Happy New Year Cranbrook

Cranbrook from The Community Forest

We wish good things for our City and as 2014 begins, rumours are abound of good things coming.  It is no secret that a long time wish of Mayor and Council has been to revitalize the down town and it appears that wish may be taking shape.

 I for one, was sad to see the Jones house with its unique roof line and prime location opposite the library be demolished to be replaced with a new build so close to the road.  However, with the new dental clinic in its place and word of potential medical offices housed in The Cranbrook Mall, a great new identity and sense of importance will be returned to this end of Baker Street.  The Child Development Centre and medical services concentrated in one location of our down town will compliment one another and build on that pride of place that had disappeared from this area in recent years. 

The Elko Station has received rezoning and one wonders what new venture may soon be housed in that heritage attraction at the opposite end of Baker Street.  Cranbrook’s Railway Museum is undergoing upgrades to facilitate more varied uses.  Cranbrook and District Arts Council has its heart set on a more permanent downtown location and is working feverishly to achieve that goal.  A new surge of interest in our history and its preservation has  manifested itself over the ‘Little Brick Building’.  The sincere and enthusiastic interest in that original ‘electrical’ structure acted as a lightning rod, which resulted in a downtown planning charette put on by the City.  The creativity shown by approximately the fifty people who attended demonstrates that Cranbrook has a community of people very much interested in its economic future and want to ensure good things will come in 2014.