With 2012 upon us, CTV's Rob MacDonald sat down with Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison to talk about what the past year brought upon our fair city, and what we can expect in the new year.
Saskatoon saw tremendous growth in 2011, and the housing and building sectors flourished. But along with the jolt to the economy, the mayor says there is a real fear of where to put all the new additions to the community.
"Affordable, attainable housing is exceedingly important," says Atchison. "But you need to have good clean housing for people to live in. "
The Home Ownership Program debuted in Saskatoon to some rave reviews by the provincial government. Atchison mentioned that the program is being picked up by other cities to implement across the province.
"We've gone from about a 0.4, 0.5 per cent vacancy rate, and now it's around 2.5 per cent. And that's because we've been able to take people who are on the cusp of renting all the time but they can't quite get to home ownership. We've been able to get these people into home ownership, so they've left apartments behind, freeing them up for other people," says Atchison.
In addition to increasing the apartment vacancy rate, the Mayor says it was also a good year for Saskatoon to go green. Although some residents have opposed the proposed wind turbine at the landfill, Atchison says he would support the turbine, as long as it's a good idea financially.
"Everybody talks about being green, but I always say it needs to make good financial sense to begin with," says Atchison. "(The report) will come out on January 16 at the council meeting, and at that time the committee will bring forward their recommendations, and if they say they believe it will make money I think we should go ahead with it, as long as there's a reasonable return."
As far as other green measures go, Atchison wasn't as sure about their outcomes. When asked if Saskatoon will see a mandatory recycling program in 2012, Atchison quipped "your guess is as good as mine."
City council has committed millions of dollars over a seven year period to a recycling program, but they're still accepting bids for the proposed program. Atchison said curbside recycling is only likely to go through if all the numbers add up.
Not everything was rosy for the mayor this past year. He says the city needs to work harder at public relations.
"I think communication is important," says Atchison. "A lot of people talk about wants and needs of the community, but there are wants a needs, and that's something that we have to strive to do better."
But looking ahead to 2012, Atchison was more positive. He is very excited for the south bridge project to be completed, saying it will be a positive step for Saskatoon. "You'll see a lot of traffic flowing out of the downtown area, and you'll see the downtown area become a neighbourhood onto itself."
There are other projects and developments that are exciting in 2012. The mayor is still hopeful that the area west of the Idylwyld freeway, close to the farmers market, can be developed with a commercial property at the base of a residential high rise.
"We're anticipating now that River Landing will turn a profit of a minimum of $8 million. A few years ago, people were saying that it would cost money to do River Landing, that it would come out of the mill rate, in fact that we were going to have to pay for the operating of it. But with all the buildings we anticipate being built there, River Landing will carry itself."
Not everyone is as excited about the project. Some talk about how Saskatoon needs to avoid urban sprawl, but the mayor says the debate is a healthy one.
"There are always challenges all the time, that's one of the things of a growing community. Thank goodness we have these type of challenges, as opposed to wondering ‘which building will we tear down next?' So I think those are good signs."
It seems that the popularity and growth of Saskatoon was the biggest issue for 2011, and will carry us forward into 2012.
