Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:
No more bike lanes for you!
When it comes to bike lanes, enough Edmontonians have screamed “not in my backyard” that the City is now looking to delay further bike lane construction. This just after Council asked for more proof that shifting our city’s transportation modes is actually happening. Don’t hold your breath Councillors!
You know what other cities are doing? Building bike infrastructure. Chicago, Phoenix, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles were among the large American cities that pushed ahead with bicycle-related initiatives in 2013.
Headlines
- Pretty interesting and frank comments from former mayor Stephen Mandel on the likelihood that he might run for the PCs in Edmonton-McClung: “I wouldn’t run, not under the current leadership,” he said.
- On Tuesday, Edmonton Eskimos head coach Chris Jones announced the members of his 2014 coaching staff. All of the coaches come from other teams.
- Just when you thought the upgrades to Commonwealth Stadium were finished the City now wants to spend an additional half million dollars to upgrade the field in advance of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Couldn’t they have put all of the upgrades together in a single package?
- If you have used and like the Transit App, you’ll be pleased to hear that it now supports Edmonton Transit. It’s great to see another option available to riders.
- Here’s the story of Melody Du and her winning design for the International Week 2014 poster. She’s a fourth-year art and design student from China.
- Amelia Canto Ellis is MacEwan University’s new executive director of Fund Development. She comes to the school from Toronto, where she has been working in marketing for hospitals and universities.
- University of Alberta President Indira Samarasekera’s term does not end until June 2015, but the U of A is already preparing to find a replacement in the event that she decides to step down from the position.
- Here are some thoughts from Omar on the Columbia Avenue plan (105 Avenue).
- Foodies may know that Phil Wilson, aka Baconhound, is on the search for the best burger in Edmonton. Nice to see him receive some media coverage!
- Did you know that Edmonton suffered a terrorist attack in 1965? “Despite the disbelief, it did happen in Edmonton. On a snowy morning on January 28, 1965, Harry Hubach snuck into the city’s downtown airport, carrying with him several bombs made with dynamite and a pack of matches.”
- Everyone was talking about Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens’ franchise record 59-save performance on Wednesday. The Oilers defeated San Jose 3-0.
- The U.S. State Department issued their final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the Keystone XL pipeline project. Here’s a statement from Premier Redford on the State Department’s support.
- Though Keystone XL is news, it is health that has been dominating the provincial headlines recently. Albertans have until March 3 to comment on the draft Health Charter and a proposed Health Advocate regulation.
- The City and Edmonton Heritage Council have awarded grants totaling more than $295,000 to 18 organizations as part of the Heritage Investment Grant program.
- Here are the latest urbanism headlines from Spacing Edmonton.
- Calgary has a new venue called the Sidetrack Stage and Grill and that has a few Edmontonians who still haven’t gotten over the Sidetrack Cafe crying foul. Yawn.
- Looking to attend a preschool/playschool open house in Edmonton? City and Baby has the definitive list.
“A child intervention roundtable held at the University of Alberta in Edmonton January 28 and 29 brought experts, policy makers and stakeholders together to discuss the best practices in reviewing all child deaths in Alberta, and striking a balance between transparency and privacy.”
Upcoming Events
- Walterdale Theatre’s Blithe Spirit kicks off on Wednesday and runs through February 15.
- The next Green Drinks Edmonton event takes place on Wednesday at Yellowhead Brewery. The theme this month is Alternative Energy & Sustainable Homes.
- EEDC President Brad Ferguson will join Build Toronto President Lorne Braithwaite on Thursday for a talk called Build Toronto Build Edmonton.
- Get outside and enjoy The Flying Canoe Adventure on Friday and Saturday.
- The ESO’s Robbins Pops series continues on Friday with Life is a Cabaret!
- Don’t miss the Boyle Street Maker’s Faire at Boyle Renaissance Plaza on Saturday and Sunday.
- The Silver Skate Festival is coming up! It kicks off on February 14.
- For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.
Waiting for Night by Jeff Wallace
MasterMaq's Blog 
Thanks for the plug, Mack. The next burger post should be up Monday evening.
RE: Bike lanes
The problem is that the city isn’t actually building anything, they’re just painting infrastructure on and calling it a day. Real bike infrastructure looks like the multi-use trail that they recently finished building next to 34th Ave. Painting lanes on the road and calling it a day is a poor way of doing it.
It’s a poor substitute but often it’s the only way to put a bike lane through an area where there isn’t enough road right of way to do a multi use path. I suppose you could divert the lanes far out of the way so they go completely unused but that is seen as a less than smart use of tax money.
As an aside, I think Edmonton has both population density and climate barriers that Chicago, Phoenix, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles don’t, and which make the economic argument a lot harder to justify. I’m not sure it’s straight-up NIMBYism as you seem to suggest.
Re Commonwealth, I’m not sure the city had confirmed its participation in the Women’s World Cup at the time the other work was being planned.