Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:
Headlines
- On Friday, Mayor Iveson proclaimed March 2014-March 2015 A Year of Reconciliation here in Edmonton. He made the announcement at the Truth & Reconciliation Commission‘s (TRC) Alberta national event, which wrapped up today at the Shaw Conference Centre.
- The TRC event sounds like it was a big success, with 3,243 survivors registered, 402 statements gathered over the four days, and more than 30,000 video streams from 36 countries. Here’s a statement from Premier Hancock.
- Immediately after the closing ceremonies this evening, the Walk of Reconciliation took place, with hundreds of Edmontonians marching from 97 Street down Jasper Avenue to the Legislature.
- Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for Alison Redford, boom – penthousegate.
- Athletics Canada announced on Friday at Edmonton will host the Canadian Track & Field Championships in 2014 and 2016. It’s another contributor to Edmonton’s growing reputation as “Tracktown Canada”.
- According to EPCOR, power usage in Edmonton was down about 3% during yesterday’s Earth Hour. It’s just too bad EPCOR didn’t participate itself! (the lights on their tower remained on all night long)
- NDP nominee Lewis Cardinal is Edmonton-Centre’s first candidate for the 2015 federal election.
- City Council is moving ahead with the Blatchford redevelopment, but not before an “expert panel” reviews the plan.
- A total of eleven Canadian Research Chairs have been announced for the University of Alberta worth $12.7 million.
- Here’s a piece from Lorne Gunter that I actually agree with: Edmonton downtown boom has nothing to do with arena. I do think the arena will help the boom continue and perhaps even accelerate, but downtown has been booming either way.
- Speaking of the downtown boom, all that growth has put pressure on parking. Good riddance to ugly and unsafe surface parking lots.
- The Oilers need fixing. Don’t miss this great piece by Jason Gregor.
- Edmonton’s emergency responders are preparing to support a new Text with 911 service. It should launch this fall.
- University of Alberta students will soon have a fall reading week.
- A new poll from ThinkHQ shows Mayor Iveson with an approval rating of 70%.
- Omar wrote about the mystery of the Edmonton theme song.
- Stay tuned for another must-read Omar article in April’s Avenue Edmonton, a feature on Stephen Mandel.
- Well this isn’t good: broken paving stones in front of City Hall are costing taxpayers an average of $50,000 per year to fix.
- The Art Gallery of Alberta kicked off its 90th birthday celebrations on Friday by highlighting the year 1924.
CWB went dark for Earth Hour
Upcoming Events
- Want to talk politics with the Alberta Party? They’re hosting a Pint Night on Monday.
- Tuesday is the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Department of Computing Science at the U of A.
- The next Green Drinks event takes place on Wednesday. The theme this time is local literature!
- Edmonton NextGen’s Dark Meaet takes place at Latitude 53 on Thursday evening.
- Friday and Saturday it’s Edmonton’s International Beerfest at the Shaw Conference Centre!
- Also taking place this weekend is the Edmonton Woman’s Show over at the Expo Centre.
- The Edmonton Rush are currently 13-0! They host Colorado on Saturday.
- Also Saturday night, it’s the 35th Annual ACE Awards!
- Western Canada Fashion Week continues through Thursday.
- April is the final month for the Royal Alberta Museum’s Chop Suey on the Prairies exhibit. If you haven’t visited it yet, you have until the 27th!
- For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.
Western Canada Fashion Week!
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