The Alberta Party’s Big Idea Night (and new brand)

Earlier today the Alberta Party unveiled its new logo and brand package. I’ll admit that I wasn’t an immediate fan of the new logo. Putting speech bubbles inside the provincial shield feels more obvious than clever, at least at first blush. I’ve been thinking about it though, and I actually kind of like how direct it is. The logo conveys its message in a clear and very to-the-point fashion. And I do have to admit that the speech bubble element itself is rather smart, as Chris pointed out:

My favourite part of this brand strategy, is the “Speech Bubble”. The pull-apart element of the logo will become part of how our supporters will be able to make this brand their own. The number of ways that this can become personalized to each member, constituency association, community or neighborhood, are endless.

As I descended the steps at the Shaw Conference Centre tonight on my way to the Big Idea event (I attended as media), I passed a number of volunteers wearing black tee shirts featuring the new visual identity. Set against a dark background, the new logo is definitely attractive. The fonts used are Avant Garde Gothic Bold and Book.

Here’s how the Big Idea Night was described on the Alberta Party website:

Join us for an evening of fast-paced, fun, thought-provoking and inspiring presentations from our members, supporters and friends. Do you have a great idea for our province? An innovative way of doing something? A vision for Alberta in 20 years?

Think “mini-Pecha Kucha”. Each speaker got five minutes to share their “big idea” with no time for questions (but plenty of time for networking afterward). The speakers tonight were, in order of appearance:

Dennis Lenarduzzi – Logo
Everett Smith – Vision 2031: Rewarding civic duty & community service
Danielle Klooster – Community culture by design: Penhold on purpose
Connie Jensen – A few tips for a proactive campaign
Lisa Maria Fox – Brining public to policy
Glenn Taylor – This is my voice
Jesse Row – My big idea
Wade Ferguson – Welcome to Vermillion: accelerating innovation in sustainability

It just so happened that one of the first people I ran into at the event was Dennis Lenarduzzi, Associate Creative Director at Red The Agency. He’s the man behind the new logo, and he shared with me that he was particularly excited to see people using the logo in new ways already. He was also the first presenter tonight, and I thought he did a great job discussing the “common ground. common sense.” slogan and other new brand elements. He emphasized that the logo is for all Albertans, not just the Alberta Party.

Dennis Lenarduzzi

Everett Smith talked about his vision for Alberta, and focused on volunteers. He suggested adjusting taxes to reward Albertans that volunteer. Danielle Klooster talked about community culture, and had an intriguing slide labeled “Bad Stuff in the ‘Burbs”. Connie Jensen suggested Alberta Party members should organize their own “Concerned Citizens for Democracy” groups. She also said she wants to see 40+ seats go to the Alberta Party or she’ll be disappointed! Lisa Maria Fox talked about policy and the public, and spent a bit of time discussing deliberative democracy, crowdsourcing, and other ideas. Glenn Taylor started off by talking about Shane Koyczan and how his poetry slams had inspired him, then he left the stage while he showed a video of Koyczan’s “This is my Voice”. Jesse was a good speaker and had some interesting ideas, such as an American Idol or Star Search-like competition for selecting candidates. Finally, Wade (who’s last name I didn’t catch) talked about Vermillion Canada.

Remember I said to think mini-Pecha Kucha? Tonight reminded me of PKN in both style and content. There was definitely a range of presentations – from solid, on-point ones like Dennis’ to totally-ignoring-the-concept ones like Glenn’s to pitches like Wade’s. I didn’t feel overwhelmed with big ideas. In that respect, I found the evening a little disappointing. Of course it takes guts to get up in front of a crowd and talk for five minutes, so kudos to the presenters for that.

That said, what other political party is embracing this kind of approach? It may not have been perfect, but the Alberta Party’s Big Idea Night is exactly the kind of thing I’d like to see more of. I hope they do it again (after learning from tonight’s experience, of course).

Tonight’s event was the kickoff for the Alberta Party Leadership Convention which takes place all day tomorrow at the Shaw Conference Centre. You can learn more about the candidates here and you can follow along on Twitter using the #abpleader hashtag. You can see the rest of my photos from the evening here.

City Centre Redevelopment ‘shorter-listing’ reveals problems that must be addressed

Last week City Council shorter-listed three of the five finalists in the City Centre Redevelopment Master Plan Design Competition, with the winner set to be named on June 22. The decision to narrow the field to three after a botched media conference was unexpected and was largely overshadowed by last week’s arena news.

The media conference was set to take place on Wednesday afternoon. The advisory had gone out less than 24 hours earlier:

Join City Manager Simon Farbrother for the announcement of City Council’s selected design team to transform the City Centre Redevelopment project into a world leading, environmentally sustainable community. The announcement completes a year-long international competition to select the best team to deliver a master plan to develop this centrally-located land which is approximately 266 CFL football fields in size. A representative from the winning team will be on hand for media interviews after the formal portion of the announcement.

Members of the local media filled the Councillor’s Boardroom at City Hall which had been setup with chairs and the competing teams’ display boards. Mayor Stephen Mandel, City Manager Simon Farbrother, City Centre Redevelopment Executive Director Phil Sande, Fairness Advisor James McKellar, and a representative from each of the five finalists were set to be in attendance. We chatted amongst ourselves as we waited for the proceedings to begin.

Just before four o’clock, Mayor Mandel and Simon Farbrother entered the room, nearly half an hour after the media conference was supposed to begin. The mayor took the podium and revealed that City Council had been discussing the proposals in camera (in private) and still had too many questions outstanding to make a decision. I tweeted the news at 3:57 PM, along with The Charrette and a few other people. Simon Farbrother also said a few words, and said the media would be given an update by the following morning. The whole thing lasted just five minutes.

I remember thinking as I left City Hall that someone must have screwed up. I mean, since when does Council discuss anything quickly? It’s their job to make an informed decision, and that usually takes time. I found out later that inconveniencing the media was just the tip of the iceberg.

When Mayor Mandel had told the media that Council still had questions, I assumed they were questioning the finalists directly. Not so, Shafraaz Kaba of Manasc Isaac told me. While the media were sitting in the Councillor’s Boardroom waiting for the announcement, the five finalists were sitting in a windowless room in the City Clerk’s office. Shafraaz said they had been taken there while Council was discussing the selection committee’s recommendation. They were not told how long they’d be waiting. “They provided coffee and drinks, and some fruit and dessert that basically no one touched,” Shafraaz told me. He recalled that everyone was starting to get impatient as they watched the minutes slowly tick by. Finally after an hour and a half they sent someone to find out what was going on. Soon everyone had left the room and was waiting outside the clerk’s office for some kind of update. “That’s when I saw your tweets, about Council not being able to make a decision,” he told me. A few minutes later, Phil Sande arrived and told them that Council would not be making a decision after all. When Shafraaz told him that they already knew that, Phil seemed surprised and asked how they had found out. “It was like he didn’t seem to know that there was a press conference going on,” Shafraaz said.

The next morning, Phil called Shafraaz and told him that their team’s submission had not been chosen as one of the three to move ahead. It was clarified that the Mayor and City Council will make the final decision on the winning team. At the Downtown Business Association’s Spring Luncheon later that day, representatives from all five teams were introduced and then a short, pre-recorded video with Mayor Mandel was shown. In the video, Mandel made reference to “the decision” which brought chuckles to the packed room. Simon Farbrother then made the official announcement about the shortlisting of three teams.

The way the finalists were treated last week is completely inexcusable. Five world-class teams are competing to help shape the future of Edmonton and we lock them in a room with no information about what’s going on? It’s completely unacceptable. What are the chances that they’re going to want to work with the City again after being treated like that?

The worst part is that Wednesday was just more of the same, according to Shafraaz. There has been confusion and some disappointing decisions made ever since the start of the competition. “We asked early on who had the final decision, the ‘jury of distinguished experts’ or City Council,” Shafraaz told me. The response from the City was that Council had the final decision but that hopefully they would respect the jury’s decision. The RFP stated that “the jury will ultimately recommend a winning Submission or combination of Submissions to City Council for adoption” and that “City Council reserves the right to accept or reject the recommendation of the jury.” It certainly seemed as though Council’s role was not to conduct its own analysis but was instead to ratify the recommendation of the jury. Why have an independent jury if that wasn’t the case?

There were other bumps along the road too. “It was unclear what the deliverables for a ‘master plan’ should be,” Shafraaz told me. With no guidance, each team likely interpreted the amount of work involved differently. That’s especially problematic given that 25% of the evaluation scoring was price (vision & team philosophy was 30%, primary requirements was 25%, and master plan principles was 20%). “Is it about design or is it about cost?” Shafraaz wondered. “If you want the best design, you pay for it; it should never have been about cost.”

Unsurprisingly, the finalists also had to dig for details on the public involvement aspect of the competition. “We had to ask how much information we could present, how many boards we could have, how long the videos could be,” Shafraaz said. The jury was supposed to consider how the public responded, but teams were given no information about how that would be done. I saw some great coverage at The Charrette, but what little buzz there was about the videos didn’t seem to be sustained or capitalized on by the City, let alone factored into any evaluation.

Shafraaz is obviously disappointed that his team wasn’t shorter-listed, but he doesn’t regret taking part in the competition. “What made losing worth it, in terms of time and energy and all of the hours put in, is the experience of working with amazing designers, engineers, and other consultants that have done this kind of work in other projects.” He hopes other local participants also learned from the experience.

Ultimately, the real work will begin after a winning team is finally selected next month. Shafraaz thinks the project can gain some momentum after that decision is made, “but they’re going to have to work at it.” I don’t think it’s enough to simply hope that the City does indeed work at it. There are clearly some issues that must be addressed. We need to hold the City accountable and we need to ensure the mistakes that have been made so far are not repeated. This project is too important.

Megaprojects aren’t enough to revitalize Edmonton’s downtown

Edmonton’s downtown has been the centre of attention lately, with a number of exciting megaprojects making headlines in recent weeks. As someone who has bought into the “as goes your downtown, so goes your city” mantra, I think the progress is good. But I firmly believe we need more than megaprojects to turn downtown around, and I’m not sure the little things that will positively impact downtown get the attention they deserve and require.

The most talked about megaproject is of course the $450 million arena:

“I’m elated. This is, to my mind, the start of a dream come true to rebuild our downtown.”
– Mayor Mandel, City of Edmonton and Katz Group reach arena deal (Archive)

Another megaproject is the $340 million Royal Alberta Museum:

“The aspirations of the city to revitalize its downtown, complete (with its) arts district, meshed with the province’s need for a new home for the Royal Alberta Museum.”
– Premier Stelmach, Royal addition to downtown (Archive)

Yet another megaproject is the $275 million redevelopment of the Federal Building:

“A different type of downtown? Step by step, piece by piece, we’re putting the puzzle together.”
– Paula Simons, Federal Building quietly takes shape (Archive)

Another one is the City Centre Airport, which Jim Taylor talked a lot about at the DBA luncheon yesterday. There are lots of other headlines and articles related to these megaprojects, and all seem to convey the message that collectively the megaprojects will revitalize downtown. Or that interest in downtown as a result of these projects is enough. But for these megaprojects to return the fullest return on investment possible, we need to do more. We need to make many, many smaller improvements in conjunction with the big ones. We can’t forget the little things!

To me, increasing the number of downtown residents is the key to downtown revitalization. We need a good mix of residential densities, types, and uses in the core. And we need more of the people who work downtown to choose to live there as well. Just having a new arena or museum isn’t going to be enough to get people to make that choice.

Photo by Jason Bouwmeester

The good news is that there are lots of small things we can do to make downtown a more attractive place to live, work, and play. Here are ten ideas that I have been thinking about, in no particular order:

Relax jaywalking laws downtown. I’ve had colleagues from London visit and they’re shocked that people wait at red lights! There and in many other cities, pedestrians are free to cross whenever the street is clear. I will readily admit that I cross the street on red lights all the time when the coast is clear. I think we need to make downtown a better place for pedestrians. It might seem like that’s what jaywalking laws are meant to do, but I think they actually reinforce the idea that vehicles have the priority instead. We need vehicles to slow down, and to come second to pedestrians.
Add scramble intersections. These are the intersections where traffic stops in all four directions, allowing pedestrians to cross the street in any direction, including diagonally. Again this helps to make downtown a more walkable, friendly place for pedestrians. This has been suggested for inclusion in the Jasper Avenue New Vision revitalization project, but we need to ensure it happens.
Prioritize downtown street cleaning. As soon as the snow is gone, the streets downtown should be cleaned. First impressions make a difference, and visitors are not impressed when they step outside and find themselves in a huge cloud of dust and gravel.
More projects like Todd Babiak’s Interventions and the Alley of Light. We need to make better use of underutilized spaces, and we could definitely do with some additional color and flair downtown. Let’s treat more of our blank walls and empty parking lots as canvases ready to be put to use. Maybe we need a community-edited database of available spaces?
Make public art a priority. Related to the previous point, development projects are supposed to include funding for public art, but the rules are not enforced. Capital Boulevard is moving ahead without funding for public art, for example.
Improve transit information displays. Downtown is already our primary hub for transit, and that role is going to be reinforced by the LRT expansion, particularly with the Downtown LRT Connector. Let’s add digital display boards to the big bus stops. They could use scheduled information for now, and be switched over to live GPS data when that system goes live across ETS. Let’s make the experience of using transit downtown even better than it already is.
Get rid of the portable toilets and add permanent ones. Having a place for people to go is better than having no place at all, without question. But why half-ass it? Let’s spend the (relatively small amount of) money to add permanent toilets downtown. There are lots of examples to draw upon, such as the beautiful and highly-effective public urinals that Matthew Soules Architecture designed for Victoria.
Add recycle bins alongside garbage cans. You may have seen the nice, silver receptacles that combine garbage, paper, and bottle recycling around the city, but there aren’t many downtown (aside from Churchill Square). We’re already a pretty green city, and this would help drive that message home downtown.
Require green roofs on new developments. They’ve done it in Toronto, why not here? There are many, many benefits that come from green roofs. And hey, we’ve already got one thanks to Williams Engineering.
Get rid of parking minimums throughout downtown. There’s a five-year pilot project in place for the warehouse district, but I think it’s a no-brainer. If you can sell a condo or rent a space without parking, then why not do it? Otherwise we’re effectively just subsidizing vehicles. This is a good way to spur development and hopefully infill, considering that it can cost developers between $30,000 and $70,000 per stall to create.

I’ve got my share of “bigger” ideas as well, such as doing whatever it takes to make the space behind the Stanley Milner library a proper usable square, perhaps alongside a larger revitalization of the building. Another one would be closing Rice Howard Way to vehicles and extending it to the top of the river valley.

I’m sure I’m just scratching the surface with this list, but the point is that there’s a lot more that goes into downtown revitalization than megaprojects. What are your ideas?

Recap: DBA Annual Spring Luncheon & DECL AGM

I suppose every day is a ‘downtown day’ for me given that I both live and work here, but today felt especially downtown-focused. Of course the arena news was still fresh this morning and most people I came across throughout the day were talking about it. At lunch I was fortunate enough to be a guest of EEDC at the Downtown Business Association’s annual spring luncheon, where some City Centre Airport news was released. And this evening I joined Sharon at the Downtown Edmonton Community League’s annual general meeting.

The spring luncheon is one of two annual luncheons produced by the DBA. Held at The Westin, there was a packed house for the presentation of the DBA’s 2010 Annual Report. Jim Taylor, Executive Director of the DBA, highlighted some of the activities from the past year, and in what has become an annual tradition, presented the Downtown Beat Officers with a new bicycle.

All five finalists in the City Centre Redevelopment competition were present at the luncheon. Mayor Mandel couldn’t be there in person, so a pre-recorded video was played instead. In the video he referenced the “decision” made yesterday regarding the competition, which got a chuckle from everyone (because, of course, they couldn’t decide). Simon Farbrother took the stage and surprised us with the announcement that the list of five had been trimmed to three:

Perkins + Will, Vancouver, B.C.
Foster & Partners, London, U.K.
KCAP Architects, Rotterdam, Netherlands

The final decision will be made by City Council on June 22.

Guests at the luncheon were also reminded that the Downtown Core Crew starts again next week. You can book the team of summer students for tours and other special events!

You can read about past luncheons here, and watch for the annual report to be posted online here.

Tonight’s DECL AGM was held at the Yellowhead Brewery on 105 Street. It was fairly well attended for a community league AGM! President Chris Buyze presented his annual report highlighting a number of successes:

On-going community events such as Al Fresco, CornFest, and the first annual EFCL Day.
The completion and passing of the new Capital City Downtown Plan in July 2010 (with the zoning portion passing in December 2010). Chris had personally been involved in consultations for more than 5 years!
Participation in various downtown and city-wide issues and initiatives, such as the ONEdmonton Downtown Vibrancy Task Force and the Jasper Avenue Hospitality Committee.
Embracing social media to connect with residents!

Chris also highlighted a couple of challenges that DECL met, including conveying concerns with the proposed downtown arena and the development of a new 2-year strategic plan.

There were also two presentations this evening. We received a brief update on the Alley of Light project, and Alex Abboud talked about Homeward Trust and the work that they are doing in our community. Watch for a new Homeward Trust website next month, and check out Find Furnishing Hope, a social enterprise offering quality, low-cost previously used furniture located at 5120 122 Street.

There was also the official business of the AGM this evening, with a few board members moving on and a few new faces joining the board: Scott McKeen, Sharon Yeo, and Sebastian Hanlon. Questions and discussion covered the arena, the intersection at 105 Street & 104 Avenue, and electronic signs and billboards downtown. We also took a quick trip outside to look at Scott Property where hopefully a park will be built before long!

Edmonton’s Downtown Arena moves ahead with agreement framework

The Katz Group scored a major victory tonight as City Council voted in private to approve an “agreement framework” for the proposed downtown arena. The framework is the basis for the two sides to negotiate a formal Master Agreement, which will require final approval by City Council. While not a final binding agreement, tonight’s deal nevertheless allows the project to move forward.

Here is the full motion and amendments as voted on back on April 6 (tonight’s was largely the same – see here):

Edmonton Downtown Arena Motion(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();

The vote tonight succeeded 8-5. Who voted in favor of the framework? Who voted against?

For: Mandel, Krushell, Loken, Leibovici, Batty, Henderson, Anderson, Sohi
Against: Sloan, Gibbons, Caterina, Iveson, Diotte

The document outlines $350 million in funding for a $450 million arena. Where does the other $100 million come from?

Answering questions from the media tonight, Mayor Mandel would only say “other orders of government.” There is no confirmation on where the remaining amount will come from, but it is hoped that the Province will support the project.

How much of the total cost will be funded by a CRL?

The motion only states that $20 million be directed at the arena from a CRL. The remaining $105 million (the City’s maximum contribution will be $125 million) could come from direct tax revenues. However, the agreement framework page states that $45 million would come from a CRL. The final mix is likely to change.

What happens to Rexall Place and Northlands?

The motion specifies that City administration will continue “to work with Northlands to ensure the City understands their financial challenges and how these can be addressed.” Answering questions this evening, City Manager Simon Farbrother said that Edmonton cannot sustain two arenas. It would appear that Northlands has lost its seat at the table.

Will the City own the arena? Will it receive the revenue?

Under the agreement, the City would own the building and land. The Katz Group would be responsible for all maintenance, upgrades, operating and capital expense costs. The City also retains the right to access the facility four weeks a year. As for revenue, the motion only states that the City “negotiate options for potential revenue sharing.”

What will the arena look like?

The City stated tonight that the arena will contain 18,500 seats and 350 parking stalls. The design process will still need to happen once the project moves ahead.

What are the next steps?

The City and the Katz Group will now work to complete the Master Agreement. They’ll also be working to secure the remaining $100 million, likely from the Province.

Twitter was buzzing with the news tonight. Here are a few of the tweets that caught my eye:

#yegcc just came back in public – voted on a motion to approve a framework for #yegarena deal – details to be kept in private. Passes 8-5.Don Iveson
May 18 via Twitter for iPhone

News conference upcoming at City Hall for major #yegarena announcement.NHL Oilers
May 18 via Twitter for BlackBerry®

City announces framework to build arena!Steve Hogle
May 18 via Twitter for BlackBerry®

City and Katz Group agree on agreement framework to build arena http://bit.ly/ipraRy #yegarena #yegCity of Edmonton
May 18 via TweetDeck

The City of Edmonton and Katz Group agree to framework that “sustains NHL hockey in #yeg for 35 years.” #yegarena #OilersCTV Edmonton
May 18 via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Mandel stresses optimism, forward momentum, believes holes in plan will come together now that framework of deal in place. #yegarenaJohn MacKinnon
May 18 via Twitter for BlackBerry®

This arena will built just when the construction labour and materials market explodes. I’m guessing it comes in at $700 million. #yegarenaDavid MacLean
May 18 via HootSuite

This arena situation is just like the airport situation; everyone knew it was going to happen, it was just a matter of when. #yegarena #yegAlana Willerton
May 18 via Twitter for Mac

NOTE: #yegarena dissenters. A friendly reminder; you have until JULY 17th to file your plebiscite application. Just saying.Chris LaBossiere
May 18 via web

It’ll be interesting to see what happens next! Much more to come, stay tuned.

St. Albert Transit launches real-time GPS information with NextBus

Today St. Albert Transit officially launched its NextBus service, giving transit riders the ability to find out exactly when a bus is arriving. All 55 StAT buses have been outfitted with Automatic Vehicle Locators, the hardware that uses GPS to provide information about a bus’s actual location. St. Albert is the second municipality in Alberta to launch the service. Banff, Guelph, Thunder Bay, Toronto, and Laval all offer a similar service.

From the press release:

“No one likes to wait for the bus more than they have to so people using StAT transit will find NextBus will save them time,” says Bob McDonald, Transit Director at the City of St. Albert. “We are pleased to be among the first municipalities in Canada to offer such a service.”

Transit riders can use the NextBus website to get arrival times. It’s not pretty, but it works! You can either enter your stop number, or pick a route, direction, and stop name to find out when the next bus is arriving. The page will tell you in large type when the next bus is arriving, and also provides links to a Google Map and a Live Map. You can see the system-wide maps here: Google Map, Live NextBus Map. You can also sign up for myNextBus, a service that can send you an alert when your bus is about to arrive. In addition to the main website, NextBus has a mobile-ready website as well. In the US they also offer SMS functionality, but unfortunately it doesn’t work in Canada.

What about an API? The documentation is pretty much non-existent, but there appears to be a NextBus API available. You can read about it on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) site. I tried to use the appropriate parameters for St. Albert, but found that it doesn’t work. I contacted StAT to find out more. It turns out that the API is extra functionality that NextBus charges extra for. Dawn Fedorvich, Coordinator of Customer Service for StAT, tells me that they’re looking into it. In the meantime, contact StAT to let them know that you think having access to the API is important! Earlier today David Eaves wrote about the “arrivals board” that the University of Alberta Students’ Union has created using the City of Edmonton’s GTFS data. That’s just scheduled information, however. Imagine that board being real-time – that’s the kind of thing the API would enable!

StAT has been testing the NextBus service since April 1. A total of 340 testers used the service 4500 times during the beta period. They started exploring the service in 2008, and have spent $170,000 since that time to make the service a reality for StAT riders. I think it’s a very positive thing for all transit riders in the Capital Region. I know AVL/GPS technology is on the roadmap for ETS as well, so let’s hope this news puts a bit more pressure on them to get it done. Congrats to StAT for leading the way!

Check out the new service here!

Homeless Connect Edmonton 6

Edmonton’s sixth Homeless Connect took place today the Shaw Conference Centre. The biannual event brings together service agencies, businesses, and volunteers to provide a range of free services to homeless people or people at risk of becoming homeless. Guests can get a haircut, pick up a pair of work boots, learn how to get identification, eat lunch, and much, much more. Today was the fifth time that Sharon and I have volunteered at the event. Preliminary numbers for today put the number of volunteers at more than 300 and the number of guests served at 1409.

This year I was assigned the task of being a guide (I’ve done registration the last few times). Guides are responsible for taking a guest from registration to their first service. Along the way I tried to point out where all of the major services were located, suggesting that they check out clothing, dental, and haircuts first (as they are always the busiest). I found that being a guide was a great way to see all of the services, but it wasn’t quite as enjoyable for connecting with guests. The conversation you have at the registration table is much better for that.

Every guest receives a kit filled with essential items like socks, toothpaste, and deodorant.

Work boots are always a popular item at Homeless Connect. They go quickly!

The biggest line-ups today seemed to be for haircuts, always a popular service.

I was a little surprised to hear that more than 1400 people went through the doors today. That’s higher than it has been at previous Homeless Connect events, and is especially high for a spring event (the fall event tends to be busier because it is cold outside). Given that the number of homeless people decreased last year (at least according to the count) I would have expected a corresponding drop in attendance at Homeless Connect. Maybe there were more people at risk of being homeless there today.

I’m always struck by the social aspect of Homeless Connect. It’s an important opportunity for old friends to reconnect.

If you’d like to volunteer for the next Homeless Connect, scheduled for October, you can learn more here. Stay tuned to Homeless Connect Edmonton on Twitter for updates. You can see the rest of my photos from today here.

Leading the Way: LRT Dance Party in Edmonton

Ever wonder what a dance party on the LRT would look like? I had the opportunity last weekend to find out! The Saturday evening activity for delegates of the 2011 Youth Summit on Sustainable Transportation was a DJ Dance Party on a chartered ETS LRT train.

While we were touring the D.L. MacDonald LRT Garage in the afternoon, staff were busy getting the train prepared, adding streamers, disco balls, and lights to the interior. DJ Rob Wong also got setup with all of his gear and two giant speakers, one at each end of the train. After a quick dinner, we all boarded the party train! The train circled the garage a few times, apparently to make the most of our time.

We then travelled the length of the LRT line, from Clareview all the way to Century Park, before travelling back as far as Churchill Station to let some people off downtown. In all, we spent about an hour and half on the train.

The music was loud, and slowly but surely most people started dancing! It was easier than you’d think to dance on the moving train, though whenever there was a sudden jolt it was just another reason for everyone dancing to yell and cheer. There were a few people who chose to just sit through the entire experience. It kind of reminded me of a high school dance in that way – slow to get going, with some people sitting off to the side the entire time.

Here’s DJ Rob doing his thing:

Most of the dancing happened as we passed through a station. People on the platform would look at the train with bewilderment, and occasionally someone would give a thumbs up or clap. Faces filled with confusion just made everyone on the train dance and cheer even more! It became pretty obvious who among us were the exhibitionists. Here’s what it looked like for someone on the platform:

Unsurprisingly, the best part of the trip was the underground portion where it was darker. Tinted windows, dimmed lights, and some…uh, lubricant…would have made the dance party more like a dance party and less like a bunch of people moving around on the train! Maybe I’m just getting old.

That said, it was still a lot of fun. I absolutely love the concept of taking the LRT, normally seen as somewhat mundane (trains just get you from A to B), and using it for a completely different purpose. I think everyone enjoyed themselves! Obviously ETS doesn’t normally charter trains for this purpose, but I think they could if they wanted to. It’s certainly a unique experience!

You can see more photos here, and see more videos here.

June is Next Gen Month in Edmonton

Last night at the Muttart Conservatory, Edmonton’s NextGen relaunched its website and brand and, along with partners in the “little-n” next gen community, launched Next Gen Month. I think the situation here in Edmonton is rather unique – local next gen organizations are actively working together to make Edmonton a better place. There’s collaboration, rather than competition. Edmonton’s NextGen committee has done some great work recently to get all of the organizations connected and meeting regularly, and I think is starting to see itself more as a hub. That doesn’t mean that NextGen will stop pursuing its own events and initiatives, but there’s a growing awareness that one organization simply can’t represent the entire next gen community.

The big news from last night is that June is going to be Next Gen Month in Edmonton. The idea came about as organizers in the next gen community realized there’s a lot of stuff happening next month. Mayor Stephen Mandel and Councillor Don Iveson were in attendance last night to make the official proclamation:

Whereas, the City of Edmonton is dedicated to supporting young, passionate, community-minded individuals who are taking the future into their own hands by creating a city that attracts and gives voice to the next generation of Edmontonians;

And whereas, through events, leadership and professional development opportunities, next generation organizations are working together to foster young leaders and help provide critical input as the city continues to grow;

And whereas, the City of Edmonton recognizes the efforts of next gen organizations who are actively working to connect people, places, community and ideas together;

And whereas, all Edmontonians are encouraged to participate in activities hosted by next gen organizations through the month of June;

Therefore, I, Mayor Stephen Mandel, do hereby proclaim June 2011, as “Next Gen Month” in Edmonton, Alberta’s capital city.

As you can see, Edmonton’s NextGen now has a new, colorful logo. It was designed by Darren Tonn, Ryan Kelly, and Dennis Lenarduzzi of the Ad Club of Edmonton. They shared some of the design elements and rationale behind the new logo at last night’s event. It wasn’t immediately apparent to me, but if you focus on the blue lines you should see an “unfinished e”, designed to represent the fact that NextGen is still building in Edmonton. I think it does a much better job of conveying what NextGen is all about. You can see their presentation on the logo here.

The new logo is featured prominently on NextGen’s new website. Credit for the new site goes to Ashley Casovan, Devin Serink, Lisa Hagen, and Greg Crossfield, who all worked really hard to bring their vision to life. The site features a much-improved Committee page, a photo gallery, a news feed with blog posts from partners, an event calendar, and more. I had a hand in that last one – the event calendar and list of upcoming events is powered by ShareEdmonton! There’s obviously room for improvement, but the new site is a solid platform for the committee to build upon.

I’m encouraged by the things our next gen community is working on, and by the fact that we’re all working together. There’s a lot of work still be done, but I think we’re heading in the right direction. It seems that hyperbole abounds whenever one talks about the next gen community, but I really do think that we can make a difference here in Edmonton!

I think it’s fair to say that it was “the usual crowd” in attendance last night. For a launch event, I think that’s okay, but it’s definitely a challenge the next gen community will need to address moving forward. With somewhere around 265,000 Edmontonians in the target demographic (18-40) there’s a lot of people that we haven’t yet connected with. On that note, check out the event calendar, get involved, and tell a friend!

You can see more photos from last night’s event here.

EPCOR Community Essentials Council

At EPCOR’s Annual General Meeting yesterday, the EPCOR Community Essentials Council (ECEC) was officially announced:

“The EPCOR Community Essentials Council provides funding to not-for-profit groups who’s initiatives directly align with EPCOR’s water and wires businesses, and our mandate of delivering life essentials to customers and the community,” said Don Lowry, EPCOR President and CEO. “We are pleased that our new Council is able to help strengthen the communities where EPCOR operates.”

As Graham Hicks wrote today, “imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.” One could argue that TELUS has certainly led the way when it comes to community investment here in Edmonton, and during his remarks yesterday Don Lowry gave credit to the TELUS Community Boards for setting the example. I think it’s fantastic that EPCOR has revamped its approach to community investment, and I think the creation of the ECEC is a wonderful thing for Edmonton and all of the other communities EPCOR serves.

I’m very honored and happy to be a part of the inaugural council. It’s an incredible group of people!

From left-to-right: Matthew Herder, Utility Worker, Distribution and Transmission, EPCOR; Elizabeth O’Neill, Executive Director, Big Brothers Big Sisters; Mack Male, Software Engineering Manager, Questionmark Computing & Founder, Paramagnus Developments; Robert Walker, Vice President, Building Division (Northern Alberta), Ledcor Construction Ltd.; Jamie Pytel, Acting Associate General Council & Acting Assistant Corporate Secretary, EPCOR; Jeffrey Lloyd, Vice President, Stantec Consulting Ltd.; Ruth Kelly, Chair, EPCOR Community Essentials Council, President & Publisher, Venture Publishing Inc.; Frank Mannarino, Divisional Vice President, Water Operations, EPCOR; Leigh-Anne Palter, Vice Chair, EPCOR Community Essentials Council, Vice President, Public & Government Affairs, EPCOR; Simon Farbrother, City Manager, City of Edmonton; Patti Lefebvre, Dean, Faculty of Foundational & Intercultural Studies, NorQuest College.

The council supports initiatives that align with EPCOR’s community investment philosophy:

EPCOR’s Community Essentials Council (ECEC) will support initiatives which PROVIDE MORE of the ESSENTIALS required to enhance the quality of life in the communities EPCOR serves. The most essential elements of strong communities and strong families are: Food (Water); Shelter (Safety and Energy); and Education. These three elements are the pillars of EPCOR’s new community investment approach.

Here’s a video introducing the ECEC:

It’s important to note that the ECEC is just one of the ways that EPCOR supports worthy causes in our community. The company will continue with sponsorships and other partnerships as well. For example, EPCOR is the Season Sponsor of the Citadel Theatre, and that won’t change as a result of the creation of the ECEC.

We recently had our first meeting and worked through the applications totaling more than $400,000. Our chair, Ruth Kelly, did a great job of facilitating the meeting. It certainly wasn’t easy, but in the end we awarded grants totaling $100,000 to seven worthy projects. It was great to meet Kyle Dube, Executive Director at YOUCAN Edmonton, and a few of the other recipients at yesterday’s AGM! You can see the full list of recipients here.

I knew about many of the organizations that had applied, but was quite pleased to be able to learn about some new ones too. There are so many amazing initiatives underway! If your organization would like to apply for funding from the ECEC, you can learn more and fill out the form here (also check out the FAQ for applicants). You can also seek sponsorship or other long-term support from EPCOR as well.

Thanks to EPCOR and ECEC Chair Ruth Kelly for the opportunity to be a part of this great initiative! You can learn more about the ECEC here.

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