Edmonton Notes for June 10, 2018

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• The Edmonton Pride Parade was very well attended yesterday even with a bit of rain! The parade was interrupted briefly by protestors demanding that police and military be prohibited from marching in future parades. Organizers agreed and have banned them from future parades “until the community feels that they have taken the necessary steps for all community members to feel safe with their presence.” Though many think of the Pride Parade as a big party nowadays, it has always been about activism and political struggle. It started in 1980 and “many people who took part wore paper bags on their heads because they were afraid of losing their jobs.”
• The Province introduced changes to support transgender and gender-diverse Albertans this week by enabling all Albertans “to choose Female, Male or “X” on their driver’s licences, ID cards and vital statistics records, such as birth certificates and death certificates.”
• Ward 11 Councillor Mike Nickel announced this week he is seeking the United Conservative Party nomination in Edmonton-South. “I want to go some place where I can keep pushing that agenda, where we are going to measure what we are going to do. I want results,” he said.
• Edmonton will be launching a pilot project in October with the Pacific Western Group of Companies to test electric autonomous vehicles manufactured by EasyMile (Calgary is doing one in September). “The pilot will give Edmontonians the opportunity to ride in the autonomous vehicle and provide feedback to the City of Edmonton.”
• Councillors Sarah Hamilton and Bev Esslinger wrote an opinion column in the Edmonton Journal arguing for the implementation of the GBA+ program, “an internationally recognized analytical tool used to examine how the diverse needs of citizens are served by policies, programs, services and initiatives.”
• Here’s the latest on the City of Edmonton’s harassment investigations from Elise Stolte: “Since November, when Edmonton was forced to hire an external company to take complaints and investigate them, more than 400 of the city’s 14,000 employees called with allegations. Sixty of those required a formal investigation.”
• It’s official: FC Edmonton will play in the Canadian Premier League when it debuts next spring. “FC Edmonton is owned and operated by the Fath Group headed up by Tom and Dave Fath. Jay Ball will lead operations of FC Edmonton as General Manager.” The club has also introduced a new brand identity with updated colors and a new crest.
• City Council decided this week not to go ahead with the proposed moratorium on raves. Instead, they’ll receive a report in October on harm reduction strategies and other safety plans.
• A new report suggests around 1,100 intersections need upgrades to support smart technology. It could cost $150 million to upgrade them all.
• The City of Edmonton has partnered with IFTTT for a new light installation at City Hall that translates air quality data into colour. “The light installation uses open-source code first developed by the City of Louisville. Jan Mußenbrock, an Edmonton developer with BetaCityYEG, used IFTTT to turn code into a bridge between Wi-Fi light bulbs and the Province of Alberta’s air quality health index data. The index is updated every five minutes.”
• Liz Nicholls has all the details on the 31st annual Sterling Awards nominations. The awards will be presented on June 25.
• Nearly 600 bicycles have already been stolen this year, so police are reminding cyclists “to take the time to ensure their bikes are properly locked up.” Last year, 2,171 bikes were stolen.
• Edmonton will study what other cities are doing to get rid of plastic straws and facilitate other plastic-reduction strategies. Councillor Henderson says “there’s an awful lot that still goes into landfill and there’s an awful lot that still goes into our water stream.” We did a story on plastic waste at Taproot back in September.
• Bill 10: An Act to Enable Clean Energy Improvements passed 3rd reading this week. “The City of Edmonton advocated for this tool since 2011,” tweeted Mike Mellross, Program Manager of Energy Transition at the City of Edmonton.
• “That’s right, sometimes in Edmonton we order you to wear a fanny pack,” tweets Jana Pruden. Haha!
• As of Thursday, only 4,000 tickets were left for the 2018 Grey Cup taking place here in Edmonton.
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

Premier Notley celebrates Edmonton Pride, photo by Premier of Alberta

Upcoming Events

• Indulgence takes place on Monday evening at the Delta Edmonton South.
• The 2018 Salute to Excellence Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony takes place at the Winspear Centre on Monday night.
• The McCauley Garden Crawl is hosting its first event on Tuesday! They are doing one crawl per month through the summer.
• Eats on 118 returns with its first food tour of the season on Wednesday evening.
• Improvaganza starts on Wednesday and runs to June 23.
• Olympic athlete Jen Kish is speaking at the ATB Financial Arts Barns on Thursday evening.
• The ESO presents The Lord of the Rings Symphony at the Winspear Centre from Thursday to Saturday.
• This year the Night Market Edmonton takes place at the Alberta Aviation Museum on Friday and Saturday.
• Pure Spec 2018 runs Friday and Saturday at the Alberta Avenue Community Hall!
• The Beaumont Blues & Roots Festival takes place Friday to Sunday.
• They don’t call it “Super Saturday” for nothing! This year you can check out the Mercer Summer Super Party, Porkapalooza, WTS Kids of Steel, the Highlandia Festival, the 40th anniversary of LRT in Edmonton, and much more!
• IDEA’s 2018 Edmonton Infill Tour takes place on Saturday at various locations around the city.
• ZooFest, a fundraising event in support of the Valley Zoo Development Society, takes place on Sunday evening at the zoo.
• Save the date: Edmonton’s NextGen presents MEAET powered by Pecha Kucha Night on Wednesday, June 20 at Kingsway Mall.
• Plan your calendar with Taproot Edmonton’s 2018 guide to summer festivals and events! It includes 75+ happenings you can look forward to this summer in and around the city.

2018 City Hall School Citizenship Fair

Thanks for reading! Want to support my blog? Buy me a coffee!