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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