Edmonton Notes for 1/11/2015

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• Want to get involved with a City of Edmonton agency, board, or committee? The City is looking to fill 34 positions. The application deadline is Friday, February 6.
• The City started mailing the 2015 property assessment notices last week (all 362,223 of them), so you should have yours by now! Total taxable value of assessed properties now stands at $122 billion for residential properties and $43 billion for non-residential properties. In total, the City anticipates receiving approximately $1.3 billion from property taxes in 2015, approximately 57% of the Operating Budget.
• In case you missed it, here’s my update on the initiative to end poverty in Edmonton.
• Is Edmonton the saddest Canadian city on Twitter? A new study looked at more than 100,000 tweets from across Canada, and decided we’re pretty sad. Edmontonians don’t appear to agree, which led to the #WhyYEGIsSad hashtag making fun of the results. I will say that 100,000 tweets from across Canada seems like an awfully small sample size; in 2013, Edmontonians posted at least that many tweets in just 2 days.
• The Eskimos announced this week a commitment of $250,000 over five years in scholarship funds to support the University of Alberta Golden Bears football program.
• The fifth annual Edmonton Music Awards are still happening, but three months later than usual on June 14.
• The City of Edmonton picked up Christmas trees on Friday, but if you missed it, you can take yours to a Recycling Depot or one of the Eco Stations. In Leduc, trees will be picked up this week.
• The Edmonton Rush are not off to a great start this season! They lost their home opener on Saturday 14-10.
• The Computer Poker Research Group at the University of Alberta have essentially solved heads-up limit Texas hold ’em poker with a program called Cepheus. It’s a big deal because unlike in chess where all the information about the game is on the board, poker players have imperfect information.
• MacEwan University’s Board of Governors has approved a 2.2% tuition increase to take effect in September 2015.
• There’s a lot of expensive projects underway in Edmonton, but even our biggest didn’t crack the top 20 in ReNew Canada’s Top 100 Projects report. A total of $157.9 billion is being spent on megaprojects across the country.
• On local megaproject, the $375 million Federal Building upgrade, is done with staff and MLAs slated to begin moving in next month.
• The City is looking to export its waste management expertise to China, but there’s some upfront cost involved.
• Pogo CarShare has signed up 350 customers and is looking to expand its fleet to 50 vehicles by the end of March. If you sign up before January 15 with the promo code POGO2015 you’ll get $10 off!
• Here’s a feature on Iconoclast Koffiehuis from The Local Good.
• Looking for a job in the local tech community? Check out the Startup Edmonton jobs board.
• A crowd gathered outside City Hall tonight to remember the victims of the terrorist attacks in France.
• For more headlines from the past week, check out ShareEdmonton.

Kelly Ramsey by Darren Kirby

Upcoming Events

• Quikcard Edmonton Minor Hockey Week continues through Sunday! Here are 20 questions with event chairperson Darrell Davis.
• EEDC’s annual Impact Luncheon takes place on Tuesday at the Shaw Conference Centre.
• The Oil Kings host the Wheat Kings on Tuesday, the Pats on Friday, and the Royals on Sunday.
• The Edmonton Social Planning Council is celebrating its 75th anniversary on Wednesday at City Hall.
• The Edmonton Whiskey Festival takes place at the Delta Edmonton South on Wednesday.
• Dark Matters takes place on Thursday evening at the TELUS World of Science!
• The first Morning News, Edmonton’s News & Journalism Meetup, takes place on Friday morning at Startup Edmonton.
• Sunday is World Snow Day!
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Code Blue by Jeff Wallace