Edmonton Notes for 12/26/2009 at MasterMaq's Blog

Edmonton Notes for 12/26/2009

By Mack D. Male | December 26, 2009 at 11:27 pm

Merry Christmas Edmonton! Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

It’s unfortunate this news came out during the holidays, when many people are taking a break, but I’m positive we’ll hear much more about it in the new year – a report from the City auditor found that $92 million was spent on consultants in 2008. Just incredible. City Administration will elaborate, but said most of the increase is due to increased construction.

If you’re heading out for New Year’s Eve, don’t forget that that ETS is free (as is St. Albert Transit and Strathcona Country Transit). The rest of the holiday service details can be found here.

As I mentioned this week, the holidays are always rough for local charities, but this year they’ve been hit especially hard.

Local chocolatier Kerstin’s Chocolates held its first ever Name That Origin competition this week, which Sharon wrote about here. Such a great way for a small local business to build interest and spread the word.

In a bid to cut costs, the University of Alberta is offering early retirement packages to all employees 55 and older who have worked for the institution ten years or more.

We’ve had a lot of snow lately, but apparently the City is on track to come in slightly under budget for snow removal this year.

More proof that the anti-idling issue is a silly one – the City is investing just $10,000 into the campaign.

Good post from Brittney this week on Edmonton’s Twitter community.

The Oilers lost their sixth straight game tonight. On the plus side, prospect Jordan Eberle scored twice today as Canada destroyed Latvia by a score of 16-0.

For details on Edmonton’s New Year’s Eve bash, click here.