Edmonton Notes for 4/11/2009

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• City Councillor Don Iveson has started blogging again, and he’s now on Twitter! Follow him at @doniveson.
• The map for Edmonton’s proposed 12-ward system was released this week. It’ll be discussed at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
• The Winter Light organizers are collecting feedback with this online survey. Let them know how to improve for next year!
• Edmonton’s unemployment went up to 4.9% in March, compared with 3.8% a year ago.
• Construction of a new bridge to replace the aging Walterdale will start in 2013 and last for about two years. It’ll be the first new downtown bridge in Edmonton since the 1970s.
• Edmonton Fashion Week wrapped up on Thursday – you can see The Journal’s coverage here.
• The 2009 Mosquito Control Program is beginning soon, with helicopters in the air starting next week.
• Registrations for the Adopt-A-Block program, part of Capital City Clean Up, have been extended until May 1st.
• Two longtime Whyte Ave retailers, Estee’s Fabrics (22 years) and Southside Sound (30 years), are closing down. They join a growing list of independent businesses calling it quits.
• I started a page for hashtags used by local Twitter users – feel free to add to it!

Best of all, we had our first big rainstorm last night – spring has arrived in Edmonton!