Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:
Headlines
- The originally proposed 3.1% tax increase for 2017 has been trimmed by City Council to 2.85%, which includes 1.5% for neighbourhood renewal and 0.6% for the Valley Line LRT. The budget and tax increase will be finalized by City Council on Tuesday this week.
- One of the successfully funded projects was End Poverty Edmonton which will get $1.265 million next year and $1.178 million in 2018.
- City Council has approved the framework for a Renewable Energy Utility for Blatchford as well as $19.4 million to fund the initial stages of the system.
- Police chief Rod Knecht says he supports the plan for four safe-injection sites in Edmonton.
- It was incredibly cold this weekend so Edmonton Transit kept LRT stations open throughout the night for people to take shelter. More than 50 people did on Friday and Saturday nights. There’s also the Boyle Street Community Services warming bus stocked with hot meals and outerwear.
- The Grand Hotel at 103 Street and 103 Avenue has been completely renovated and will reopen on New Year’s Eve as the Crash Hotel with 25 rooms each featuring a different design. When the project is complete, there will be 71 rooms.
- Congratulations to Calder Bateman on being awarded a Grand Clio, “the highest honour from one of the world’s most prestigious international advertising awards”.
- The Edmonton Police have laid their first drone-related charge against a man operated an UAV “in a dangerous manner in downtown Edmonton in the area of 105 Avenue and 104 Street.”
- Here are five design ideas to cure Edmonton’s winter blues. I think looking at “sneckdowns” is a really interesting idea. Sneckdowns are “the patches of snow left untouched on the side of the road after a storm.”
- In less than an hour on Friday morning, Garth Brooks sold more than 51,000 tickets for his upcoming shows at Rogers Place. As a result, additional shows were added and he’s now playing five nights!
- YouTube has released its top trending videos of 2016 for Canada which includes Edmonton’s Ruth B with the song Lost Boy.
- For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.
Walterdale Bridge, photo by Jeff Wallace
Upcoming Events
- I still haven’t made it down to the Legislature grounds to see the lights yet, but there are still a few weeks to go!
- Also open now for your holiday light viewing pleasure is Candy Cane Lane.
- Zoominescence: Festival of Light takes place on Monday night at the Edmonton Valley Zoo.
- Reconciliation in Solidarity Edmonton (RISE) is celebrating the 1 year anniversary of the release of the TRC Report on Thursday at City Hall. They’re also launching their very own Zine.
- This year’s edition of the Edmonton Singing Christmas Tree gets underway on Thursday at the Jubilee.
- Christmas Reflections kicks off on Friday at Fort Edmonton Park.
- This is really cool! On Saturday from 10am-6pm, you can leave your mark on the Stanley Milner library at the Graffiti Open House.
- Be sure to check out my Winter 2016/2017 Festival & Event Guide for even more holiday & winter related events!
- Get a jump on your New Years Eve planning with Linda’s great listing of events!
- Tis the season for holiday parties, so please plan ahead and get to your destination safely.
- For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.
2016 Krampusnacht, photo by Robert
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