Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:
Headlines
- On Tuesday the Province finally came to the table committing to $600 million in funding to enable the Valley Line LRT to move forward. Premier Alison Redford’s week was mostly downhill from there, however.
- The Province announced it will contribute $30 million over the next three years to help construct MacEwan University’s new academic building. A big piece of the City Centre Campus consolidation plan, the new building will allow the university to grow to more than 17,000 full-time equivalent students. Construction is expected to begin this summer, with the new building slated to open in Fall 2017.
- University of Alberta President Indira Samarasekera announced this week that she will not seek a third term.
- In case you missed it, here is Paula Simons’ smart take on the Future Fund. Mad money indeed.
- The City is conducting a municipal census this year, with door-to-door collection beginning on May 10. But the cool thing is that for the first time ever, you’ll be able to complete the census online! Watch for a letter to arrive before April 10 with instructions.
- Walk Score has produced a list of the best Canadian cities for public transit, and Edmonton comes in at number 8. That’s slightly ahead of Calgary, but far behind Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
- Vickie Kaminski will take over as the new President and CEO of Alberta Health Services on June 2. She comes to the province from Newfoundland & Labrador.
- The City ended 2013 with a small $9.2 million surplus thanks to lower than expected staffing costs and higher revenue from photo radar.
- MoneySense magazine has produced its annual list of the best places to live in Canada, and St. Albert came out on top. Strathcona County was ranked third, with Edmonton coming in eighth. That’s great for St. Albert and Strathcona County but let’s be honest, a big reason they are great places to live is because of their proximity to Edmonton.
- With a 15-7 victory over Calgary, the Edmonton Rush have extended their NLL record start to 10-0, and have clinched a playoff spot now too.
- Will it ever be finished? The cost of the Federal Building renovation has now ballooned to $375 million. It should hopefully open by the end of the year.
- Did Edmonton’s labour market sputter in 2013? Enterprise Edmonton tackles that question.
- EPS has posted the results of Operation 24 Hours for March. Four speeders were clocked doing in excess of 50km/h over the posted limit and a total of 2069 tickets were issued.
- I haven’t yet listened to it, but Omar pointed out that the latest episode of This American Life talks about cheesy city theme songs and Edmonton and Calgary!
- Want to help fix Edmonton’s TripAdvisor profile? There’s a Make Something Edmonton project for that.
- Here are the latest urbanism headlines from Spacing Edmonton.
- The Mercer Warehouse will soon have a coffee shop again: Transcend plans to open a small cafe this summer!
Southwest view of MacEwan’s new Centre for Arts & Culture, by Alberta Innovation & Advanced Education
Upcoming Events
- Downtown Dining Week continues until Sunday!
- The Oilers host Nashville on Tuesday, Buffalo on Thursday, and Calgary on Saturday.
- The next Capital Ideas event is on Wednesday at the Edmonton Journal, and the topic is making social media pay off!
- The Edmonton Rush are back at home on Friday, hosting the Buffalo Bandits at Rexall Place.
- Bust a Move for breast health at the Edmonton Expo Centre on Saturday!
- The Home & Garden Show runs all weekend long at the Edmonton Expo Centre.
- For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.
Mayor Iveson & Premier Redford on the escalator at Churchill Station
MasterMaq's Blog 