2010 Round Up

This letter from Wayne Stetski appeared in the Cranbrook Daily Townsman before Christmas. It is a very good summary of our year's activities. As well as the events that Mr. Stetski mentions our blog is ongoing and continues to be updated daily with short pieces which showcase the pride we have in our community and also with ideas and discussion topics we feel might benefit our community in the future. Our website contains more detailed information about Citizens for a Livable Cranbrook, documents and records of past activities. It is updated less frequently. Members also attend council meetings as well as other meetings which we consider have relevance to the well-being of our community. If you read this blog regularly you will know we report and summarise topics that are of high interest to us and many other residents of Cranbrook.

Community Benefits From Citizens Group


Citizens For A Livable Cranbrook (CLCS) had a busy and productive year in Cranbrook, contributing both to the beauty of our city and to our citizen’s awareness of what is possible!

CLCS members partnered with a number of groups to make a difference for Cranbrook on the ground. Last spring the Society participated in Earth Day with an information booth and plant giveaway. Next was a clean-up of Joseph Creek in the area from Save On Foods to the Kootenay Street Car Wash in conjunction with Wildsight. Cranbrook in Bloom asked CLCS to help them plant the entrances to the Tamarack Mall and a wonderful day followed planting shrubs, perennial flowers and grasses along the strip. The Cranbrook Community Forest Society were looking for help with their ecosystem restoration activities and CLCS members were an active part of making our “Stanley Park” more environmentally productive and safer from wildfire.

The group was also active working to make our city an even better place to live. They held a pancake breakfast fundraiser at the Summer Farmer’s Market with the profit going to the Cranbrook Art’s Council, and helped to clean the windows of the old Super Valu store for the very successful Winter Farmer’s Market weekend. CLCS also organized Cranbrook’s first ever Trash To Treasure’s event to help recycle used but well loved materials.

Another of the group’s goals is to contribute to establishing a better future for Cranbrook by increasing knowledge around what is possible. To achieve this, Citizens sponsored two free movie nights and discussion sessions at the College of the Rockies, one related to city planning called Save Our Lands, Save Our Towns and the other related to the risks of privatization of water called Thirst. Moving from broad scale issues to what is possible in our own back yard, CLCS brought Jeremy Sturgess to Cranbrook in November to talk about sustainable planning and how it can be achieved by increasing density of housing, reducing land used for roads and surface parking and by going green in how we build. Mr. Sturgess is a Governor General award-winning architect specializing in sustainable development who builds innovative communities as well as teaching Environmental Design Studies at the University of Calgary.

It is important to get involved in your community and its future development and to take some time personally to make a difference. Citizens For A Livable Cranbrook are a grass roots organization who care about this city and its future and volunteer their time and energy freely towards making it a better place. To find out more go to their website at http://www.livablecranbrook.org/  or for the latest news check out their blog at  http://www.livablecranbrook.blogspot.com/