Edmonton Notes for 1/17/2016

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• Ever wonder why so many things in Edmonton and Alberta are named after Winston Churchill? Michael Hingston did, so he looked into and discovered a fascinating history.
• While we’re wondering about names, isn’t it weird that so many restaurants have numbers in their names? Lisa Wolansky explains them all, from Ampersand 27 to XIX Nineteen.
• The City says that an independent survey shows that 87% of Edmontonians who recently called 311 were satisfied with the experience. Last year, 311 fielded approximately 2.1 million calls from Edmontonians and more than 12,000 service requests have now been submitted through the mobile app.
• If you live in Ward 12 and will be unable to vote at the Advance Vote (February 8-11) or on Election Day (February 22) you can now request special ballots.
• Have you got a great winter drink idea? The 3rd annual Winter Signature Drink Competition is now underway. Submissions are being accepted until January 31, with online voting running February 1-10.
• If you’d like to test your home’s energy efficiency, you can now get a Green Home Energy Toolkit from the public library to do just that.
• Apparently six deals for new developments on contaminated old gas station sites have been signed, with four more on the way. Some of these sites have been empty for years though, so let’s not count our chickens before they’ve hatched, ok?
• Matthew Dance is looking for collaborators with technical skills to help transform the Naming Edmonton book into open data. Sounds like my kind of project! Speaking of open data, Edmonton’s initiative has been ranked #1 in Canada.
• A year after the Roxy Theatre burned down, headway is being made on plans to rebuild the theatre. It could cost as much as $7.5 million to do that.
• The Oilers have signed goaltender Cam Talbot to a three-year contract extension.
• This is kind of neat: the U of A’s Canadian Mountain Studies Initiative and Parks Canada are working together to produce a new MOOC called Mountains 101, launching next fall.
• The Edmonton International Film Festival is now a qualifying event for short films for the Academy Awards!
• Heads up: ETS cash fares are increasing as of February 1, 2016 by a nickel. The last increase came in 2013.
• I’m sure you’ve heard the back-and-forth between Kevin O’Leary and Rachel Notley. Let me just say her quip was amazing.
• Don’t miss Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi’s op ed: We’re finally going to stop subsidizing sprawl. I hope this rekindles debate here in Edmonton too.
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

Grant Notley Park, photo by lubna.780

Upcoming Events

• City Council is back at work this week! Community Services Committee meets Monday, Executive Committee meets Tuesday, and Transportation Committee meets Wednesday. Here’s my look at the major issues Council will need to deal with in 2016.
• Make Something Edmonton is hosting a Project Accelerator Grant Meetup on Monday night at the Yellowhead Brewery. This one is the winter edition!
• 100 Women Who Care Edmonton is hosting its Winter 2016 Meeting at Lexus of Edmonton on Tuesday.
• The Oil Kings host the Moose Jaw Warriors on Tuesday and the Everett Silvertips on Friday.
• Head over to the Edmonton Journal at lunch on Wednesday for the next Capital Ideas Edmonton event.
• On Wednesday evening, Hacking Health Edmonton is hosting a cafe event at Startup Edmonton featuring Dr. Denis Vincent.
• The next Dark Matters at the TELUS World of Science takes place on Thursday.
• Ice on Whyte kicks off on Thursday! It runs all weekend and then takes a break until the 28th.
• The Oilers host the Predators on Saturday night. The Oilers are currently last in the Pacific Division with a 18-23-5 record.
• Like yoga? How about cats? Then don’t miss Cat Yoga at the Edmonton Humane Society on Saturday! You can read about Linda’s experience here.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Late Night Ride on Transit, photo by IQRemix