Great neighbourhoods are the building blocks of a great city, according to City of Edmonton great neighbourhoods initiative director Stephane Labonne.
Labonne will be speaking in Prince George Nov. 2 about the initiatives the City of Edmonton is taking to help neighbourhoods, "go from good to great, and from great to greater." Labonne worked for the City of Prince George for seven years prior to taking his position in Edmonton.
"As I got into some of this work with the City of Edmonton, the City of Prince George has been watching our progress," Labonne said.
"All City of Edmonton departments contribute to creating and maintaining great neighbourhoods."
Engaging residents and responding to their priorities is a key feature of the initiative, he said.
"We have a team of staff that are there to respond to issues at a neighbourhood level," Labonne said. "I actually have a capital budget that we can build some character amenity projects. ...I can go through a process with the neighbourhood and identify what additional amenities they'd like."
Those projects may be as simple as unique street signs for certain streets or districts, or as large as adding dedicated bike lanes to arterial roads, he said.
Construction of amenities is timed to correspond with major capital projects such as road repaving or sewer maintenance.
Enhance Prince George, a community-based committee, is hosting Labonne's presentation. The event takes place Nov. 2, starting at 7 p.m. at the Prince George Civic Centre. To RSVP for this free presentation, contact Pement at 250-649-0959 or e-mail jpement@telus.net.
