Happy Father’s Day! Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:
Headlines
- The Edmonton Public Library has been unanimously named the 2014 Library of the Year by Library Journal magazine, the first time a Canadian library has received the award. Congrats and well deserved!
- City Council approved the Blatchford redevelopment plan this week (you can read my take here). They also moved one step closer to creating an arms-length development company.
- Edmonton is mentioned in a new Fortune article called The New Metropolis: The New Urban Pioneers. It seems they like our approach to municipal planning (The Ways).
- You can catch up on all the other urbanism news in Edmonton at Spacing Edmonton.
- Congratulations to WinterCity on being recognized with a 2014 Award for Planning Excellence (a merit award).
- Sounds like Southgate Mall is getting a bike station. Still no word on a walkway from the LRT station into the mall.
- Don’t miss this episode of The Press Gallery podcast which focuses on The Wildrose efforts to target urban voters.
- Edmonton’s Pride Centre has received an injection of cash from the Province to provide mentoring opportunities to LGBTQ youth in Edmonton. Great news!
- A new report recommends that Edmonton spend $1.4 million on an urban beach in Louise McKinney Riverfront Park.
- A different report would have the City spending more than $150 million on upgrades to Fort Edmonton Park to better highlight the City’s past. I think Fort Edmonton Park is a great attraction, but I’m not sure I want to sink another $150 million into it.
- The Edmonton Oilers have brought Bob Nicholson on board as vice-chairman of the newly formed Oilers Entertainment Group. OilersNation tells us what it all means.
- The City finalized its submission on the new Municipal Government Act this week. This is really just the first step as the new bill isn’t expected until 2018.
- Have you seen the lights on the High Level Bridge? Testing is underway, with the Light the Bridge project on schedule for the official debut on Canada Day.
- Wondering what’s coming up for Taste of Edmonton this year? Liane has a preview.
- On the topic of food, it sounds like chicken bylaws are a popular research question at the City of Edmonton Archives.
Managed to catch a beautiful sunset on the way home tonight
Upcoming Events
- BoingBoing’s Mark Frauenfelder is in town Monday and Tuesday, and the EPL is featuring him at two events.
- On Monday evening, interVivos presents its second annual Citizen Edmonton event at The Common.
- Looking for a date? Rendezvous Club presents its next speed dating event on Tuesday.
- The next Capital Ideas Edmonton event takes place at the Edmonton Journal on Wednesday during lunch. The panel will be discussing the shift from freelancer to entrepreneur. Here’s a recap of their last event.
- Improvaganza kicks off on Wednesday at the Citadel!
- The Works Art & Design Festival starts on Thursday at locations throughout downtown.
- On Friday, the Edmonton International Jazz Festival gets underway.
- Edmonton Opera presents its annual Opera al Fresco on Friday night at the Devonian Botanic Garden.
- Want to have your say on the Evolving Infill plan? The next public meeting is Saturday at the Central Lions Seniors Centre.
- The Hershey’s Track & Field Games take place on Saturday at Foote Field.
- Saturday is an extremely busy day! There’s also the Travel Alberta Instagram Meetup, Zoo Fest, another Big Bin Event, the Highlandia Festival, and the Graffiti Run.
- Head down to Hawrelak Park on Sunday for Pets in the Park!
- For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.
Thanks to everyone who came out to What the Truck?! on Friday!
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