Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:
- The 40th year of Farmfair International and Canadian Finals Rodeo wrapped up today at Rexall Place. A total of 88,521 guests attended over the five days of CFR that saw more than $1.47 million in prize money awarded.
- The controversial Terwillegar Towne project has been dropped by the Anglican diocese of Edmonton. Score another one for NIMBYism. I think David Staples is right on the money here: “I’d suggest no one neighbourhood is so special that it should be able to wall itself off from the rest of the city and its problems.”
- The University of Alberta will receive an immediate $14.4 million boost to its Campus Alberta grant thanks to the $50 million reinvestment in post secondary institutions that the Province announced on Wednesday.
- Six neighbourhood reconstructions were completed in 2013 for a total investment of $224 million: Canora, Capilano, Dovercourt, Windsor Park, Terrace Heights, and Woodcroft.
- We’re just a couple of weeks away from the full closure of the City Centre Airport! Incredibly, though the decision to close the airport was made over four years ago, some are still complaining about having to move.
- Regional issues are going to be big for Mayor Iveson and the new Council, especially since plans to annex land in Leduc County are proceeding. Leduc County’s mayor is unhappy with the apparent lack of communication.
- Upgrading drainage systems in the southeast could cost the City nearly $170 million.
- If you have ever been frustrated by the City’s aging maps site, you’ll be happy to learn they have a new version of the site in beta testing now. It promises support for modern browsers and an updated design.
- The ups and downs of the Oilers season as explained through animated gifs. Love it.
- It’s that time of year again! City Council will soon be discussing the 2014 Operating Budget, but before they do, you can have your say. How would you balance the budget?
- Several Edmonton Catholic schools are underutilized, costing the district $2.9 million to maintain. You can find out more and get involved here.
- The parking pilot around City Hall has been extended until January 2014. The new system is better than our old parking meters in every way. Enough with these silly pilots, let’s just get on with it!
- Here’s a timeline of Kavis Reed’s tenure with the Eskimos.
- How’s Movember going for you? I’m pretty surprised at how much the event grows every year – there seems to be a big increase in branded products and such this year. Women are looking to cash in too.
- From the University of Alberta: “A new landmark study estimates that University of Alberta alumni have collectively founded 70,258 organizations globally, creating more than 1.5 million jobs and generating annual revenues of $348.5 billion.”
Here are some upcoming events:
- Monday is Remembrance Day of course, with the big ceremony taking place at the Butterdome in the morning. You can see more Remembrance Day events here.
- The next Edmonton Python Meetup takes place on Tuesday night at Startup Edmonton. GameCamp Edmonton has its next meetup the following night.
- This year’s edition of The Taboo Naughty But Nice Show kicks off on Thursday at the Edmonton Expo Centre.
- The Oilers host the Stars on Wednesday and the Sharks on Friday.
- Well there’s no denying it now, winter has arrived. Might as well celebrate with the Premiere to Winter event on Thursday!
- Also Thursday is artsScene Edmonton’s next boardLink event.
- DECL is having the grand opening for its new space on Friday.
- Also Friday night is The Moustache Gala.
- Early heads up about three open houses the City is holding on its proposed annexation of land south of the City (including the Edmonton International Airport).
- For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.
MasterMaq's Blog 
What’s silly about a pilot project? I don’t understand.
In my opinion it takes too long to get from pilot to implementation with many of the projects the City undertakes. In this case especially, Calgary has been running the same system for years, and I think it’s vastly superior to our existing system. I don’t see what another few months is going to teach us, and it delays fuller implementation.
So is your issue with pilot projects in general or this one in particular? I don’t automatically jump to the conclusion that what works in Calgary will automatically work here, and I’m not convinced that doing so is a wise use of taxpayer money. Calgary was an early adopter of the tech; in the time since they started, new products may have come to market which are better and which can be implemented here because we haven’t made costly initial investment. The pilot was supposed to go from June to November (6 months, according to the page you linked to). It’s now going through January. An extra two months is not the end of the world; yes, it will be nice to plug your parking meter with a cell phone but in the interim you have to carry a couple of loonies around in your car, big whoop. It is unlikely to delay implementation because implementation wouldn’t happen until it’s warmer anyway and not until there’s a budget in place. And it puts the pilot through some of the coldest months of the year to see how well the technology works in a place that doesn’t get relief from chinooks throughout the winter months. I don’t see a lot of downside to this.