Edmonton Notes for 11/7/2009

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• The City received a national award this week for the Alberta Avenue Revitalization Initiative, which began in 2005. Global TV took the News Hour on the road to the neighbourhood this week, and posted some photos here.
• Also this week, Prince Charles presented Mayor Mandel with the Prince of Wales Prize for Municipal Heritage Leadership. Edmonton is just the second western Canadian city to receive the prestigious award.
• ETS is performing annual maintenance on the LRT tracks until November 20, something called “rail grinding operations”. You might see some sparks, but the LRT will continue to run normally.
• Testing of new traffic gates and signal lights on the south LRT extension will disrupt traffic until November 9.
• Good article on BikeWorks and the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters’ Society.
• Faced with a shortage of local recruits, the Edmonton Police Service is recruiting in Cleveland, Seattle, and New York.
• Interesting article on Edmonton’s new City Manager in Vue Weekly this week.
• Calgary decided this week to scrap its bid for Expo 2017, leaving Edmonton as the sole Canadian city in the running.
• The results of the City’s annual Citizen Satisfaction Survey came out this week. Overall, 72% of respondents said they were satisfied with overall services, and 91% say they are satisfied with Edmonton’s quality of life.
• There’s still time to apply to be part of Edmonton Next Gen.
• The grand reopening for the newly renovated Kingsway mall takes place between November 13 and 15.
• Canadian Finals Rodeo starts on Remembrance Day (on ShareEdmonton).
• Coming up on Thursday at Enterprise Square: the Jasper Avenue New Vision Open House (on ShareEdmonton).
• Exposure, Edmonton’s Queer Arts & Culture Festival, kicks off on Friday (on ShareEdmonton).
• Next Saturday is the Christmas on the Square Holiday Light Up (on ShareEdmonton)! Don’t miss it!