monday night we discussed plans to better control the speed of traffic along Highway 72.

Highway 72 - or North Road - is a provincial highway and therefore all changes in signs, speed limits, crosswalks, and markings must be sanctioned by the province. In our discussion with Alberta Transportation the following changes will be made as soon as possible. Work on these changes will likely begin in the spring.

• The 50 km an hour speed limit sign at the western edge of the village will be moved about 400 m farther to the West. This will coincide with our new Grasslands subdivision development. 
• Warning lines will be painted on Highway 72 as it enters the village from the East and West. These lines painted across the traffic lane will warn drivers that they are entering a slower speed zone.
• We will also ask permission to change the school zone time to one period. The school zone will be in effect from 8:00 AM to 4:30 or 5:00 PM on school days. This hopefully will remove some of the confusion created by having those little segments throughout the day.
• The new temporary crosswalk at the old Canadian Pacific rail crossing will be made permanent and the appropriate signs installed. With the addition of this new crosswalk we will have three marked crosswalk's across North Road or Highway 72.

Council hopes that these changes will have the desired effect of slowing traffic down as they pass through our village.

2013 Outlook for the Village

Thank you all so much for those birthday wishes, yesterday.  I enjoyed reading them.

So far 2013 has rolled in quite quietly.  I'm looking forward to this year and getting some action and/or closure on some of the issues still clinging on from 2012. 

• The cost of water:  In order for all the communities along the Aqua 7 Regional Water system to thrive, I believe we must lower the cost of water!  I'm working on that.  We've managed to hold the water rates to their present levels.  I hope we can better that this year.
• Grasslands subdivision:  I and the rest of Beiseker Village Council are determined to see growth over there in our stalled residential subdivision during 2013!  And by "growth", I don't mean weeds!  Stay tuned.  UPDATE: Grasslands is a "GO"
• The Bassano Station:  Although it is officially none of our business, I think I speak for the rest of Beiseker Council when I say something has to happen there this year!  This project has been dragging on for years now.  Time to get it done!
• Taxes:  It is going to be a challenge to keep property taxes in line and offering the same level of services or better, given the increased costs and the amount of back taxes still owing.  I firmly believe we can do it with a little village belt tightening and a sharp pencil!

In my opinion, those are the four "biggies" for Beiseker this year.  There are a myriad of smaller problems and issues we'll have to address and I think all on council are anxious to tackle them!

Merry Christmas!

We always leave our Christmas decorations up until January 7.  I'm not just lazy.  I like to celebrate the full Christmas season.  The hum-drum crazy shopping days before December 25 has now been extended into the Boxing Day mall madness.  The remaining days of  Christmas can be a wind-down from all that, excepting of course the celebrations around welcoming in the New Year.  It can become a quieter family & friends time and/or a religious time.

The celebration now called Christmas was taken by the early Christians from a winter festival celebrated for thousands of years around the Winter Solstice.  Christmas was assigned to December 25 by most Europeans, but some put it on a different day exactly 12 days later.  The time between these two dates are the Twelve Days of Christmas.  The number twelve was convenient, too!  That happens to be the number of Apostles!

This weekend and into early next week those other Christians celebrating on the Gregorian Calendar will be quietly celebrating their Christmas.  Many of those folks can trace their heritage back to the Ukraine and parts thereabouts, but there are other groups from elsewhere celebrating at this time, too.

So Merry Christmas to all of you celebrating at this time.  May you have peace and happiness through the year.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY:  People will forget how fast you did a job but they will remember how well you did it!

What a Night!

From all the reports I'm getting from those who attended the Beiseker New Year's Gala, it was a roaring success!  All have said it was an excellent evening! 

My wife and I had other plans in the making for many months and could not attend.  Putting an event like that together is a HUGE amount of work!  My compliments go out to all those volunteers who basically gave up much of their holiday season to make sure it was a success.  

Later this year, we need to meet together as a community to ensure this event will continue!  Thank you again to all those who worked so hard to bring in 2013! 

Happy New Year!