Edmonton Notes for October 6, 2019

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• New data shows that Indigenous peoples and racial minorities are disproportionately ticketed on Edmonton Transit. Since 2009, Indigenous peoples have received 43.8% of all tickets when race is recorded despite making up just 6% of the city’s population.
• What happened at Council this week is kind of hard to follow, but essentially it boils down to Councillor Cartmell pressing the wrong button. We’ve got much more on that in the latest episode of Speaking Municipally.
• The latest Vital Signs report shows that just 55% of residents rate quality of life in Edmonton as very good or excellent. “We found this was a very pessimistic year for attitudes in general,” Elizabeth Bonkink, communications advisor for Edmonton Community Foundation, said on Tuesday.
• A new report from the Edmonton Public School Board "shows students were placed in seclusion rooms 716 times in the first month of school, offering the first district-wide view of the controversial practice."
• According to new data from the Realtors Association of Edmonton, the average price of residential homes is continuing to fall.
• Councillor Aaron Paquette would like voters heading to the polls on Oct. 21 to ride for free. "I take voting very seriously and I think I take the ability to allow other people to vote very seriously," Paquette said.
• ParityBOT uses artificial intelligence to "identify hateful or abusive tweets directed at female candidates" which it then responds to with a positive tweet. "The software, which relies heavily on language filters, was engineered by Edmonton-based ParityYEG in collaboration with the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute and artificial intelligence scientist Kory Mathewson."
• Kirk MacLeod has photographed the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald from his 15th floor office window nearly every work day for six years. "It’s a super spectacular view. In my life I’ve had views of parking lots and parkades, and, for a few years, a basement with no windows. So this is pretty amazing," he said.
• Rogers Place has introduced a new lineup of food and drinks including Panko-crusted pickles and Granville Island beer.
• Get the latest on Media, Tech, Food, Health Innovation, the Region, Music, Arts, Business, and Council with Taproot Edmonton’s latest roundups.

Fall for Edmonton, photo by Kurt Bauschardt

Upcoming Events

• Edmonton Design Week is underway and runs until Friday!
• This week is also Fire Prevention Week.
• The Edmonton Social Planning Council is hosting a Vital Signs lunch & learn on Tuesday at the EPL Enterprise Square branch.
• The Alberta Podcasting Network is hosting the Edmonton Podcasting Get-Together on Tuesday evening at the ATB Entrepreneur Centre.
• Green Drinks: Climate Politics takes place on Wednesday evening at Yellowhead Brewery.
• Alberta Blue Cross is hosting the Wellness Summit on Thursday at the Renaissance Edmonton Airport Hotel.
• The iTech Conference takes place on Thursday at the Edmonton Convention Centre.
• The Downtown Business Association is hosting its 2019 Fall Lunch on building innovation on Thursday at the JW Marriott Edmonton.
• Unrealized: Edmonton’s Unbuilt Heritage runs until Oct. 25 at Edmonton City Centre with the opening reception taking place Thursday night. The exhibit "examines the projects that would have shaped Edmonton, and the reasons they did not become a reality."
• Edmonton is hosting a regional qualifier for the Canadian Culinary Championships on Thursday night at the Edmonton Convention Centre, part of Canada’s Great Kitchen Party.
• Robert Saik will talk about how we feed the future and "how technology convergence is reshaping the farm and the consumer" in the next Lougheed College Lectures event on Thursday evening at the TELUS Centre.
• The 2019 RISE Awards will be celebrated on Thursday evening at the Edmonton EXPO Centre.
• The Edmonton Fall Rock n Gem Show runs Thursday to Sunday at the Alberta Aviation Museum.
• Luke Combs performs on Friday night at Rogers Place.
• Shinedown performs with Papa Roach on Friday night at the Edmonton Convention Centre.
• The Edmonton Downtown Farmers Market moves away from 104 Street on Saturday for the first market inside the GWG building on 97 Street in The Quarters.
• The Edmonton Eskimos will host the BC Lions on Saturday evening at Commonwealth Stadium.

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