Your neighbours are dumping trash and the city is fed up
Good morning from the coulees — the wind's up, the sky's wide, and Lethbridge has something to say.
Look, you ever walk down a coulee path near Indian Battle Park or drive through a less-traveled road out towards Legacy Ridge and just... see it? A ripped-up couch, old tires, bags of household trash just tossed out like the whole prairie is one big landfill. Well, it's not just your imagination. The City of Lethbridge got over 5,000 calls last year about illegal dumping. Five thousand. That's a lot of folks who think the rules don't apply to them, and it's getting worse, especially up in the northeast communities.
### Why This Matters Here
It's not just an eyesore, though it certainly is that. It’s a real problem for our land, our *Niitsítapi* land, which means 'the original people's land'. The coulees are home to so much wildlife – deer, coyotes, all kinds of birds – and tossing out your old junk impacts their habitat. Plus, it costs the city a pile of money to clean up, money that could be going to, I don't know, patching up potholes on Crowsnest Trail or fixing the ice plant at the ENMAX Centre.
* **Environmental Impact:** Those old paint cans and electronics aren't just ugly, they leach chemicals into the soil and our waterways, which eventually flow into the Oldman River. * **Taxpayer Burden:** Every dollar spent cleaning up someone else's mess is a dollar not spent on services we all use. * **Community Pride:** When folks see dumping, it can make a whole neighbourhood feel less cared for. We pride ourselves on the beauty of our city, especially places like the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden or the pathways under the High Level Bridge. This just undercuts all that.
Look, this isn't just a "city problem," it's a "Lethbridge problem." It's about respecting the wide-open spaces we all cherish and keeping our city clean for everyone, especially with the spring winds already picking up and blowing things around. Let's do better, Lethbridge.
Jolene Blackwater, MiTL Sports Desk.
The crew on the Morning Wire talks about this kind of stuff every day. Catch 'em live at mornings.live.