Edmonton Notes for 1/23/2010

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• I have to mention this: Jennifer Fong’s latest reason to love Edmonton is our engaged online communities! Very cool that ShareEdmonton, The Edmontonian, I Heart Edmonton, and others were mentioned!
• A couple new recaps from me this week: Edmonton in 2009, and my State of the Edmonton Twittersphere – 2009 Year in Review.
• Apparently Edmonton’s property taxes and utilities are the third most expensive in Canada.
• Want to help out with the 3D buildings layer in Google Earth? The next focus is the University of Alberta campus.
• Great news: Police Service Dog Cora is expected to be back at work on February 3. She was stabbed in December while apprehending a suspect.
• The Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation introduced its new board of directors this week. Bruce Saville is the new chair.
• Fascinating video from @ZoomJer – Under the Bridge: An interview with a homeless person in Edmonton.
• Couple of new newsletters: Original Fare’s Guide to Living Local, and the Next Gen Weekly Newsletter.
• Here are some great photos of City Council and some members of Administration, taken by Curtis Comeau.
• Interesting new conference coming up for City of Edmonton and University of Alberta IT employees: Technocon 2010.
• Music fans take note – Lilith Fair will be making a stop in Edmonton!
• Here’s a great post on EXPO 2017 from I Heart Edmonton.
• The City announced the formation of the Livable City Design Group, led by local firm Cohos Evamy. They’re tasked with completing the Capital City Downtown Plan.
• TEDxEdmonton is looking for participants and speakers! Apply now!
• The old Molson Brewery appears as though it will finally be protected and redeveloped.
• Just a few blocks away, 124 Street is blossoming as a rival to Whyte Avenue. And near MacEwan downtown, Healy Ford is leaving, opening up the potential for redevelopment there too.
• Some members of the City’s IT staff are in Chicago this weekend for CityCamp, to talk about Government 2.0.
• This one is interesting: North America’s largest eco city is being planned on 135 hectares of newly annexed land in St. Albert, a $1.8 billion project!
• Retiring City Manager Al Maurer has a warning for proponents of the downtown arena – don’t underestimate the public! I wrote about our new City Manager yesterday.
• The Edmonton Rush play their home opener tonight against the Buffalo Bandits!
• Bridal Fantasy is taking place tomorrow at the Shaw Conference Centre (on ShareEdmonton). Also tomorrow is the last day for Ice on Whyte (on ShareEdmonton).
• Coming up this week is DemoCampEdmonton10 (on ShareEdmonton) and the Social Media for Government conference (on ShareEdmonton).

Finally, Edmonton has its own mug at Starbucks!