Got back to Edmonton last night and spent much of today catching up on sleep. Lots of email to get through now, so if I owe you a response it’s on the way!

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• Edmonton-St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber announced this week that he is leaving the Conservative Party of Canada caucus. Check out Dave’s analysis here (and in the National Post!).
• Edmonton and Calgary have formed a new partnership to share “information, technical services, and equipment” related to two new technologies. Edmonton is sharing information on its LED street lightning program while Calgary is sharing details on its ParkPlus System. I’d love to see this kind of thing happen more often between the two cities.
• Here’s the latest Council Roundup. Among other things, Council has designated the Kelly Ramsey Building as a Municipal Historic Resource. It’ll still be torn down but its historic facades will be restored.
• I guess this isn’t much of a surprise after the Oilers’ disappointing season: head coach Ralph Krueger has been fired. Sounds like Dallas Eakins is the favorite to replace him.
• There’s now a website showcasing films made in Edmonton! Learn more about the site at the #yegfilm blog.
• Congratulations to the winners of the Charles Labatiuk Awards for Environmental Excellence! Great to hear about City employees working hard for our environment.
• Couple of summer reminders from the City: don’t throw your cigarette butts on the ground, and consider leaving your clippings on the lawn when you cut the grass! EPS is also warning against jay walking, especially on Whyte Avenue.
• This report from U of A President Indira Samarasakera discusses the budget challenges facing the university and outlines what will happen between now and October 31.
• Sounds like yesterday’s Pride Parade was another major success with 78 entries and thousands of onlookers. On Friday CFB Edmonton raised the pride flag, the first forces base in North America to do so.
• I noticed this last week but forgot to mention it: the City’s website has received a slight makeover. The front page is a bit Metro-ish actually, with three columns of tiles. I like the promotion of popular topics and 311 services to the top.
• The latest grant recipients of EPCOR’s Community Essentials Council have been announced. Congrats to all!
• The new Southwest Division police station is now open at 1351 Windermere Way, replacing the old location at 9710 51 Avenue.
• I love this: local bloggers David Climenhaga and David Cournoyer stopped by Mayor Rob Ford’s office in Toronto, in what is being dubbed “disaster tourism”.

June Morning by Randall

Here are some upcoming events:

• Have your say on the Louise McKinney Urban Beach! Sessions are taking place Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday.
• Natalie MacMaster performs with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra on Tuesday evening at the Winspear Centre.
• Pecha Kucha Night 16 takes place Thursday evening at the Citadel. Here is the presenter lineup.
• Want to win tickets to the Edmonton Craft Beer Festival? Jason Foster has got you covered. It takes place Friday and Saturday at the Edmonton Expo Centre.
• We hope you’ll join us in Old Strathcona for What the Truck?! on Friday evening! Menus will be posted tomorrow evening.
• June is NextGen Month!
• See you Saturday at TEDxEdmonton!
• Also Saturday is the next Mercer Collective, A Makers Market.
• Heads up about Stand Up for Edmonton, taking place at the Stanley Milner Library on June 22. It’s a one-day conference meant to highlight the University of Alberta’s contributions to Edmonton.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Great shot of the Pride Parade by Bill Burris

I made the long journey to India over the weekend! I’m in Pune for the rest of the week on business. I hope to share some sights & thoughts before the week is out, but of course I’ll be posting stuff to Twitter and Facebook as I go.

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• Happy 100th to the High Level Bridge!
• Well this is exciting! A pilot project will launch this week at a couple of downtown locations that replaces our aging parking meters with new ones using the same technology as Calgary.
• Congratulations to Michael Parkatti, winner of the Oilers Hackathon!
• All of the City’s outdoor pools are now open as of Saturday. Get out and enjoy!
• Folk Fest has once again sold out, this time with a ticket lottery that took place at Telus Field.
• Love paintball? Then you’re going to love the new Edmonton Paintball Centre!
• Edmonton will be hosting a number of matches next summer during the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. The tournament takes place from August 5 to 24, 2014. Then the following summer, we host 11 matches for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
• If you haven’t already done so, check out the LIVINGbridge project. Very cool.
• The Province has launched an Open Data catalogue, at long last!
• Finally a press release that talks about what the City is doing to try and solve the pothole problem! “Transportation Services, by way of its Engineering Services Quality Assurance Laboratory, has spent nearly a decade researching the materials and processes used by the City of Edmonton in roadway construction and maintenance.”
• Paula Simons: Edmonton’s municipal charisma deficit might make us Toronto’s envy
• Don’t worry, there aren’t any bed bugs on ETS buses. But they fumigated four buses anyway.
• Alberta’s minimum wage will increase 2.1% starting September 1, taking it from $9.75 to $9.95 per hour.
• Did you get your copy of the Urban Recycler newsletter?

Awesome look at Edmonton, with 8 images stitched together, by Darren.

Here are some upcoming events:

• The Creative Age Festival starts on Tuesday and runs until June 9.
• There’s another public involvement meeting taking place on Wednesday for the Southeast to West LRT.
• Nextfest has a great new website and starts on Thursday!
• Park after Dark kicks off on Friday night at Northlands Park at 6pm.
• It’s not quite Super Saturday anymore, but June 8 will still be busy with the Pride Parade as well as the Pancake Breakfast and Centennial Block Party.
• The next Red Shoe Crawl takes place on Whyte Avenue on Sunday!
• Also taking place on the weekend is the Sprouts New Play Festival for Kids.
• Don’t forget, TEDxEdmonton is coming up on June 15. Hope to see you there!
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.