Hoar frost and fog made for a very beautiful winter weekend here in Edmonton (minus the collisions I guess). I hope you had some time to enjoy it. Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:
Headlines
- A new poll from Mainstreet and Postmedia found increasing approval ratings for Mayor Don Iveson, while Council as a whole ranked dead last out of the 10 Canadian cities polled.
- Thousands of Edmontonians marched on the Legislature grounds on Saturday, one of the thousands of Women’s March on Washington events that took place around the world this weekend to protest against U.S. President Donald Trump.
- Alberta Premier Rachel Notley reconfigured her cabinet and split the human services department into two ministries this week.
- Population growth in Edmonton means we should have another seat in the Alberta Legislature, probably in the southwest, which would increase the number of local seats to 20.
- The City has shared an update on its Infill Roadmap. “The City has made significant progress on all of the 23 action items identified in the plan, with 15 completed and the remaining 8 in the process of being implemented.”
- City Council will consider letting Northlands defer payments on its Expo Centre loan until March 2018.
- Commonwealth Games Canada has not approved the City’s request to extend the “First Right of Acceptance” deadline to bid to become Canada’s candidate city for the 2026 games. So if Edmonton goes ahead with a bid, it may be in competition with other Canadian cities.
- Downtown Proud has five new cleaning carts thanks to a donation from the Building Owners and Managers Association. The crew does such a great job, I’m happy to see they’re getting proper equipment to help make the work easier.
- Compost heaps could be helping to attract coyotes to backyards in the city, according to a new study by the Urban Coyote Project.
- Local racer Stefan Rzadzinski defeated Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi and former F1 driver Scott Speed in the Race of Champions Nations Cup before being knocked out in a later round.
- Some daytime parking rates near Rogers Place have been reduced recently thanks to changes in the amount of construction and a resulting impact on demand.
- Cindy has decided she’s going to cook through the book Edmonton Cooks this year. That’s 75 recipes! I look forward to following along.
- For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.
Frozen Raspberries, photo by Dave Sutherland
Upcoming Events
- There are 2017 Neighbourhood Reconstruction Open Houses taking place this week for Strathearn, Montrose, Kilkenny, Belgravia, and McKernan.
- The Edmonton Career Fair & Training Expo takes place at the Shaw Conference Centre on Tuesday.
- Hope to see you on Tuesday evening at CCIS on the University of Alberta campus for DemoCamp Edmonton 34.
- The first weekend of Ice on Whyte kicks off on Thursday at End of Steel Park!
- The Edmonton Renovation Show takes place Friday through Sunday at the Edmonton Expo Centre.
- Also taking place this weekend (Saturday & Sunday) at the Edmonton Expo Centre is the Pet Expo.
- The Oil Kings host the Prince George Cougars on both Saturday and Sunday.
- Startup Edmonton and the U of A’s Computer Engineering Club are hosting a 24-hour hackathon on the weekend.
- The 2017 Alberta Student Leadership Summit takes place on Saturday at the University of Alberta.
- Grab your skates and head over to City Hall on Sunday for Swing ‘n Skate Sundays.
- Save the date for the next Green Drinks event – February 1 at Yellowhead Brewery.
- Cultivating Connections, a forum on regional food systems, is coming up in Edmonton from February 3-5.
- Be sure to check out my Guide to Winter Festivals & Events in Edmonton! There are still lots of great winter events to come.
- For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.
Ice Castles Edmonton
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