Edmonton Notes for 3/20/2010

Welcome to Spring! Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• Good news for supporters of the swimming pool at MacEwan – officials have decided to keep it open for at least another year.
• The Journal’s weekly readership increased by 14,700 last year. At The Sun, weekday readership grew by 7%. Also, The Journal earned a record six National Newspaper Award nominations for its work in 2009.
• Attendance at Winter Light this year passed the 100,000 mark.
• I knew the City Centre Airport issue wouldn’t end with Council’s decision. Airco is seeking an injunction to keep the airport open. A hearing could come as early as the end of April.
• Great post from Sharon: My 2010 Wish List for Edmonton’s Food Scene.
• More than 500 students marched on Thursday to protest proposed fee and tuition hikes.
• LRT passenger counts in 2009 were up 20,900 per day. Can’t wait for the new stations to open in April! Looks like the City is going ahead with an RFP for licensing mezzanine space in the downtown stations.
• The City has received far fewer property assessment complaints this year: just 516 have been filed, compared to 3860 in 2009.
• Looks like the Williams Engineering building downtown may be getting a green roof!
• The Valley Zoo introduced a baby squirrel monkey this week. It hasn’t been named yet.
• Don’t miss this great roundup of local happenings at I Heart Edmonton.
• Here’s the latest Edmonton NextGen weekly newsletter.
• The Mustard Seed Society will receive $12 million from the Alberta government to build 112 housing units for the homeless in Calgary in Edmonton.
• In case you missed it: State of the Edmonton Twittersphere for February 2010.
• More than 30,000 people have visited the Art Gallery of Alberta since it opened on January 31.
• Great post from Dave on closing inner city schools in Edmonton.
• The deadline for submissions for the Edmonton Food Bank’s Expressions of Hunger contest is fast approaching! Get your images, poems, or prose in by March 31.
• Monday night will be the 23rd Annual Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts (on ShareEdmonton).
• If you’re downtown on Wednesday, why not check out the free yoga session at City Hall?
• Thursday night is GalaGuru and Edmonton Twestival (on ShareEdmonton)! Hope to see you there (RSVP) – bring a donation for Twestival!
• Of course next Saturday is Earth Hour (on ShareEdmonton).
• See you in an hour or so at YEG Swap!

We had a really awesome sunrise in Edmonton this week: