Projects improve quality of life in Cranbrook in last decade

While the Citizens for a Livable Cranbrook Society, led by its president Sharon Cross, is my pick for the most significant news story of the past decade here, there are others that have helped define the community in a positive way.

Here is link to my earlier story on the success of the CLCS: http://michaeljmorrisreports.blogspot.com/2010/01/making-difference-in-cranbrook.html


And here are my picks for the others that made  a difference in the community in the past decade. To me at least, the following reflect efforts to make Cranbrook a better place to live and improve the quality of life for all citizens.

The new Cranbrook Public Library ranks high as the quality of a community's library says a lot about the place . It replaced a building that had long outlived itself and only the high quality of the library staff made it a place I enjoyed visiting. Approved in a referendum by both city and  Area C voters, the new library is a wonderful reource centre for all ages.

The volunteer Communities in Bloom Committee, headed by Patricia Adams, almost singlehandedly moved Cranbrook towards becoming a "blooming" place to live, rather than the "ugliest city in Canada" as it was referred to some years ago by a travel writer.

The "Refuge", a shelter for homeless men in the winter months, founded by the Kootenay Christian Fellowship, demonstrated positive action towards the less fortunate in the city. The KCF deserves great credit as they just shiowed  with an awful lot of faith that it could be done. Since then a shelter for women has been established by the Salvation Army.

The expansion of the East Kootenay Regional Hospital, and as result attracting more doctors, especially specialists here, despite criticism from other communities in the region that  lost or saw reduction in their hospital services, was a step in the right direction. It needs to be continued.

The Kootenay Ice winning the Memorial Cup had to be the biggest sports story of the past decade here. The late Ed Chynoweth moved the Western Hockey League team here from Edmonton just over a decade ago.

The expansion of the airport and renaming it the Kootenay Rockies International Airport was a significant booster to the regional economy as it comes to rely more on tourism related activities.

The reconstruction of Cranbrook Street (Highway 3) commonly referred to as "the Strip"  really enhanced the main road through the centre of the city, and resulted in a much needed facelift to many buildings along the street. The Communities in Bloom committee also played a very major role in beautifying the street.