Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• Beginning August 1, face coverings will be required indoors at all City-owned and operated facilities as well as while riding on Edmonton Transit. Though City Council’s summer recess is underway, Mayor Don Iveson has called a special meeting for Wednesday, July 29 to discuss making masks mandatory in all publicly accessible spaces.
• The Edmonton Football Club announced on July 21 that it would discontinue the use of the word "Eskimo" in the team’s name and will be known as EE Football Team or Edmonton Football Team in the meantime. The team is going to try to keep the EE logo and colors, but it’ll take months for a new name to be selected. After the announcement was made, sales of clothing and other items with the old name spiked. I though this take on the news was pretty clever.
• From the very-creative-accounting department: "Premier Jason Kenney estimates that Edmonton being a hub city for the remaining games of the NHL season will add $40 million to the province’s GDP and create at least 1,500 jobs."
• The NHL says the bubble will be strictly enforced as teams have started arriving in the city. There are a number of road and sidewalk closures now in place around Ice District. At least the City (and thus taxpayers) is not paying for it!
• The Government of Alberta announced that in-person classes will resume pretty much as normal in September. Masks will not be mandated for staff or students. My friend Megan, a teacher, shared her thoughts on the news.
• The temporary shelter at the Edmonton EXPO Centre will close by July 31, but right now there’s no replacement plan in place. "Between 400 and 600 people used the drop-in shelter daily since it opened in March, while dozens with COVID-19 symptoms have been sent to the isolation side."
• Edmonton’s first Black-Owned Market "saw a massive outpouring of community support Saturday," reports Global News. Follow them on Instagram to find out about upcoming events.
• Edmonton Transit has unveiled its first 21 electric buses, built by Proterra. ETS is the first customer in North America to put the 40-foot Proterra Catalyst E2 max vehicle with 660 kWh of onboard energy into service (the new buses will start in August).
• After pausing the search on March 30 to allow Administration to focus on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the City Manager Recruitment Committee has resumed its activities and will report back to City Council in August.
• At the July 23 update, the Province said there were 232 active cases of COVID-19 in the Edmonton zone.
• Get the latest on Media, Tech, Food, Health Innovation, the Region, Music, Arts, Business, and Council with Taproot Edmonton’s latest roundups.

Upcoming Events (July 27-August 2)

The vast majority of upcoming events have been cancelled or postponed. If you’re unsure, just stay home – especially if you’re feeling sick.

Most of Taproot’s weekly roundups have a curated selection of virtual events.

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Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• Council is now on summer recess after wrapping up the debate on policing and community safety with an underwhelming decision. The key takeaways included an $11 million reduction to the police budget increase, spread over the next two years, and the establishment of a new task force.
• The Province announced up to $120 million to complete the expansion of Terwillegar Drive, despite the project not appearing on the list of prioritized, shovel-ready projects that the City submitted recently.
• The Edmonton Eskimos released another statement on the team’s name, this week. "We will be seeking further input from the Inuit, our partners and other stakeholders to inform our decisions moving forward," it reads. Now that the sponsors are speaking up (Belair Direct and Boston Pizza) maybe they’ll finally change the name.
• We spoke about the policing motion, COVID-19 financial update, and renewed calls to rename the Edmonton Eskimos in Episode 92 of Speaking Municipally.
• The Misericordia Community Hospital closed to new patients and cancelled all surgeries this week after an outbreak of COVID-19. At least six people have died at the hospital as a result of the outbreak.
• "From May 20 to July 6, Edmonton had 204 millimetres of rain, almost double the average rainfall of 107 millimetres for the time period," reports CBC News. Sounds like we can expect more of the same throughout the summer.
• Alpin Sun plans to develop a 627-acre, 120-megawatt solar farm at the Edmonton International Airport. Slated to be operational by the end of 2022, the project will bring "an estimated $169 million in foreign direct investment to the Edmonton Metro Region."
• It’s official: Edmonton and Toronto are the NHL’s hub cities. Games are supposed to start August 1. Just don’t expect any sort of meaningful economic boost.
• Great question on the NHL hub city from University of Alberta public-health specialist Dr. Hakique Virani. We asked people to stop weddings, funerals, and other events due to the pandemic. “The question people may ask is, if we made sacrifices in the interest of the common good and public health, what is it about hockey that is more important than my family, my job and my life?”
• Edmonton’s unemployment rate was the highest among major cities in June at 15.7% according to Statistics Canada.
• They may have cancelled the e-bike rebate, but Council can’t cancel the enthusiasm people have for e-bikes. Local shops said the demand was extraordinary.
• ICYMI: Linda Hoang drove a ton of business to Yoshii Express, a new Japanese restaurant on Whyte Avenue. She followed that up with the #AdoptAShopYEG campaign to support small businesses.
• The Independent Council Compensation Committee is inviting input on the pay levels and benefits for City Council. An online survey is available until July 27.
• Get the latest on Media, Tech, Food, Health Innovation, the Region, Music, Arts, Business, and Council with Taproot Edmonton’s latest roundups.

Upcoming Events (July 13-19)

The vast majority of upcoming events have been cancelled or postponed. If you’re unsure, just stay home – especially if you’re feeling sick.

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Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• The City is projecting an additional $20.2 million shortfall for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Council will get a financial update on Monday.
• The debate on policing and community safety will continue this week with Council considering a number of amendments to the main motion that was made a few weeks ago. It seems likely that any budget adjustments would be limited to about $11 million and won’t be official until the fall budget discussions.
• Edmonton will not require people to wear masks after the Emergency Advisory Committee considered the idea on Thursday. "Face coverings are recommended, but they are not mandated," said Dr. Chris Sikora, medical officer of health with Alberta Health Services. The Province will be distributing another 20 million masks starting July 13, once again through drive-thru locations.
• Kris Harvey and Victoria Balint recently recovered from COVID-19 and are calling for discussing the illness to be normalized. "I think a lot of people are ashamed to even mention they’ve been tested or they’re isolating or they’ve tested positive," said Harvey.
• Council voted 10-3 to put the $100,000 e-bike rebate program on hold for 2021-22. Only Mayor Don Iveson, Councillor Aaron Paquette, and Councillor Ben Henderson voted to keep the program. Troy and I focused on this in Episode 91 of Speaking Municipally.
• Council voted 10-1 to transfer four parcels of land to Homeward Trust to building roughly 150 units of permanent supportive housing. Only Councillor Nickel opposed the decision.
• The City is reopening recreation centres this month, starting with fitness centres and gyms at five locations on July 6. Pools and other facilities will reopen later this month.
• Edmonton Police are going to start monitoring some streets with CCTV cameras this summer. Eight have already been installed.
• You’ve got to check out Linda’s post about Yoshii Express and the incredible response to her social posts about the new restaurant.
• The Edmonton Public Library will offer a new "Library Express Checkout" option at the Clareview, Lois Hole, and Mill Woods branches.
• Rumor has it that Edmonton and Toronto have been selected as the NHL’s two hub cities, but we’re still waiting for the official announcement. I like the Oilers and I’ll definitely watch on TV, but there had better not be any public money spent on this.
• The Edmonton Eskimos have released wide receiver Christion Jones for a homophobic tweet he posted last weekend.
• New fire chief Joe Zatylny will focus on mental health, wellness, and increasing diversity and inclusion, reports the Edmonton Journal.
• John Rose, the City of Edmonton’s chief economist, has died.
• Get the latest on Media, Tech, Food, Health Innovation, the Region, Music, Arts, Business, and Council with Taproot Edmonton’s latest roundups.

Upcoming Events (July 6-12)

The vast majority of upcoming events have been cancelled or postponed. If you’re unsure, just stay home – especially if you’re feeling sick.

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