BOW VALLEY – While the Town of Banff recently installed a new rainbow pathway to celebrate Pride and LGTBQ members of the community, the Town of Canmore has cut its proposed crosswalk from the 2020 budget due to COVID-19.
In August, a section of the river pathway in Banff was painted in a rainbow to celebrate Pride in the community, as the previous rainbow crosswalk on Bear Street has been removed during road construction work.
Banff resident and Pride volunteer Jeffrey Carpenter welcomed the new rainbow pathway to the community as part of the growth in support the community and valley has for Pride.
"We are thrilled to have the rainbow pathway return," Carpenter said in an email to the Outlook.
"It is a vibrant, physical expression of our town's diversity and inclusion of its residents and visitors that can be appreciated year round."
A rainbow Pride crosswalk was in place on Bear Street since 2018, but the redesign of the street included pavers instead of asphalt, making it necessary to find a new location.
Banff Pride was consulted to find a new location for the rainbow. Mayor Karen Sorensen said the rainbow pathway next to the Bow River is an important way to show pride and support for people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions.
"I am thrilled to celebrate our strong and vibrant community with this highly visible symbol of Banff's commitment to ensuring a sense of belonging to everyone," Sorensen said in a press release.
Director of planning and development Darren Enns said the new location has a high profile, is photogenic and will last a long time.
"We are very pleased that the location they have suggested will see up to 6,600 people per day cross the pride rainbow, at a location where they can capture fantastic photos with a backdrop of Cascade Mountain, and because this route is only for pedestrians and cyclists, this application is less susceptible to wear and tear and therefore will last much longer," Enns said in a press release.
The Town of Canmore's plans for a rainbow crosswalk, on the other hand, have been postponed.
In July, general manager of corporate services for the Town of Canmore Therese Rogers provided council with an update on how administration has implemented a $2.7 million reduction to the 2020 operating budget.
Council voted earlier this year to cut the budget after administration presented initial financial implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We do continue to see increased expenses as a result of the new protocols involved with COVID-19," Rogers said, adding there have been $477,000 in new costs.
Layoffs and a hiring freeze accounted for half of the savings administration needed to find, which would result in no overall increase to municipal property taxes compared to 2019.
"In addition to the staff payroll savings, we had a number of expenses, programs and services that were not offered, or we did not expect because those facilities were closed," Rogers said.
Rogers said while council provided the direction to cut the operating budget in May, more details as to what that looks like are now available. Reduced service levels for arts and events, recreation, Bylaw, streets and parks resulted in savings, while several projects that were held over from 2019 will not be completed in 2020.
That included the installation of a rainbow crosswalk in downtown Canmore. A rainbow sidewalk was installed in 2019 in front of the Civic Centre, however wet and rainy conditions prevented the paint from sticking to the paving stone surface in the plaza area.
In addition to the sidewalk, other changes included not publishing the community guide, delaying the replacement of fitness supplies and holds for the climbing wall, no line marking in sports fields or ball diamonds, no flower barrels, no outdoor ice rink repairs and reduced mowing at municipal parks and sports fields.
Capital budget cuts included delaying the town centre enhancement plan, a land use bylaw update, visitor accommodation review, light fleet replacement and the Roundhouse solar panel installation.
"Ultimately these projects will need to proceed to achieve council's priorities and strategic plans, but we are not able to do all this work at this time," Rogers said.
Mayor John Borrowman said the rainbow crosswalk will return to council for consideration as part of the 2021 budget and noted the municipality also raised the Pride rainbow flag this year for the first time.
