Edmonton Notes for 3/31/2013

Happy Easter! Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• Former Alberta premier Ralph Klein died Friday at the age of 70. Here’s the Edmonton Journal’s obituary, and here’s the Globe and Mail’s. You may also want to read Premier Redford’s statement. I really enjoyed Chris’ take on Klein. Dave has aggregated more coverage here.
• Leduc County is not happy about the City of Edmonton’s proposed annexation of 15,600 hectares to the south of our current boundary. Hopefully this public skirmish leads to improvements in our regional planning, because it won’t change the fact that Edmonton is getting that land.
• The City of Edmonton introduced its first ever blogger-in-residence on Wednesday. Scott McKeen will write on the Transforming Edmonton blog for six months.
• Edmonton’s NextGen presents Ideas for Edmonton, a crowdfunding model with a twist! Idea submissions and round 1 votes are being accepted until April 21. Check it out here.
• The cost of the new bridge over Groat Road on 102 Avenue will jump by $11.5 million partially to pay for drainage improvements, because the existing bridge is a steel grate that allows water to fall through and the one will be concrete. Makes sense right?
• Our city’s air quality rating is back down to “moderate” after rising late last week. You can learn more about the Air Quality Health Index here.
• Edmonton’s LRT stations will soon feature 55-inch screens showing weather, train arrival times, and ads. The displays are part of a deal with Pattison Outdoor Advertising.
• Former Edmonton teacher Mark Ramsankar has been elected president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association.
• Here’s an update from the City on pre-construction activities for the new Walterdale Bridge.
• Should we turn the Rossdale Power Plant into an urban ruin? Creative though the idea may be, it like many other proposals fails to take into consideration the projects happening all around the site.
• Taylor Hall broke Gretzky’s Oiler record for the fastest hat trick on Saturday night as the Oilers beat the Canucks 4-0. The Oilers also broke a franchise record for fastest three goals from the start of the game. Speaking of Gretzky, he was in town on Wednesday hosting a partners breakfast.
• The developer of Northport Business Park, located at 170 Street and 129 Avenue, was the first to access the City’s Revolving Industrial Servicing fund, designed to attract new industrial development to our city.
• File this one under the heard-that-before and believe-it-when-I-see-it categories: the Kelly Ramsay block and two adjacent structures on Rice Howard Way will be turned into a $250 million office and hotel project.
• GreenTRIP funding is helping to expand C-Line bus service between Leduc, Nisku, Edmonton and EIA.
• It sounds as though the fire that broke out at Bubba’s BBQ on Thursday was the result of “an untended heating element.” Damage was estimated a $125,000 and sadly it sounds like everything was destroyed.
• Hey would you look at that, a project to map the pedway system that doesn’t cost $2 million!
• Have you seen Ontario’s very funny “social farter” PSA? Turns out the actress featured is Edmonton-native Kathleen Black.

Here are some upcoming events:

• The Oilers host the newly Iginla-less Flames tomorrow night.
• Green Drinks returns on Wednesday with an Activism & Advocacy theme.
• Design changes for the Northwest LRT will be discussed at a public meeting on Wednesday.
• The City of Edmonton’s Planning Academy gets underway for another season beginning on Thursday. It’s a great opportunity to learn more about urban planning.
• I’ll see you Thursday at the Spacing Edmonton Launch Party!
• The Rush are finally back in town on Saturday when they host the Colorado Mammoth.
• GlitterBall is a sexy evening of music, dance, and more taking place on Saturday at the Artery.
• University of Alberta students will be looking to set a world record on Saturday at the Crush Exam Stress and Just Dance event.
• Edmonton’s tenth Homeless Connect event takes place on Sunday at the Shaw Conference Centre.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Great shot of the Muttart Conservatory by Cezary Kucharski.