Edmonton Notes for 1/5/2014

Best in the world? No.

As you’ve undoubtedly heard by now, National Geographic blogger Andrew Evans highlighted the City Market on his Best of 2013 list. Based on the response here in Edmonton, you’d think this was the first time we’ve ever received praise for something! People are losing their minds! Our market is fantastic (in the summer), but it’s not the best in the world, and anyway, that’s not what Andrew said. He said it was the best of all that he visited in 2013. There’s a difference.

Headlines

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• The City of Edmonton has mailed 2014 assessment notices after assessing 352,891 properties throughout Edmonton. Most property values rose slightly from 2012 to 2013 – the typical single-detached home rose 2.5%, while condos, townhouses, and duplexes rose by 2.1%.
• This is a really surprising and impressive statistic: one of every ten jobs created in Canada over the past year has been created in Edmonton.
• Though many fees remain unchanged in 2014, fees at recreation and leisure centres are going up, as are rentals of arenas and sports fields.
• Last year, the City collected 3,000 tonnes of recycling material in the two weeks after Christmas. Let’s break the record this year! You can find out how to reduce your holiday waste here. Natural Christmas tree pickup will being January 9 and will run for three weeks (details here).
• Edmonton Public Schools has setup a site for discussion about how to manage space in growing neighbourhoods. The online survey is open until January 17.
• We’ve already had so much snow this winter, and it just keeps on coming. Will the City need to budget for snow removal differently? Don’t forget you can get information on parking bans and other snow-related news at the City’s website.
• You’ve gotta love “hat man” Bob Dunford’s enthusiasm for his job: “What better way to start a new year in our winter city than with a renewed focus on getting snow off our roads?”
• According to AHS, approximately 900,000 Albertans have received the flu vaccine this season. That’s encouraging as there have been more than 965 confirmed cases of the flu, and five deaths.
• The 18th annual Donate A Ride campaign kicked off on Monday. So far, over $1.8 million has been raised to provide transit tickets to low-income Edmonton families.
• The Edmonton Bicycle Commuters Society is opening a new location at 8001 102 Street, just two blocks from their old southside location. If all goes well, it’ll open this spring.
• Here are the latest Edmonton urbanism headlines from Spacing Edmonton.
• The Edmonton Journal has put together a searchable database of unclaimed bank accounts in the Edmonton area.
• Here is Edmonton Sun columnist Lorne Gunter’s wishlist for City Council in 2014.
• More exciting news for the 124 Street area: Remedy Cafe is planning to open its fourth location on the corner of 103 Avenue in April.
• Edmontonian Christy Foley is one of 1,028 people worldwide under consideration for the Mars One project, an initiative to establish a human colony on the planet by 2024. She’s just one of 75 Canadians still in the running.
• There’s a house up for sale at 5620 Whitemud Road that costs $12.5 million. Its tax bill is “somewhere north of $20,000”.
• From Omar, here are five bad Edmonton habits to break in 2014.
• Looking for a recap on 2013? I’ve collected lists and year-in-review articles here.

Upcoming Events

• The Edmonton Oilers host St. Louis on Tuesday and Pittsburgh on Friday. They’ll be looking to build on tonight’s 5-3 victory over Tampa Bay.
• The Edmonton Oil Kings host the Kelowna Rockets on Wednesday.
• The first two public meetings for EPSB’s Space for Our Students discussion take place this week – on Tuesday for schools in the west, and Wednesday for schools in the north.
• The tenth Nerd Nite event in Edmonton takes place on Thursday evening at the Citadel.
• Head over to Latitude 53 on Friday evening for the opening reception for two new shows: We and Tarzan & Arab.
• My favorite winter festival returns this weekend! Deep Freeze takes place on Alberta Avenue on Saturday and Sunday.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Photo by profernity