Edmonton Notes for 7/5/2015

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• Avenue Edmonton’s annual list of Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People was released on Monday. Notably absent? Mayor Iveson.
• As outgoing University of Alberta President Indira Samarasekera reflects back on ten years in the role, David Turpin begins his term as the university’s 13th president.
• The Edmonton Public Library has opened its first storefront library location, the West Henday eplGO Branch, which features a sampling of EPL’s core services. The branch is located at 818 Webber Greens Drive and includes a mini makerspace, public computers, free wi-fi, and popular programs like Sing, Sign, Laugh and Learn.
• Friday was outgoing EPL CEO Linda Cook’s last day. Looking back at her 18 years with EPL, she says eliminating membership fees in 2013 was “the highlight of my career.”
• If you’d like to dive into the Government of Alberta’s 2014-2015 annual report, it is now online along with ministry annual reports and the Heritage Savings Trust Fund annual report. “On the Consolidated Financial Statements basis, the government had a surplus of $1.1 billion. On the fiscal plan basis, the surplus was $1.4 billion.”
• Does the Edmonton Police Service really need a new headquarters?
• The City’s 2015 Annual Growth Monitoring Report is now available online. Edmonton “continues to grow ‘up’, ‘in’, and ‘out’,” it says. Not all equally, mind you.
• You may have already seen a recap of DIYcity, but not like this: Chris Gusen and Robin Mazumder tried to visit as many project sites as possible by bike with a GoPro.
• Edmonton Digital Arts College has announced it is relocating from the Mercer Warehouse to the Alberta Block (the old CKUA Building) on Jasper Avenue at 105 Street.
• Ever wonder who the voice of the LRT is? Turns out it’s Paul Boucher, a voice actor from Calgary.
• New turf is being installed at Foote Field this summer and it will feature a gold-colored “Varsity A” logo at the centre with University of Alberta logos in the endzones.
• Here are the latest urbanism headlines from Spacing Edmonton. Lots of good stuff there, like this article on why trucks keep getting stuck under the High Level Bridge.
• I was quite interested to read about the Abundant Community Initiative, which aims to turn strangers into neighbours.
• From Elise Stolte: Infill horror stories easy to find, as complaints from neighbours over damaged homes escalate. It sounds to me like a lot of the issues really aren’t the City’s problem, but Paula Simons does make a good point that a lack of action could turn people against infill. Here’s a response from IDEA: “IDEA is not here to protect bad developers. We are here to raise the bar of infill in Edmonton by encouraging developers to be better neighbours.”
• Here is the 2015 Q1 Report to the Community from the Edmonton Police Commission and Edmonton Police Service. Both property crime and violent crime increased compared to the same time frame in 2014.
• A busy summer continues for the Oilers, with organizational changes for the Oilers Entertainment Group being announced on Friday.
• And of course, they agreed to terms with Connor McDavid on a three-year entry level contract.
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

Connor McDavid, photo by Connor Mah

Upcoming Events

• The Historic Festival & Doors Open Edmonton takes place all week! Sharon and I are looking forward to getting a peek inside some buildings that are normally off-limits.
• Sand on Whyte and the Street Performers Festival both run all week, south and north of the river, respectively.
• You can still catch performances of As You Like It and Coriolanus at the Freewill Shakespeare Festival in Hawrelak Park this week.
• Family Nature Nights are 2 hour long events taking place on Wednesdays over the next two months. The first is this week, on Wetlands.
• The Edmonton Eskimos host the Ottawa REDBLACKS at Commonwealth Stadium on Thursday evening.
• We hope to see you at Northlands Park on Friday night for our next What the Truck?! event, co-located with Park After Dark. Thanks to The Local Good for this feature on What the Truck?!.
• Friday is also the kickoff for this year’s Whyte Avenue Art Walk, which runs all weekend long.
• Edmonton’s Track Town Classic takes place on Saturday and Sunday at Foote Field.
• Saturday is the launch of Edmonton’s new Green Living Guide, “an easy to read guidebook with pictures, tips and tricks, and valuable information about living a greener life.”
• I’m looking forward to checking out the Summer Market in Chinatown on Saturday.
• Head over to Borden Park on Sunday for the Edmonton Arts Council’s 20th Anniversary Summer Party.
• The Mill Woods Living Heritage project is hosting an interesting event on Sunday called Imaging Mill Woods at the Ridgewood Community Hall.
• Every Sunday at La Cite Francophone, you can take in the French Quarter Grand Market.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

England won the bronze, photo by IQRemix