Liabilities into Assets

Ideas on what to do to attract more people that wish to live in Bruderheim

By Walter Schneider

Properties that were liabilities became assets, and other properties could do the same

Old buildings in our town routinely meet one fate.  They are being torn down.

Some people don't hold with that philosophy.  They buy old buildings, not just to simply become slum landlords, but to renovate and rejuvenate, even beautify those buildings.  One man that did so is Everett Grant.  He bought the old lumber yard south of the railroad tracks on Highway 45 and turned it into something very nice, not only something nice but also something very useful and even needed.  He made a four-unit motel out of it and called it Rail Motel.

If you are from out of town and need a place to stay, call Everett, at (780) 796-2439.    The Rail Motel is easy to find.  If you come from the south, from Highway 15, keep driving until you get into Bruderheim.  The Rail Motel is on the right side of the road, at the corner of Highway 45 and 47th Ave, right before the railroad tracks in town.    If you come from the east on Highway 45 into Bruderheim, make a left turn at the stop sign at the school and at the ESSO service station, drive south on Highway 45 until you cross the railroad tracks.  The Rail Motel will be on your left, right after the railroad tracks.

Betty, Everett, Leo and Vic at the south side, in front of the office, of Everett's Motel.  The Rail Motel is busy already.  Maybe some of the guests will get to like Bruderheim so much that they will build a house in town.  That's quite possible.  Many of Everett's guests work at the local plants or in Fort McMurray.  It seems that many of them like it here; and they wouldn't be the first to do so.

Everett wanted to engage in another project, to renovate a house on 48th Avenue.  The Town of Bruderheim owns that house. 

That house needs a lot of work before it can be turned into something useful, but Everett is eager and willing to tackle that job, too.  It sure would be great to have Everett do that.  The current owner neglects that property; and boarding-up windows and doors is not the sort of maintenance that is up to par with commonly accepted standards. 

The windows are broken, the awning over the front window is falling to pieces.  The shingles are so old that they curl up and no longer protect the house from the weather.  The grass is not being cut and the weeds are growing freely. 

There is another problem with the house.  Some kids party in it and use it for whatever else they may feel an urge to do.

Everett put in a bid on that house.  That was about exactly a year ago, and the Town has not yet told him whether it even received his bid.  One would think that a year is enough time to do that in.  Everett is still interested in that house, and he has no clue as to why the Town doesn't give him a response.

While I was putting together these web pages for Bruderheim, some people expressed concern that by pointing out neglected things in need of paint or a bit of other attention, I will cause our taxes to go up because more work needs to be done. 
   Well, the hard and cold reality about that is that, collectively, we all own the Town's properties.  The Town's properties are here to stay whether there are only a thousand taxpayers in town or whether we attract another thousand that will help pay for our properties' upkeep. 
   However, if we don't keep things tidy and in a good state of repair, we will not attract the people that can help all of us share our basic and more or less fixed tax load.  
   The reality of that is that the fewer people we attract, and the more people leave town, the higher each of the individual shares of the tax load will go, and the more dilapidated the town properties that we all own will become.

A house owned by the Town will not earn tax revenues.  A house owned by Everett or anyone else but the town will earn tax revenues and keep our individual shares of property taxes in line.

Update 2005 06 24:  More than a week after Everett told the town council at the June 15th, 2005 council meeting that he had not had an acknowledgment of his inquiry and offer to buy the dilapidated and neglected 48th-Ave-property owned by the town, he still has not heard anything in response from the town office.

Look at what is happening to Otto's Meats!

Today I was on my way back from taking a photo of the wrecked bicycle at the Youth Club.  I passed the store on Queen St. that used to be owned by Otto (deceased).  Someone was painting the door to the store and the railing leading up to that door a nice blue colour.  I wanted to take a closer look, stopped the car and walked back.  The couple that were doing the painting are Andrea and Rolf Hinken.  Their two children are Jason and Rachel.

It is not all that common to hear German spoken in Bruderheim, but Andrea Hinken spoke German to their children.  I wondered where the family Hinken had come from.  They come right from the town in which I was born and raised, about two kilometres from where I used to live. 

Rolf and Andrea fixed up and upgraded the inside of their store.  It appears that they will begin production of sausages and other smoked meats next week, if everything goes according to plan.

Rolf Hinken has a master's diploma as a butcher and worked, amongst other places in meat processing, for quite some time with Scona Meats and Delicatessen in Edmonton. 

It seems that we have some fine sausages coming our way.  Their shop, to be called "Old-Country Sausage", will be open for retail sales every Saturday.  Ruth and I are looking forward to that. 

For the Family Hinken, a big "Welcome to Bruderheim."

Next page: The house that Leo and Heather built

Back to index page for Impressions and Ideas on how to make Bruderheim even better

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Posted 2005 06 11
Updates:
2006 10 29 (reformated)