MISPLACED PRIORITIES

We held out great hope that the election of Stephen Mandel to the
mayor's job in Edmonton would bring a new sense of purpose and sanity
to city hall - someone with a firm grasp on the bottom line and a
rational and intellectual counterbalance to the lefty councillors who
use their city council seats more to indulge in their pet projects and
preconceived notions, rather than deliver sound, good old-fashioned
government.

So we're concerned that Mayor Mandel may have be going down the
slippery slope of his predecessor by appearing to endorse the concept
of a special, taxpayer-funded lounge, so members of Edmonton's tiny
intravenous drug-user population can indulge in their drug of choice.
There would be a team of paramedics standing by just in case one of
these folks overdoes the search for nirvana.

This concept is apparently based on a facility up and running on
Vancouver's notorious skid row and is being enthusiastically supported
by some councillors and the administration.

All this comes at the same time as the city administration once again
begins its assault on Edmonton's five outdoor swimming pools.

Council's community services committee has ordered the administration
to report by this fall if the historic facilities should be shut down,
complete with the costs of maintaining them.

The pool debate has consumed council longer than the cat bylaw. Yet
whenever council gets anywhere close to adhering to the city parks
managers' wishes and recommends a closure, the people rise up and tell
the municipal politicians to keep their hands off our pools.

And we suspect, if given a choice, an overwhelming number of
Edmontonians would prefer to see their tax dollars spent on
maintaining and upgrading the city's outdoor swimming facilities, and
not for a place to molly-coddle and pander to drug users.

The last time we checked intravenous drug use was a crime in this
country. And hardly a weekend goes by without a gang-related shooting
or murder as criminal elements conduct turf wars over the city's
illegal drug trade.

It's a serious situation, but apparently the City of Champions wants
to announce to the drug users of Canada that we're a drug-friendly
community.

Anyone who has witnessed the East Vancouver horror show knows exactly
what happens when your city becomes a junkie's destination of choice.
What an outrage.

Edmontonians elected Stephen Mandel to provide safe communities,
quality-of-life programs and effective use of their tax dollars.

A drug lounge satisfies none of these criteria.

Swimming pools do.