Vue Weekly’s Best of Edmonton awards for 2013 were released this week. My blog was named Best Local Affairs Blog for the second year in a row – thank you very much! I was also thrilled to be recognized as a runner-up in the Best Twitterer category, and that What the Truck?! was once again named Best Pop Up Event. It means a lot!

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• If you’re looking to get caught up on the election, here’s my latest update. Things got interesting yesterday as Karen Leibovici took a swipe at Don Iveson.
• Alberta’s population has cracked the 4 million mark! That’s double what our population was in 1978. Additionally, Canada’s population has now surpassed 35 million.
• Edmonton Fire Chief Ken Block has been named Fire Chief of the Year by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs.
• There’s a new commemorative monument called Memoryscape located on the corner of 99 Street and 103A Avenue. It is designed to “celebrate the long and proud history between Edmonton’s military and the community.”
• The City has adopted a new Open Government License. It contains the terms for accessing and using government data. Now if only we could get a policy in place to require that new data be made available in the Open Data Catalogue…
• The Edmonton Oilers today announced that Andrew Ference will service as the 14th captain in franchise history.
• Good news for Beacon Heights and Beverly Heights: the Oilers Community Foundation and Hockey Canada Foundation are working together on the redevelopment of two new outdoor rinks there.
• The Royal Alberta Museum is looking for your memories as it continues work on the new location downtown.
• Edmonton has now been officially recognized as a “Fairtrade City”.
• Canada’s first naturally filtered swimming pool will be built next year in Borden Park.
• Here’s a nice recap of Alumni Weekend at the University of Alberta.
• There’s a new red panda at the Edmonton Valley Zoo! His name is Kalden.
• Did you know that Edmonton has a full service pro shop and archery lanes at Wyld Archery?
• Apparently there’s a dating website for the wealthy that lists 621 eligible millionaires in Edmonton. Who knew?
• Great news for the Edmonton Comic & Entertainment Expo which wrapped up its second annual event today: more than 25,000 fans attended this year!
• From the Edmonton Sun: Edmonton Mayor Mandel’s era, recalled.

Here are some upcoming events:

• The Edmonton International Film Festival continues through Saturday evening.
• Monday night is The Mayoral Event, presented by interVivos, at Latitude 53.
• Also Monday are the first two forums organized by Edmonton Elections. The forum for Ward 9 candidates takes place at Lillian Osborne School, while the forum for Ward 1 candidates takes place at Westlawn School.
• The first mayoral forum organized by Edmonton Elections takes place on Tuesday evening at Harry Ainlay School.
• On Wednesday evening, there’s a forum for Ward 8 candidates at McNally School and a forum for Ward 3 candidates at Londonderry School.
• Also Wednesday evening is the election edition of Green Drinks!
• Thursday evening brings us a forum for Ward 7 candidates at St. Bernadette School and a forum for Ward 11 candidates at J. Percy Page School.
• For those of you interested in the school board race, there’s a forum for Ward H candidates at Royal Gardens Community Hall and a forum for Ward C candidates at Laurier Heights School, both Thursday evening.
• The Eskimos host the Alouettes on Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium.
• Saturday evening is the pan-Canadian Pecha Kucha Night organized by Designing Downtown. I’m looking forward to it!
• Watch out on Sunday for participants in this year’s CIBC Run for the Cure. Also Sunday is the Wishmaker Walk for Wishes.
• FC Edmonton hosts the Carolina Railhawks on Sunday.
• Also Sunday is the Edmonton Bridal Expo, at the Shaw Conference Centre.
• Head on down to The Underground on Sunday evening for Politweetup!
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

If you can’t make it out to the forums organized by Edmonton Elections, don’t worry – they’ll be streamed live online!

Here’s a promo video from Designing Downtown:

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• The final meeting of the current City Council took place on Wednesday at City Hall. It was an emotional affair, filled with tributes to Mayor Mandel. Here’s the letter to citizens that Mayor Mandel published that day.
• City Council this week directed Administration to proceed with a full closure of the City Centre Airport at 11:59pm on November 30, 2013.
• Edmonton was the first major city in Canada to implement curbside recycling way back in 1988. The City is celebrating 25 years of recycling!
• Here is President Indira Samarasekera’s State of the University address.
• From Gig City: Does public art improve life for Edmonton’s homeless?
• Here’s the latest update on the Walterdale Bridge project. Queen Elizabeth Park Road is slated to reopen to traffic in early October.
• Have you been using the on-street bike parking corrals this year? Let the City know your feedback by taking this online survey.
• Speaking of surveys, the City is also doing a survey on 107 Avenue.
• Here’s another blow for supporters of the Cloverdale footbridge: Council accepted an environmental impact study that allows the southeast LRT to be built as planned.
• At the same time, the City is exploring a new, multi-million dollar footbridge near Terwillegar Park.
• New data shows what you probably already suspected: class sizes at Edmonton area schools are really large.
• A new report suggests that police use-of-force incidents have dropped considerably in recent years. This is despite the number of police calls going up.
• Well this sucks. Sam Gagner suffered a broken jaw on Saturday night against the Canucks and is out of the lineup indefinitely. The Oilers won 5-2.
• Here are the latest urbanism headlines from Spacing Edmonton.
• There is of course a lot of election-related news, but I have a separate update for that!

Bay/Enterprise Square LRT Station, by Michael Chu

Here are some upcoming events:

• Tomorrow is Nomination Day! Candidates will be posted on the Edmonton Elections site sometime in the afternoon (and I understand, will also be available in the open data catalogue).
• Alberta Culture Days take place throughout the province from the 27th through the 29th. The kickoff takes place on 104 Street on Friday night.
• Come on down to the 124 Street Market on Thursday to see me and other media personalities compete in a cookie-eating contest!
• The Bloom YEG event taking place at the Art Gallery of Alberta on Friday night sounds pretty cool.
• Love LEGO? Then don’t miss the Edmonton 50 Years From Now competition taking place at the Art Gallery of Alberta.
• Sunday is the 2013 edition of Free Admission Day at City of Edmonton attractions!
• Also taking place this weekend is the Edmonton Comic & Entertainment Expo!
• There’s another Mercer Collective Makers Market on Saturday.
• The Eskimos host Toronto on Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium.
• The Edmonton International Film Festival kicks off on Thursday and runs through October 5. In case you missed it, the 24/One Challenge kicked off yesterday at the City Market!
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Guy Kawasaki with an Oilers jersey at E-Town

To help kick-off EIFF, I have a prize package to give away! To have a shot at winning two all-access passes and a gift basket, a prize valued at more than $260, simply leave a comment below with your favorite movie by 11:59 PM on Tuesday. I will randomly choose a winner and contact you on Wednesday. Good luck!

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• The first-ever Tour of Alberta wrapped up today with 23-year-old Rohan Dennis of Australia taking the win. More than 115 cyclists competed, including the winner of the 2011 Tour de France. The event started here in Edmonton on Tuesday, causing traffic delays around the city. Here are some photos from Metro.
• School’s back in session, and for some that means big changes. It all boils down to an ever-expanding city and challenges in keeping schools open.
• In case you missed it: Edmonton’s love affair with suburbs can’t endure, researcher warns. “From 2006 to 2011, 86 per cent of all population growth in Edmonton occurred in auto suburbs, areas where almost all residents commute by automobile.”
• Edmonton will soon have a direct flight to Reykjavik, Iceland, making it faster and easier to access more than 20 European destinations. Icelandair begins regular scheduled service in March 2014.
• Somewhat related: EIA has a fancy new responsive website!
• I am thrilled that Edmonton now has three legal graffiti walls!
• Here’s an update from the University of Alberta on the budget situation. “The University of Alberta is a resilient, creative organization that effectively uses its resources to benefit all Albertans, and will continue to do so despite current budget challenges, said acting-provost Martin Ferguson-Pell.”
• Nomination day is September 23 which means the City is getting ready and you should too.
• The City of Edmonton’s CFO Lorna Rosen wrote a blog post this week, ostensibly about the LRT. Make it to the end however, and you’ll realize it’s actually all about funding the downtown arena.
• Some sad news to report: a fire caused an estimated $350,000 in damage at the Bissell Centre’s Thrift Shoppe on Monday.
• New show homes are now open in Oxford, “the first large subdivision where the City of Edmonton set environmental standards that apply to every home.”
• Among other things, City Council’s Executive Committee will be discussing the Make Something Edmonton report tomorrow. It contains a number of recommendations, including the creation of a “champions office”.
• The Eskimos lost to Calgary on Friday, falling to 1-9 in the process. It’s the second worst start in team history (the 1971 team opened the season with a 1-10 record).
• MacEwan University has a new brand look and identity. I quite like the new logo and combination of colors. Here’s the new brand story to go along with it.

Here are some upcoming events:

• Nerd Nite Edmonton begins a new season on Thursday at the Citadel Theatre.
• Also Thursday is the Summer Streetcar Show!
• The new E-Town festival gets underway on Thursday at the Shaw Conference Centre. It wraps up on Friday evening.
• Alberta Avenue comes alive once again for the Kaleido Family Arts Festival, taking place Friday through Sunday. A big part of Sunday is Fiesta Latina.
• Will the Eskimos drop another one and tie their worst season start ever? We’ll find out on Saturday when they play Winnipeg at Commonwealth Stadium.
• The Mercer Collective Makers Market returns on Saturday.
• Also Saturday is EPL Squared, an outdoor library festival taking place in Churchill Square.
• DECL is holding its annual CornFest event at Beaver Hills Park on Saturday afternoon.
• FC Edmonton hosts the Fort Lauderdale Strikers at Clarke Stadium on Sunday.
• Save the date for our biggest What the Truck?! event ever: Friday, September 20 at Churchill Square!
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Great photo of Capilano Park by Robert.

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• The Fringe officially wrapped up today with another record-breaking year! More than 700,000 people attended (up from 680,000 in 2012 and 576,000 in 2011), and a total of 117,618 tickets were sold (surpassing last year’s tally of 112,006). Check out the holdovers here, and check out the news release in PDF here. You may also be interested in the Festival Review Aggregator.
• For the second year in a row, amateur star Lydia Ko won the CN Canadian Women’s Open title. The tournament was held at Edmonton’s Royal Mayfair Golf Club and raised $2.7 million for the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation.
• ETS celebrated a milestone with Route 747 this month: 100,000 passengers have been transported between Century Park and the Edmonton International Airport. It’s a great service, I have used it many times.
• The U of A is cutting costs to deal with budgetary pressures, but one place they’re spending more than ever is government and corporate relations. The school spends $850,000 a year!
• A report on Edmonton’s post-secondary economy is now available from EEDC. Here’s the PDF.
• There’s a big decision on the Southeast LRT line coming up this week. A one-year delay would add up to $70 million in inflationary costs, according to the City.
• Council will also be deciding on what to do with the former Molson Brewery site this week. While the developers plans may be an improvement over Oliver Square, they don’t go far enough for critics like the Oliver Community League.
• August 23 was declared Treaty 6 Day in Edmonton to honor City ties with Aboriginal communities.
• The Edmonton Marathon took place bright and early this morning. CBC has a good Storify of the event.
• EPS Chief Rod Knecht would support a proposal to hang out tickets for illegal possession of small amounts of marijuana. “If we’re looking for efficiencies and there’s no decriminalization or legalizing, I support it,” he said.
• Tempers rose yet again this week at a community meeting about the proposed supportive housing project in Terwillegar Towne.
• The City of Edmonton has created a new leadership program for youth between 13 and 17 called Community HEROs. HEROs stands for health, empowerment, responsibility and opportunity.
• Are you an engineer? ERIEC is looking for mentors for their upcoming Speed Career Networking event. I have participated as a mentor in the past, and I can tell you it’s worthwhile!
• Here’s a small write-up on EPL’s Makerspace.
• Sportsnet announced its 2013-14 Edmonton Oilers regional broadcast schedule this week. They’ll be featuring 59 regular season games, including 9 all-Canadian matchups.
• Marshalls arrived in Edmonton this week, opening new locations at South Edmonton Common and Manning Town Centre. They are the first two stores in the province.
• Here’s a great story about Kevan Lyons, known as The Poet of Churchill Square. He has a book of poems available at Tix on the Square for $20, or you can buy it directly from the man himself in Churchill Square.
• Get out there and meet Brittney if you haven’t!
• From Emerson Csorba: Why Alberta Needs Less Complacency and More Young Entrepreneurs.
• There’s much more news available in the blog post headlines and news release headlines over at ShareEdmonton.

Matt Gibbs came up with the idea of the Edmonton Freezeway for his master’s degree thesis, and it recently won the top prize in the Coldscapes international design competition. The idea is to build a year round greenway and winter skating lane. Pretty neat idea! Here’s a video explaining the concept:

Here are some upcoming events:

• Head down to Churchill Square tomorrow (Monday) at lunch for an epic ping pong battle! Mayor Mandel and EEDC’s Brad Ferguson will go head-to-head following a demo by the Edmonton Table Tennis Club and a series of local personality doubles matches featuring Brittney Le Blanc, Mark Connolly, Ryan Jespersen, Ryan Tumilty, Scott Johnston, yours truly, Graham Neil, and Linda Hoang. The event will be emceed by Donovan Workun and attendees are encouraged to wager loonie/toonie bets for charity. The mayor has chosen to support the Abbottsfield Recreational Centre Society, Brad has chosen to support Junior Achievement. See you there!
• The U of A’s Office of Sustainability is hosting another Campus Sustainability Tour on Wednesday at lunch.
• Symphony Under the Sky kicks off on Friday evening at Hawrelak Park!
• Movies on the Square returns this weekend, with epic on the 30th and Goonies on the 31st.
• We hope you’ll come out to our Parkade Party on Saturday evening! We’ve got lots of fun things lined up for the Vinci 103 Parkade between 103 Street and 104 Street just south of Jasper Avenue.
• The New York Cosmos are in town on Sunday to take on FC Edmonton.
• The Tour of Alberta takes place in Edmonton on Tuesday, September 3. The City is encouraging you to plan ahead because several streets in and around the downtown core will be closed to traffic that day. Expect major delays!
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.ca. Enjoy your long weekend!

Thanks to everyone who came out to What the Truck?! at Louise McKinney Riverfront Park on Saturday evening!

Photo by Dave Feltham

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• Big election-related news this week! Councillor Linda Sloan announced on Friday that she will not seek re-election in Ward 1. No word on her plans yet. Within hours of the news, Ward 6 candidate Sharon Maclise decided to switch her candidacy to Ward 1. The frontrunner is Andrew Knack.

I want to thank @LSloan_w1 for her years of public service in #ableg and #yegcc. I wish her all the best in her retirement. #yegvote #yeg

— Andrew Knack (@AndrewKnack) August 16, 2013

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• The Fringe is on! Sharon and I will finally be taking in some performances this week. Do you think the Fringe Festival is Edmonton’s Stampede?
• Have you met Brittney Le Blanc? If not, make sure you do in the next 28 days!
• From the what-a-waste-of-money department: a report requested by Councillor Ed Gibbons says a pedway connecting the Coliseum LRT Station with the Edmonton Expo Centre could cost $30 million.
• An EPS news release says the number of calls for police originating from Capital Towers has decreased 98%. They credit the community partnership with organizations in McCauley for the reduction. Is there a difference between calls to police and actual crime though? Because the news release says nothing about actual crime numbers.
• Mayor Mandel thinks the speed limit on the Whitemud should be increased, despite a report recommending that the current limit of 80 km/h be kept.
• There’s a lot of good news coming out of TEC Edmonton lately. Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk attended the press conference on Thursday and said, “TEC Edmonton’s success is really a glimpse of what can happen across the province.”
• The City reported it is midway through bike route installation for 2013.
• The Boyle Street Community Services outreach team reports there are more people living in the river valley this year than last.
• Congratulations to all the winners in the 2013 Edmonton in Bloom Awards!
• Bad news for the arts faculty at the U of A: the dean has recommended suspending admission into 20 programs to deal with budget cuts.
• Are the downtown pedways too hard to navigate? We know the answer is yes, but still CBC sent out a new reporter to see if she could make her way across downtown.
• EPS has charged three people in connection with the BASE jumping that took place a couple weeks ago.
• There’s a new addition in the Alberta Aviation Museum’s collection of airplanes! They now have a CF-104 Starfighter.
• Bob Green has joined the Oilers as Director of Amateur Free Agent Scouting. He has been the GM of the Edmonton Oil Kings for the past six seasons.
• Want to be featured in the Journal? Tell Capital Ideas how you launch a new venture.
• This pretty much made my week:

Just a dude walking his turtle. Another Sunday afternoon in #yeg pic.twitter.com/E9hHQ1wZMg

— Adam Rozenhart (@bingofuel) August 18, 2013

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Here are some upcoming events:

• From Fringe with Love continues all week!
• The CN Canadian Women’s Open runs all week at the Royal Mayfair Golf Club.
• Dragonette, Tyler Shaw, and The Oducado Twins are performing on Thursday at WemFest.
• Head over to the Capitol Theatre in Fort Edmonton Park on Thursday for Singing in the Rain.
• The Mercer Collective is back on Saturday!
• Ready for a picnic? The next Social Media Breakfast is an IRL Potluck Picnic.
• The Eskimos host the Roughriders on Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium.
• I hope to see you down at Louise McKinney Riverfront Park on Saturday from 5-9pm for What the Truck?!.
• Check out the French Quarter Farmers’ Market on Sunday at La Cite Francophone.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

The 97 Street Night Market went really well yesterday! The freak afternoon hailstorm was a bit concerning, but as you can see in the photo below, it turned out to be a lovely evening. Congrats to all involved but especially to Sharon, who put in a ton of work to make it happen!

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• The Local Good has launched a new Election 2013 portal. They’ve also sent out a questionnaire to candidates.
• Next year The Buchanan Centre will open, a state-of-the-art centre devoted to taking care of people with Parkinson’s disease, the first of its kind in Canada.
• Here is David Staples on the rural ripoff. “This tax grab is damaging to the vast majority of the Alberta’s villages, towns and cities. It also threatens the prosperity and competitiveness of the Edmonton region.”
• Councillor Iveson spoke out about the risks of going with a P3 for the Southeast LRT. If you’re interested in learning more, check out this article I wrote back in March.
• Boyle Street Community Services has bought its building on 105 Avenue, which means it’s pretty unlikely now that the organization will be forced to move when the new arena is completed.
• The week started with reports that three men BASE jumped off the Pearl Tower in Oliver.
• EPS opened its new southwest division station this weekend at 1351 Windermere Way. “We’ve got to catch up as a police service and we’re lagging a little bit behind,” said police chief Rod Knecht. Well maybe if we stopped expanding our borders…
• Two months ahead of schedule, the last of 56,000 new green and gold seats were installed at Commonwealth Stadium today.
• Edmonton’s Criminal Court has a new judge: Raymond Bodnarek was appointed this week.
• Have you submitted your nominations for Vue Weekly’s 18th annual Best of Edmonton?
• The Edmonton Public School Board could have high school student trustees next year if a motion made by chair Sarah Hoffman passes.
• Edmonton will host seven games during next year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Canada.
• Here are the latest Edmonton urbanism headlines.
• From Omar Mouallem: Edmonton had to lose Gretzky in order to find itself.
• The Province did a bit of promotion this week for twin bridges under construction as part of the northeast leg of Anthony Henday Drive. The northeast section has 46 bridge structures, but just these two cross the river.

Twin bridges under construction (May 2013)

Rendering of what they’ll look like

Here are some upcoming events:

• The City is hosting an information session for candidates on Wednesday during lunch.
• My favorite festival of the year gets underway this week. The Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival celebrates 50 years of James Bond on screen this year!
• FAVA is having its Summer Party on Friday evening.
• The Edmonton Dragon Boat Festival takes place this weekend!
• There are only a few weeks left of Park After Dark Fridays at Northlands Park.
• Head on down to Churchill Square this weekend for the 4th annual Edmonton Latin Festival.
• Don’t miss the 97 Street Night Market on Saturday evening in new Chinatown! Here is Sharon’s post about it.
• Have you had your full of music festivals yet? The Edmonton Blues Festival runs Friday through Sunday at Hawrelak Park.
• Selena Gomez is in town for a concert at Rexall Place on Saturday.
• Atlanta is in town on Sunday to take on FC Edmonton.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Love the “awesome” photo bomb! Check out more cosplay from Animethon here.

I was in London, UK all week for work and though I didn’t plan on taking a mini-break from blogging it turned out that way. Anyway, I’m back now!

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• K-Days was a “huge success” as far as Northlands is concerned. A total of 781,743 people attended during the ten days, up from 740,339 for Capital Ex last year.
• Three months into the 2013 construction season and everything is on schedule, according to the City. Wait – we’re only three months in?
• After hearing that the Edmonton Humane Society didn’t have the capacity to accept any more animals on Wednesday, Edmontonians sprung into action. A total of 167 animals have since been adopted, a new record.
• Edmonton Public School Board Trustees this week considered a new policy on infrastructure. They are running an online survey to gather feedback until September 2.
• Have you heard of Bitcoin? Remedy Café has become the first retailer in the province to accept the digital currency. Kind of gimmicky, but still cool!
• The names of those serving on the first ever Edmonton Food Council were announced on July 26. I’m very excited to be among them, and I can’t wait to see what our group can accomplish over the next week.
• Want to see the stairs near Hotel MacDonald improved? Fill out this survey before September 15.
• Here is the second quarter report to the community from Edmonton Police.
• Billy Moores is back with the Oilers, this time as Director of Coaching Development and Special Projects.
• In case you missed it: The Agony and the Ecstasy of the West Edmonton Mall.
• So they’re already repaving sections of the Henday. That’s probably not a good sign.
• Edmonton will soon be home to a mozzarella bar!
• Don’t forget, the City of Edmonton is still looking for volunteers to help out with the 2013 Municipal Election in October! And if you won’t be here on election day, you can take advantage of a special mail-in ballot.
• Sounds like last weekend’s Interstellar Rodeo was a big success!
• Deep Freeze Festival is looking for a Festival Producer for the 2014 edition of the event. The deadline to apply is August 14.
• Here are Spacing Edmonton’s latest urbanism headlines.

Great panorama by Dean Smith.

Here are some upcoming events:

• You’ve still got one day to check out the Heritage Festival at Hawrelak Park! There’s a good chance they’ll break attendance records this year.
• There’s a public meeting taking place on Wednesday evening to discuss the rezoning of the Greyhound site and adjacent parking lot downtown to facilitate redevelopment for the new Arena & Entertainment District.
• If you find yourself over the weekend wondering where that friend or family member has gone, it’s probably Folk Fest. Gallagher Park will be full of music fans from Thursday through Sunday.
• This year’s Animethon runs Friday through Sunday at MacEwan downtown.
• Also taking place this weekend is Cariwest. The big parade starts at noon on Saturday.
• The Edmonton Rock Music Festival takes place on Friday and Saturday at Hawrelak Park.
• Check out the French Quarter Farmers’ Market on Sunday at La Cite Francophone.
• Out in Leduc this weekend is Fragapalooza.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Love this shot of the Art Gallery of Alberta by Leighton Ramos.

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• Council voted to target a 5.1% tax increase in the 2014 budget this week. It’ll have to wait for the new Council to finalize the budget and the tax rate, but if it stays at the proposed rate the typical home would see an increase of about $98.
• Here’s the latest Council Roundup. Remember that proposed Jumbotron upgrade for Commonwealth Stadium? It was approved.
• Sustainable Food Edmonton is looking to raise $250,000 by February 2015 to re-establish City Farm.
• This week I attended the launch of the Infill Development in Edmonton Association (IDEA). “IDEA envisions an Edmonton full of healthy communities made vibrant and walkable through our collaborative planning and development decisions.” Follow them on Twitter.
• Here’s a visualization of the current Council’s voting data. Further analysis is needed to draw really strong conclusions, but it’s a start.
• It seems Stantec is starting to look for a new headquarters. That could be a new office tower but it may not be downtown. Locating the building anywhere else would be a big mistake!
• I didn’t know this was up for debate, but it seems EPS has no plans to drop the use of 10-codes. 10-4!
• Slowly (very slowly) but surely the City is rolling out its Smart Bus technology.
• An Edmonton model has made the cover of Italian Vogue! I understand from hearing America’s Next Top Model in the background that that’s a pretty big deal.
• Could this become a thing? Mayor Mandel wants a wage freeze for unions.
• When I first heard about this second-year U of A student who received a fine on the LRT for not having his U-Pass with him, I thought, “that’s the way it should be!” But after thinking about it a little more, maybe he’s right. Students don’t have a choice, they all get a U-Pass, so technically he has paid the fare. But the rules state you have to have proof with you, and that’s pretty clear.
• Here’s why you need to understand Treaty 6.
• From Spacing Edmonton, here are Edmonton’s urbanism headlines for the past week.
• Remember Edmonton, if a Sharknado hits, seek shelter!
• Construction signs for the new downtown arena will be installed at the site tomorrow morning, the first visible presence of the project moving ahead. Well, minus the fact that Staples is closing down by August 3.

Photo from the K-Days Parade by PremierofAlberta

Here are some upcoming events:

• Taste of Edmonton continues all week at Churchill Square. K-Days continues all week at Northlands Park. It’s definitely summertime now!
• There’s another pop-up restaurant taking place on Wednesday at Sabzy called Ration presents: Vegetarian Nouvelle.
• I hope to see you in The Quarters on Thursday evening at our next Truck Stop event! It’ll be a great opportunity to check out four of Edmonton’s newest food trucks. Check out the menus here.
• Also Thursday evening: Latitude 53’s patio series and 124 Street Grand Market! Speaking of Thursday Overload…
• Interstellar Rodeo kicks off on Friday evening at Hawrelak Park. The sold out festival sounds like it’ll be another big success this year!
• It’ll be a good weekend to check out the Mercer Warehouse. On Saturday is another Mercer Collective, and later that evening is Mercer Tavern’s first birthday bash.
• Also Saturday evening is an unofficial Chive Meetup at The Pint on Whyte.
• Guess what came in my email today? My first Fringe show promo for 2013! From Fringe with Love kicks off on August 15.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Boyle Renaissance, the site of our Truck Stop on Thursday evening!

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• The Province has unveiled new rules for areas at risk of flooding. If homeowners choose to rebuild and stay in risky zones they can, but they won’t be eligible for Disaster Recovery Fund assistance in the future.
• Councillor Bryan Anderson made some pretty shocking statements last week about a proposed housing project in Terwillegar. He has since apologized in a carefully worded letter to the editor. If you can handle the ignorance, here’s the Facebook group for the folks opposed to the project.
• A poster parodying the “Don’t be that guy” campaign caused a bit of an uproar this week. A group called Men’s Rights Edmonton took responsibility – here is their official response.

The msg in these posters is morally indefensible; it’s condemnable and contemptible. @ActionFlickDoc: #rapemyths pic.twitter.com/yAzhi7oyjT #yeg

— Don Iveson (@doniveson) July 9, 2013

• Do you take Route 128? That’s the first bus route in the city to receive the new Smart Bus upgrades. Route 111 is up next. I’m not really sure yet where to go to find the GPS information – anyone know?
• Are you a northsider or a southsider? Maybe you’re a free-range Edmontonian, as Paula put it in her piece kicking off YEGQUEST. Love it when a hashtag takes off.
• There’s lots of great stuff to read in the various submissions for the 50 Things That Define Edmonton.
• I’m really happy to hear that Tres Carnales now has a patio! New streamlined rules on sidewalk cafes seem to be making a difference.
• Beginning Monday, Queen Elizabeth Park Road will be shutdown for four months to accommodate construction work for the new Walterdale Bridge.
• It’s early days still, but some residents are frustrated about the expropriation plans to make way for the Southeast LRT. The article focuses on one resident in particular. Here’s my favorite part: “Hrachy says he moved into the home about three months ago, knowing he would eventually have to move out, but says he’s frustrated by the entire process.” Emphasis is mine.
• I really like this project to redesign our city’s barricades!
• Can you believe this? Edmonton Police arrested a motorist travelling 254 km/h on the Henday on Friday.
• This is our city’s representative in a national magazine? No wonder others have a poor understanding of what Edmonton is actually like. I’m all for healthy and constructive criticism, but that’s not it.
• In case you missed it, I have started a series on the pedway. There are many more entries on the way, so stay tuned!
• Here are the latest urbanism headlines from Spacing Edmonton.
• In election news, Wards 5 and 6 in particular are heating up. Dave’s got the most up-to-date list of candidates here. Councillors Gibbons, Henderson, Anderson, and Sohi still do not have any challengers.
• Here’s a video montage from the 30 Most Interesting Edmontonians Project:

Here are some upcoming events:

• This is the final week of the Freewill Shakespeare Festival, so if you’ve been planning to go now is the time!
• On Tuesday the City is hosting an information session on the 109 Street Corridor Area Redevelopment Plan.
• Taste of Edmonton gets underway in Churchill Square on Thursday! They’ve got a new look this year plus many changes to the festival itself.
• Thursday night’s film at the Capitol Theatre is Hugo.
• The Garneau Theatre is going to be busy on Thursday with The Culture Collective and a Make Something Edmonton event!
• Head downtown on Friday morning for the K-Days Parade! It starts at 10am and loops from 99 Street down 102 Avenue to 105 Street and then back along 103 Avenue.
• K-Days itself kicks off immediately after the parade is over!
• The Slow Flash Mob is taking place at Louise McKinney Riverfront Park on Saturday from noon to 4pm!
• Come down to the City Market on 4th Street Promenade on Saturday for your final in-person opportunity to provide feedback on this stage of the Louise McKinney Urban Beach idea.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Some of the Street Performers Festival action, photo by Connor Mah. The festival wrapped up today. Connor’s got many more photos here.

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• Council voted on Wednesday to move forward with a bylaw amendment to borrow $542 million to cover the downtown arena project. As with most of the other arena votes, Sloan, Diotte, and Caterina were the dissenting votes.
• Edmonton community leader and philanthropist Harry Hole died this week at the age of 91.
• Residents of Terwillegar Towne are up in arms about a proposed supportive housing project that the Jasper Place Health & Wellness Centre want to build in the area. As if the usual NIMBYism wasn’t bad enough, Councillor Bryan Anderson made some shocking remarks when interviewed by Paula Simons. “Most of these guys smoke, and most of them can’t afford cigarettes. Where are they going to go to pick butts out of ashtrays?” And he kept going. “This community is one hundred per cent residential. It’s covered with mothers with strollers. One or two dishevelled people with hoodies on and backpacks don’t seem to belong on that residential street.”
• Avenue Edmonton’s latest issue contains their 5th annual list of the 25 Best Things to Eat in Edmonton. The list is presented in no particular order, so you’re encouraged to use it “as your road map to a culinary tour of the city.”
• Construction is now officially underway on the new Walterdale Bridge. It is currently slated to open in 2016.
• Alberta Venture has released its list of Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People for 2013. In what seems like an effort to attract some online attention, the magazine also created a list of the Twitterati (which I was part of) and a list of the 9 most influential cats.
• Council will be discussing on Tuesday a report that says a new jumbotron and sound system at Commonwealth Stadium would cost $5.3 million. Probably worth doing now, given the big soccer tournaments we’re hosting over the next few years. Plus it’ll go well with the new seats!
• The Eskimos announced they have extended the contract of head coach Kavis Reed. He’s now in his third season as head coach of the Esks.
• It was another busy week for the Oilers as they added a bunch of new players. They also came to terms with Ryan Jones, and announced the 2013 pre-season schedule. And some sad news, long-time anthem singer Paul Lorieau passed away.
• Some time in the next few months, the population of Alberta will hit the 4 million mark.
• TEC Edmonton says its 2012-13 fiscal year was “unprecedented” with five new spinoff companies incorporated and another eight in the works.
• Here’s a great Q&A with Amy Nachitgall, the owner of Sugared and Spiced. She makes delicious cookies!
• Actor Paul Gross, one of the most recognizable University of Alberta alumni, has been named an officer of the Order of Canada.
• EPS ran the Youth Police Academy pilot last week in conjunction with Injera Interactive. Sounds like an interesting initiative.
• The City is expanding its bike corral installation program this summer with new locations in Old Strathcona and 124 Street!
• Here’s the latest Council Roundup. Disappointing to hear the City is having to pick up the Province’s slack when it comes to funding for the Green Shack program.

Downtown from the west

Here are some upcoming events:

• Looking for some outdoor entertainment? The Street Performers festival is now underway in Churchill Square!
• The Freewill Shakespeare Festival continues with both A Midsummer Night’s Dream and King Lear.
• Head over to the Capitol Theatre in Fort Edmonton Park on Thursday evening to see Water for Elephants.
• The Whyte Avenue Art Walk takes place from Friday to Sunday in Old Strathcona!
• Avenue Goes to the Dogs takes place this weekend in Eastwood Park.
• The Mercer Collective is back on Saturday at the Mercer Warehouse!
• The Edmonton Eskimos host the BC Lions on Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium.
• Coming up on July 16 is Speed Dating from Troop of Foxes. “Join us for an evening of five minute dates with singles aged 25 to 35.” I understand they’re looking for a few more guys to take part!
• Heads up that SlutWalk Edmonton will take place on July 27!
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

A photo of the International Street Performers Festival from earlier tonight!

I can’t say that I particularly like the message “feel the pulse”, but I do generally like this video showcasing Edmonton’s downtown:

What do you think?