Edmonton Notes for 11/21/2010

Throughout the week, I’m blogging Edmonton-related photos, videos, quotes, links, and more at Edmonton Etcetera. Check it out.

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• In case you missed it, we launched a new initiative called The Edmonton Champions Project this week. I wrote about it here. Watch for more on the project in 2011.
• The results of the 2010 Homeless Count were released on Monday. The number of homeless people living in Edmonton dropped 21% to 2421.
• With the temperature dropping, the City is reminding you to stay off the ice!
• Two more arena open houses took place this week, and the Oilers started phoning people encouraging them to fill out the online questionnaire. That action wasn’t received very well by Edmontonians. More on the proposed downtown arena here.
• At a luncheon this week, Mayor Stephen Mandel urged the business community to help Edmonton achieve its goals of hosting EXPO 2017, fighting homelessness, and redeveloping the City Centre Airport.
• It was a great week for the local film industry! Trevor Anderson’s The High Level Bridge won best live action short film at the American Film Institute’s awards, and Rosie Dransfeld won a Gemini for Broke.
• A new comedy show called E-Town will be part of the lineup on APTN starting next year.
• PCL CEO Paul Douglas said this week that Edmonton has one of the weakest construction markets in North America right now.
• An anonymous family has stepped up to purchase Edmonton’s historic Molson House.
• The University of Alberta is the first university in Canada to have a campus page on Foursquare!
• Thirty-eight of Edmonton’s top clubs, pubs, bars, and lounges were recognized this week at the Best Bar None Awards. The overall winner was Union Hall Nightclub.
• Congrats to the Shaw Conference Centre, for earning the Recycling Council of Alberta’s 2010 Corporate Leadership Award.
• The student paper at the University of Alberta, The Gateway, turned 100 years old this weekend.
• Update on the Alberta Hotel development. It’s coming along!
• On July 1, the City launched the Washing Machine Rebate Program, to encourage Edmontonians to purchase energy-efficient, front-load washers. That program was supposed to end on December 31, but has been so popular that it won’t last that long!
• The accrediting bodies that oversee the quality of medical schools in Canada and the United States have given the University of Alberta med school a solid A.
• You can now follow Capital Power and EPCOR on Twitter.
• Congrats to the winners of the 7th Annual Vehicle for Hire Driver Appreciation Day Awards (longest name ever!).
• For more headlines from the past week, check out theedmontonian.com.
• They big event this week is the 2010 Grey Cup Festival. You can see the full listing of events on ShareEdmonton, and you can subscribe to an iCal of all the events here. The kick-off party takes place on Wednesday evening at City Hall.
• The 2010 National Housing Day luncheon takes place on Monday at the Delta Centre Suite.
• AUMA’s annual convention takes place this week at the Shaw Conference Centre. The event kicks off on Tuesday morning.
• Green Drinks Edmonton is back on Wednesday evening.
• Also Wednesday evening: Girl Geek Dinners, trivia edition!
• There are two Southeast LRT information sessions taking place this week: Wednesday evening and Thursday evening.
• The Everyone’s Downstream conference starts on Thursday.
• For those of you interested in open data, the Open Spatial West workshop is taking place all day on Thursday at Enterprise Square.
• One of my favorite holiday events – the Wrapping Tweetup is happening on Friday evening!
• Next Saturday is Food4Fines, where you can get up to $25 in library fines wiped out in exchange for a food bank donation.
• The Oil Kings are in action at home on Wednesday against the Calgary Hitmen, while the Oilers are home to the Avalanche on Thursday and the Sharks on Saturday.
• It’s craft fair season! Make It Edmonton starts Thursday, The Handmade Mafia takes place Saturday, the Royal Bison Craft & Art Fair takes place Saturday & Sunday, and the Shop Till You Drop Expo takes place Sunday.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

The stacks were removed from the EPCOR plant on Friday. Here’s a video of the third stack being removed.

It might be cold outside, but you’ve got to admit, winter can be really beautiful.