Edmonton Notes for September 24, 2017

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• The new Walterdale Bridge opened to traffic for the first time on Monday morning. Two of the three lanes are open with the third and the new pedestrian sidewalk both expected to open in October. I’m surprised to hear that the old Walterdale Bridge is already being taken down and is expected to be gone by the end of the year.
• Hanging Iron is a half-hour documentary that followed ironworkers at the Walterdale Bridge job site. Who knew!
• Looking for the latest municipal election news? Here’s my latest Edmonton Election Update. Monday was Nomination Day – there are a record 131 candidates running in this year’s election.
• Annual inflation rose to 1.1% in August in the Edmonton CMA, while unemployment rose to 8.7% despite the addition of approximately 2,000 new positions.
• Say goodbye to parking enforcement officers: they are being replaced by a new robo-parking patrol system. The City hopes to have it up and running by the spring.
• A parking stall in the 32-storey Ultima Tower has sold for $75,000 according to developer Westrich Pacific.
• This year the Edmonton Urban Design Awards has a People’s Choice Award. There are 44 submissions and you’ve got until September 26 to vote.
• A new economic impact assessment commissioned by the Professional Arts Coalition of Edmonton found that “arts organizations in Edmonton spent $98 Million last year, paying out just over $20 Million to artists.”
• The City of Edmonton Youth Council is accepting applications for the next Youth Poet Laureate. The deadline to apply is September 29.
• There’s a new game on Steam that lets you take the historic streetcar across the High Level Bridge!
• The results of Vue Weekly’s Best of Edmonton for 2017 are now available. Thanks once again for recognizing this blog in the Best Local Affairs Blog category, runner-up this year to the fantastic Daveberta.ca.
• The next application deadline for the Edmonton Community Foundation’s Young Edmonton Grants Program is coming up on October 15.
• We got an early peek at winter on Tuesday morning as wet snow fell throughout the city, but it didn’t last long, and the week ahead looks great with highs of 22 degrees!
• Did you take advantage of Free Admission Day today? If so, the City is looking for your feedback.
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

Walterdale Bridge, photo by IQRemix

Upcoming Events

• The City’s series of all-candidate forums kick off this week. “Open to all citizens, the forums give voters the opportunity to hear from and ask questions of the mayoral and city councillor candidates.”
• Edmonton Design Week is underway with events at various locations throughout the city. It runs through the end of the month.
• The Edmonton Urban Design Awards Jury is hosting a free talk on Monday night at the Art Gallery of Alberta, where each jury member will speak about a design project they have worked on.
• Edmonton Made is launching Gifted, a local gift catalogue, on Monday evening at the Hyatt Place Hotel.
• The Business Link is running a free Business Model Canvas Workshop on Tuesday afternoon.
• The next event in EPL’s Forward Thinking Speaker Series takes place on Tuesday evening at the Chateau Lacombe with Canada’s 19th Prime Minister, Rt. Honourable Kim Campbell, and former Deputy Prime Minister, the Honourable Anne McLellan.
• Learn about quantum computing with D-Wave at a free lecture at the University of Alberta on Thursday evening.
• The Harlem Globetrotters are in town on Friday and Saturday at the Edmonton Expo Centre.
• Alberta Culture Days takes place on the weekend throughout the Province. There are plenty of local events happening, like the free public art walking tours being hosted by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
• Edmonton Oktoberfest takes place on Friday and Saturday at the Edmonton Expo Centre.
• The fall edition of the Edmonton RV Show takes place Friday through Sunday at the Edmonton Expo Centre.
• The Garden Brothers Circus is in town at the Shaw Conference Centre on Saturday and Sunday.
• Eileen Bell is launching her new book celebrating women’s softball at John Fry Park on Saturday afternoon.

New Walterdale Bridge, photo by Jeff Wallace