Here are my latest Edmonton notes!

Taproot Edmonton Presents: Igniting Innovation

Our new podcast, Taproot Edmonton Presents, launched this week with Igniting Innovation, a six-part series exploring how startups and investors are coming together in Edmonton’s tech innovation sector. Here’s the trailer.

The first episode features Zack Storms, founder and chief organizer of Startup TNT, and his wife, Keren Tang, an angel investor with the Startup TNT Investment Summit. They share stories about building and fostering relationships with entrepreneurs and investors in Edmonton’s tech innovation sector, plus discuss diversity and the challenges the community is facing.

We’re releasing new episode every week through to the Investment Summit on Nov. 19. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Lined up for Little Brick

Sharon and I went to Little Brick this afternoon for coffee and a cookie and to check out their winterized patio. We found a long line but decided to wait. It took 45 minutes from arrival to having our coffee in hand.

While Little Brick is a great example of a winter patio, with shelter from the wind, heaters, and fireplaces, few are going to wait that long when it’s colder. A lineup isn’t something I had considered when talking about winter patios on Speaking Municipally recently.

It’s a great sign that so many people are wanting to support local businesses though, and I hope that demand continues (and can be met) throughout the winter.

Other recent headlines

• The City of Edmonton’s 2020 Employee Experience Survey found that employees are feeling disconnected due to the pandemic and "uneasy as a result of discussions around temporary layoffs service level changes and workforce reductions." It was completed by nearly 5,600 employees, or about a third of the City’s workforce.
• CBC reports that the rise in online shopping during the pandemic has led to increased demand for warehouses in Edmonton. That’s interesting, and is perhaps further proof that the pandemic is simply accelerating trends that were already underway.
• Parity Cup will hold monthly challenges starting Nov. 1 to encourage more women to run for office in Edmonton and Calgary in next year’s municipal election. Great idea!
• More than 470 local businesses have been assisted by the Economic Recovery Grant Program, according to the City of Edmonton. Most have used the funds for personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies.

For more recent headlines, check out the latest from Taproot Edmonton.

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Here are my latest Edmonton notes!

One year until the municipal election

Edmonton’s next municipal election is exactly one year away: Oct. 18, 2021. And while it does feel early to be talking about the horse race, that gates have opened nonetheless. A number of candidates have announced their intention to run for mayor.

Among them is Councillor Andrew Knack. "Yes, considering it but recognizing there might be some really excellent people that I think would be even better mayors who are considering it right now," he told CTV News.

I think Councillor Knack is a wonderful councillor and I can absolutely see how he’d make a great mayor someday. Perhaps that is why Councillor Mike Nickel continues to attack him online. They couldn’t be more opposite.

I was very happy to see so many Edmontonians from across the city chime in on Twitter to defend Councillor Knack this weekend. And I have to imagine that most of council is wishing they could redo the sanction hearing.

Other recent headlines

• I’m glad to see the temporary patio program has been extended until March 31, 2021. Who knows whether Edmontonians will be willing to eat outside in the cold, but at least now restaurants that want to find out can try. Well, except in situations when the City denies fantastic ideas like Tiramisu Bistro’s proposed igloos. Troy and I talked about this on the podcast and I ranted a bit about winter patios. Heaters are helpful, but protection from the wind is what is what we really need!
• The City has begun installing new bus stop signs in anticipation of the new bus network that will launch in April. They feature improved accessibility and "indicate a significant and exciting transit change is coming." I look forward to seeing them in person.
• A brand new LEGO store is set to open in Phase IV at West Edmonton Mall in November. I’m sure plans were underway well before the pandemic but still this must have a challenging time to launch an "experiential" store.
• The Whitemud Creek Coal Mine, located near Snow Valley, was Edmonton’s last. It operated from 1952 to 1970. "In the hundred years of coal mining in Edmonton, 160 mines and prospects covered 3260 acres and produced 15 million tons of coal."

For more recent headlines, check out the latest from Taproot Edmonton.

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

Here are my latest Edmonton notes!

Mayor Iveson pledges to end homelessness this fall

Mayor Don Iveson amped up his messaging around ending homelessness this week, saying that city council is "all in" and that he would do "whatever it takes" to deliver dignified shelter for all people by the end of the month.

While the ambition to end homelessness is nothing new, the urgency certainly seems to be. Five years ago, the mayor was talking about eliminating poverty "within a generation." While EndPovertyEdmonton is about much more than housing, that is a big part of it.

Now we’re talking about less than a month. That’s no doubt because of the throne speech, which included "an historic commitment ‘completely eliminate chronic homelessness’" in Canada. The promise of federal money seems to have opened the door, and COVID-19 has made it potentially more affordable (the pandemic has also compounded Canada’s housing crisis, as FCM states, better exposing the problem).

Not that cost has ever really been a barrier. As a society we’ve long had the ability to completely eliminate chronic homelessness, but instead of spending less upfront to prevent the problem we’ve spent more after the fact to manage it. That’s true at all levels of government.

Here in Edmonton, we spend well over $400 million every year on policing. It’s perhaps the single largest line-item in the municipal budget. This summer, the suggestion that we take some of that money and spend it on housing instead came up repeatedly. Councillor Michael Walters had something really interesting to say about this in the latest episode of Speaking Municipally (around the 38 minute mark):

"It could go to housing, we could do that, that makes sense to me," he said. "But then we’re into this jurisdictional problem where the more we take on with our property tax base when its provincial jurisdiction, that’s the money we’re never going to get from the Province, ever…that’s the challenge."

There’s a window of opportunity now to address this important challenge with support from the federal government, avoiding the issue Walters mentioned with the provincial government. Just in time too, as the temperature continues to drop.

Other recent headlines

• The Edmonton City as Museum Project hosted an "ECAMPing Trip" on Thursday focused on Edmonton’s identities. The entire video is full of interesting information, including the connection to rail in the reason why EIA’s airport code is YEG and not YED. The section on YEG starts around 1 hour, 4 minutes and includes a shoutout to me for the first #YEG tweet.
• The Association for Canadian Studies suggests that of six Canadian urban centres survey, Edmonton is seeing the most people avoiding downtown. That’s concerning for lots of reasons, though it’s not clear why more people are avoiding downtown here. Lots of folks are working from home, and many businesses downtown remain closed. I think all the construction probably doesn’t help.
• Speaking of downtown, The Works has setup a multi-site exhibit called Context is Everything featuring about 1,600 handmade dandelions inside different buildings and behind windows. "The dandelion is such a great symbol of strength and perseverance and resilience — and not yielding because it doesn’t care where it goes," said Saskatoon artist Monique Martin. The exhibit is up for the rest of the month, so that’s a good reason to explore.

For more recent headlines, check out the latest from Taproot Edmonton.

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