Edmonton Notes for 12/10/2012

I’m back in Edmonton for the rest of the year now after trips to London, Dublin, and Miami over the last two weeks. It was an unplanned but welcome break from writing!

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• A seasonal parking ban took effect on Friday, but not everyone complied. In the first nine hours of the ban, bylaw officers issued 271 tickets and requested 32 tows. A total of 625 tickets were issued and 318 tows were requested. You can see the latest status and sign up for alerts here.
• This one caused a bit of a stir last week: Edmonton was ranked #3 on a Quality of Life Index by the website Numbeo. As always, take these lists with a grain of salt, but is it really so bad to have some good news to share?
• Edmontonians donated over 21,000 kilograms of food and $13,000 in financial contributions to the 2012 ETS Stuff a Bus campaign!
• This is intriguing: Edmonton’s four big post-secondary institutions have entered into an agreement in principle to pursue opportunities for collaboration. This could be really great for Edmonton’s already exciting education sector. “As innovators in a city that is rapidly changing and that has an extraordinary opportunity to shape its own economic and social future, we will be critical factors in its success.”
• A new draft policy from Edmonton Public Schools could mean the end for the non-zero policy. First reading goes tomorrow.
• Did you get the flu yet? Apparently there are more confirmed cases in Alberta so far this year as compared to last.
• Work continues on the Central LRT Station rehabilitation project, and traffic will remain reduced to one lane in each direction until construction wraps up in October 2013.
• Here’s the latest Council Roundup from November 28. They approved the Growth Coordination Strategy, Municipal Cemeteries Master Plan, and $100,000 in funding to examine the Hawrelak Park lake. Also: Council is concerned that the province is downloading the costs of transporting prisoners to the city.
• Effective June 30, 2013, the Polish Consulate General is relocating from Vancouver to Edmonton.
• Twitter has added more supported cities to its Trends feature, and Edmonton is one of them!
• It was only a matter of time until this article appeared: local charities need more support this holiday season than last. Check back in a week or two for the inevitable story that local charities are at risk of missing their targets.
• In case you missed it: RedBrick’s proposal for a new civic office tower is worth a look.
• Frederick Kirkwood MacDonald, Q.C., has been appointed to Edmonton Criminal Court, effective January 3, 2013.
• Do you know someone at the University of Alberta who deserves recognition for connecting communities? You have until January 25 to nominate someone for three new Community Connections Awards.
• The downtown arena will be back in the news this week as Council is set to receive an update on Wednesday. Councillor Anderson says the Katz Group has until March until it becomes a “full-blown election issue” and he doesn’t think the next Council will be as supportive.

The new I ❤ YEGDT banner on the side of City Centre Mall.

Here are some upcoming events:

• Tonight is The Very Productive Holiday Mixer, a collaboration between Productivity Alberta, Digital Alberta, Mobile Monday Edmonton, and Capital Ideas Edmonton.
• Also tonight is MEAET 3.5, taking place at the Citadel.
• Head over to the Sands Hotel tomorrow to learn more about future plans to reconstruct 112 Avenue.
• Wednesday is the December meetup of Nerds Night Out.
• The Oil Kings are in action at Rexall Place three times this week: Wednesday they host Kamloops, Saturday they host Victoria, and Sunday they host Regina.
• Two community league holiday parties to mention this week: DECL on Thursday, and Oliver on Saturday.
• Northlands’ Shared Christmas event takes place on Friday.
• The grand opening of Central Social Hall takes place on Friday.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.