Coming up at City Council: August 15-19, 2016

Council is back from the summer break next week! Let’s hope they all got some much needed R&R.

City Hall

Here’s my look at what Council will be discussing in the week ahead. Interesting to see that a number of the reports now include a section called “Metrics, Targets, and Outcomes” in addition to the existing “Corporate Outcomes”. This is a welcome addition.

Meetings this week

You can always see the latest City Council meetings on ShareEdmonton.

Municipal Voting Age

The City of Edmonton Youth Council (CEYC) wants the Province to amend the Local Authorities Election Act to allow 16 and 17 year old citizens the right to vote. The CEYC voted in factor of asking for the change at their February 3, 2016 meeting and now they want Council to give them permission to send a letter requesting the change.

The letter the CEYC has prepared reads in part:

“Youth in Edmonton have proven they are ready for this change. Sixteen-­year-­olds already have rights permitting them to drive on city roads, be emancipated and live on their own, be in the army reserves, and be a parent, among many others. Through being able to handle these responsibilities youth have shown not only that they are ready but that they are competent in municipal issues.”

The report notes that “lowering the voting age has been successful in countries such as Norway, Austria, and Scotland to increase voter engagement and turnout.”

If Council accepts the recommendation, the letter will be sent to the Province. It would be great to see this change made and for it to take effect in time for next year’s elections!

River Valley Alliance

In February the River Valley Alliance submitted to its members a Draft Capital Program for 2017-2022 and now it needs the City of Edmonton’s approval in order to seek additional funding. “The total projected cost to complete the proposed River Valley Alliance trail system from Devon to Fort Saskatchewan is estimated at $200 million, of which close to $100 million of the proposed capital spending would occur within Edmonton’s municipal boundaries.” So far $72.9 million has been spent on River Valley Alliance projects like the Terwillegar Park pedestrian bridge and the new funicular, split evenly between the three orders of government.

The report identifies three next steps:

  • “If City Council supports the Draft Capital Program 2017-2022, Administration will continue to work with the River Valley Alliance to confirm alignments, land acquisitions, cost sharing agreements, phasing of construction and determination of alternate priorities (if required). At this time City Council would only be providing its tentative support for these projects with formal approval being subject to further work with the River Valley Alliance to identify a mutually agreed upon final list of projects based on better understanding of City and partner municipality priorities, project costs, schedule and logical project phasing.”
  • “Administration will continue to work with the River Valley Alliance to develop a proposed cost-sharing formula for the portion of the Draft Capital Program 2017 – 2022 within Edmonton’s municipal boundaries, which will be brought back to City Council for approval.”
  • “Administration will confirm with the River Valley Alliance that the City will continue its role in planning, operating, designing, building, operating and maintaining any future river valley capital projects within Edmonton’s municipal boundaries as described in the Draft Capital Program 2017-2022.”

The list of projects for 2017-2022 in Edmonton includes four new pedestrian bridges, three new boat launches & docks, and four new trails.

Fort Edmonton Foot Bridge
Fort Edmonton Foot Bridge, photo by IQRemix

Administration recommends that Council provide its conditional support for the projects “and that formal approval be subject to further work with the River Valley Alliance to identify a mutually agreed upon final list of projects based on better understanding of City and partner municipality priorities, project costs, schedule and logical project phasing.” Once the proposed list and cost-sharing formula are finalized, Administration would create a budget submission for consideration as part of the 2019-2022 Capital Budget.

Soccer Centres

This report responds to the inquiry Councillor Walters made in May about the current usage and capacity of the City’s indoor soccer centres. Here are the highlights:

  • Edmonton has two types of indoor soccer facilities: boarded (with a carpet surface) and non-boarded (with artificial turf).
  • There are three soccer centres that accommodate boarded soccer (northeast, southeast, west). Each facility has four playing surfaces for a total of twelve fields.
  • Collectively each year, the twelve fields have approximately 20,000 scheduled games, 23,700 hours utilized, 853,200 player visits for games, 138,000 spectators, and over $550,00 in revenue collected.
  • During prime time (5pm to 10pm Monday to Friday, 7am to 10pm on weekends) in the winter (September to March) the utilization rate of the three facilities is 94%. During prime time in the summer (April to August) the utilization rate is 54% and most of that is for sports other than soccer.
  • “The Recreation Facility Master Plan (2005-2015) reflects a service level ratio of one pitch to 55,000 residents. To maintain this, the Plan recommends two additional indoor pitches.”
  • The fieldhouse at the Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre is the only City-owned non-boarded indoor facility. “The only other indoor non-boarded facility in Edmonton, located at 14025 142 Street, is owned and operated by the Victoria Soccer Club.” A second turf facility is under construction there and is expected to open in November 2016.
  • “The St. Albert Soccer Association is proposing a partnership with the City of Edmonton and the City of St. Albert for a full-sized, indoor, artificial turf field on land owned by the City of Edmonton in north Edmonton.”

The report notes that soccer is particularly popular in our city. “Soccer is the number one minor sport activity in Edmonton based on the 2010 Current State of Sport assessment and census data shows the population under the age of nine grew by 13 percent from 2009 to 2014, which may lead to continued growth in registrations.”

Other interesting items

  • A new report recommends that City Policy C532 (Sustainable Building Policy) be updated “to ensure it aligns with City of Edmonton goals for a sustainable, energy resilient, low carbon Edmonton.” If approved, the updated policy is slated to return to Council in Q1 2017.
  • Council will receive a City of Edmonton Youth Council report on Experiential Graphic Design, defined as “involving the orchestration of typography, colour, imagery, form, technology, and content to create environments that communicate.” The idea is to integrate this thinking into the City’s recent wayfinding efforts. “Experiential Graphic Design could act as a powerful tool to help both residents and visitors navigate the city’s extensive pedestrian, bicycle and public transit networks, while forming memorable through personal interactions with their environments.”
  • There are three notices of intent to designate new Munipical Historic Resources for the Hunt Residence at 12520 109A Avenue NW, the Shop Easy Grocery at 11606 129 Avenue NW, and the John Wood Residence at 11833 102 Avenue NW.
  • A total of $28,675 is recommended in Travel Grant funding to 43 individuals.
  • A total of $330,700 is recommended in funding to support 18 facilities through the Arts Building Operating Grant program. The largest grant is $59,000 for the Metro Cinema Society.

Wrap-up

You can keep track of City Council on Twitter using the #yegcc hashtag, and you can listen to or watch any Council meeting live online. You can read my previous coverage of the 2013-2017 City Council here.

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #215

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

Edmonton Folk Festival 2016
Edmonton Folk Festival 2016, photo by Bo Lu

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

  • I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while: John Oliver on Journalism. In that segment he said, “the media is a food chain which would fall apart without local newspapers,” and covered a range of familiar themes.
  • Contrast that with the fascinating changes taking place at the New York Times. In short, they’re going to do less local reporting in order to better go after their “lofty international ambitions.” Public Editor Liz Spayd wrote, “You can’t have your reporters parked in courthouses and police stations all day — or chasing fires — and still deliver memorable, ambitious stories that take time to produce.” I realize that New York and the Times are a bit different than everywhere else, but still.
  • In the Washington Post, Margaret Sullivan defended John Oliver’s 19-minute riff, saying “the whole Oliver piece was a pitch-perfect ode to how important newspapers are to their communities, and how troubling it is that they are fading.” The Newspaper Association of America was less than thrilled and accused Oliver of “petty insults.”
  • Tweeting about the Olympics? Be careful! Here are the many, many ways your business can get in trouble for doing so.
  • Should the government bail out the news business? That’s the topic of the latest Canadaland podcast.
  • Joshua Topolsky’s new site The Outline has been called “a New Yorker for millennials.” Good luck figuring out what that means, but their target reader “lives in urban areas”, is “really tech-savvy”, and “eats farm-to-table food,” among other things.

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Edmonton Notes for August 7, 2016

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

Summer Sunset
Summer Sunset

Upcoming Events

DSC_0187
Animethon 23, photo by ceasol

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #214

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

Servus Heritage Festival 2016
92.5 Fresh FM and 630 CHED at the Heritage Festival

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Edmonton Notes for July 31, 2016

Happy Long Weekend! Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

Edmonton River Valley
Edmonton River Valley

Upcoming Events

Edmonton K-Days Exhibition 2016
Edmonton K-Days Exhibition 2016, photo by IQRemix

Summer fun at K-Days 2016

No summer in Edmonton is complete without a trip to K-Days to eat greasy food, take in the sights and sounds of the midway, enjoy some entertainment, and to stay up late for the fireworks. It’s something Sharon and I do every year, and this year we were fortunate to have our gate admission, food, and tickets to the TD Comfort Zone covered by Northlands. We visited on Saturday, and couldn’t have asked for better weather.

K-Days
Swing of the Century on the midway

This being the year of the Pokémon Go craze, the game was everywhere. From the Pikachu and other plush characters being won at the midway games to the five PokéStops on site, good luck ignoring Pokémon if you attend K-Days this year.

Food

It turns out the first new food item we ate this year was the best! The Meatball Sub on a Stick from Pizza Casa actually won 1st Place in the New Food Contest and we can see why. It took a few minutes to make, but it had great flavor, wasn’t messy to eat, and actually didn’t feel all that unhealthy! I really liked that the meatballs were wrapped in dough, rather that in a bun that was awkardly skewered which is what I had imagined.

K-Days
Meatball Sub on a Stick

The Teriyaki Chicken Perogies from International Perogies were on our list of new food items to try, but once we got there we were swayed by the Poutine Perogies. The $12 price seemed a bit steep, but the portion size was actually pretty generous. Have a bottle of water on hand when you eat this dish, because it was a bit salty, but it was very tasty.

K-Days
Poutine Perogies

There are two things I always eat at K-Days: a corn dog and mini donuts. This year I tried the Bacon BBQ Corn Dog, which was pretty good and not much different than a plain corn dog with BBQ dipping sauce actually. I also tried the new Big Pickle Dog from Chicky’s Chicken. I really wanted to like it, but it was awful. The pickle was way too big and much too difficult to bite into. And in trying to bite into it, hot pickle juice flew everywhere. Worse, the hot dog itself was soggy and slid right out of the centre of the pickle. Just avoid it.

K-Days
Big Pickle Dog

Also on the avoid list was the Mac N’ Cheese Stuffed Burger from Gourmet Hand Made Stuffed Burgers. Aside from the highly questionable food safety practices of the vendor (even for K-Days) the dish just lacked flavor. Like the pickle dog, two things I love combined should have been amazing, but instead it was pretty disappointing.

Games & Attractions

I wouldn’t say that we’re big midway gamers, but Sharon does love Bowler Roller (the 25 cent version). Though we spent a few dollars there, she actually won on her very first roll! Aside from Pokémon characters, emoji seemed to be the other hot prize this year. She won two of them.

K-Days
Sharon won an emoji

There was also fun to be had inside! We spent some time inside at TechLife where lots of people were playing video and board games. I’m tempted to go back on the weekend for the Canadian Drone Racing Championships! One of the more interactive features was the Jenga Giant games, which Felicia and Sharon played. They attracted a small crowd at one point because of the height they got to before it call came crashing down.

K-Days
Jenga!

Back outside we visited the K-Days Pow Wow, produced in partnership with the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation. The pavilion features a different theme each day of the festival and “will host members from First Nation communities within Treaty Six and across Canada.” Every day between 3:30pm and 8:00pm you can experience a variety of traditional songs and dances.

K-Days
Pow Wow Grand Entry

If I’m being honest it felt a little like it was tacked on, but to be fair we didn’t spend a lot of time at the Pow Wow. I do think it’s important to recognize that K-Days takes place on Treaty Six land and I hope this aspect of the festival can be built upon in future years.

Entertainment

In past years we have enjoyed the Super Dogs show inside the Expo Centre. This year, we watched the Peking Acrobats then went outside to take in The Canine Stars.

K-Days
The Canine Stars

I mean, who doesn’t love dogs doing amazing stunts? They caught frisbees, jumped over incredibly high hurdles, and dove into a giant pool, splashing everyone around it. It’s the kind of event the crowd really gets into!

K-Days
The Canine Stars

Entertainment, and specifically music, has been a focus for K-Days this year with great line-ups at both the North Stage and the South Stage. Shawn Hook, Rachel Platten, and Victoria Duffield are some of the artists you can hear at the North Stage, while major names like X Ambassadors, Moist, Tom Cochrane, Simple Plan, and Finger Eleven can be heard at the South Stage. On Saturday when we attended, I was thrilled that Matthew Good was performing!

For the first time, the South Stage was moved from the concrete jungle alongside the rides to the track infield at Northlands Park. With a capacity of more than 12,000, the fully-licensed, grassy infield gave the stage much more of a music festival vibe. Just to the left of the stage was the TD Comfort Zone, a VIP area “designed for those superfans who truly want a night to remember.” It’s a large, covered, raised structure with appetizers, a cash bar, and a great view of both the stage and the crowds. Compared to the 5,000 or so people out in the infield, the VIP area was pretty empty, and we think most in attendance were invited by Northlands. Still, it did make for a comfortable way to take in the show if beach balls and mosh pits aren’t your thing.

K-Days
Matthew Good performs at the South Stage

The other great thing about the new South Stage is that it offers an amazing view of the fireworks! We’ve always made our way over toward the casino for fireworks in the past, but this year we were able to get closer and could see the lights of the midway in the background. I definitely recommend checking it out, even if you aren’t particularly interested in the musical act that night.

Attendance

So far K-Days has had pretty good weather and with strong pre-sales thanks to the music line-up (I’ve heard twice as many pre-sales as last year), I think this could be an incredibly strong year for the festival. K-Days attendance peaked at 810,503 back in 2005. The festival was re-branded Capital EX the following year, and attendance plummeted to 688,369.

k-days attendance

What’s most interesting is that the average attendance for the seven Capital EX years was 731,992. That’s only slightly below the average of 753,933 for the preceding seven years. But the branding damage was done, and the switch back to K-Days in 2013 was widely celebrated.

K-Days

So that was our experience this year! There’s a lot more to K-Days than we were able to take in, like rides, but we had lots of fun. Thanks to Northlands for the opportunity. You’ve got until Sunday to visit K-Days for yourself! You can see more photos from our 2016 experience here. You can read about our 2014 experience here. Be sure to check out Linda & Mike’s experience this year too!

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #213

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

K-Days
CTV Edmonton’s “So you want to be an anchor?” at K-Days

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

  • I meant to link to this last month: the crowdfunding campaign to launch The Calgarian ended with only a third of the pledges needed to continue. “Someone asked if I regretted starting this, since it cost me my job and failed in the end. I have to say I do not. It may have been a long-shot, but I believed it had a chance at success. If I hadn’t attempted this, I would have always wondered what might have been,” wrote Taylor Lambert, the man behind the project.
  • Just in time for the Olympics, TELUS is launching 4K on Optik TV in BC and Alberta. “Customers will require a 4K TV, a 4K PVR, as well as a minimum of Internet 50 to support 4K streaming.” You can learn more here.
  • Yahoo has agreed to sell its web businesses, including the purple brand and exclamation point, to Verizon for $4.8 billion. CEO Marissa Mayer is staying on for now. That means Verizon will own both AOL and Yahoo!
  • The Washington Post is going to adapt some of its stories for Medium. “One of Medium’s big draws is its emphasis on getting users to engage with the posts they read,” notes NiemanLab.
  • I guess we should prepare ourselves for more sponsored content: 75% of The Atlantic’s ad revenue and about 50% of Slate’s ad revenue come from the format, and others like the Times “have declared sponsored content to be an important part of their strategies.”

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Edmonton Notes for July 24, 2016

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

Downtown Rainbow
Rainbow over downtown this evening

Upcoming Events

Slide The City - Edmonton
Slide the City, photo by IQRemix

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #212

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

  • Kari Skelton has made a big announcement – she won’t be returning to Up! 99.3 FM. “When it came time to make a difficult decision, my little guy made it easy. My biggest honour and achievement is being a full-time mom. For now, that’s the job title I’m proud to keep.” Congrats!
  • Megan Voss has decided to leave the Sherwood Park News after a little over two and a half years. Her goodbye column should be published here on Tuesday. Best of luck Megan!
  • Check out 20 Questions with Stacey Brotzel. If she wasn’t in media she would be…”Marketing Mr. Brotzel’s hair gel.” Love it.
  • I will definitely admit to playing the “Find Any Good Song” game in the car. From Gig City on Edmonton’s radio scene: “So many stations creates a flipper’s paradise.”
  • It sounds like former Edmonton Journal reporter John MacKinnon is headed for Montreal. He was one of the folks let go when Postmedia merged the newsrooms back in January. I noticed he has been blogging on LinkedIn recently, so watch that space.
  • In the latest episode of Monetizing Your Creativity, Marty Forbes talks about podcasting. “Do you have a great career ahead of you in radio, podcasting, or both? We have some excellent advice here from one of North America’s most respected radio executives … someone who walks the talk, tweets the truth and podcasts his point-of-view.”
  • Here’s a great photo of the media folks that call City Hall their home away from home.
  • Be sure to check out the latest blog and podcast roundups from Seen and Heard in Edmonton.
  • Here’s a MIX 96 FM aircheck featuring Todd James.
  • The old CityTV space in Enterprise Square will serve as the temporary home for the Stanley Milner Library while the current location on Churchill Square is redeveloped. It’ll be great to see that part of Jasper Avenue activated!
  • Karen is teaching a workshop on August 4 about how podcasting can help get your word out at the new ATB Entrepeneur Centre. It’s free to register but space is limited.
  • The polls are open for Vue Weekly’s Best of Edmonton 2016 and there are plenty of media categories on the ballot (and a few online ones too). Voting closes August 22.

Premier Notely attends the India Film Festival of Alberta04
Premier Rachel Notedly poses with actor R. Madhavan at the India Film Festival of Alberta, photo by Premier of Alberta

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

  • Rogers may be feeling the effects of having no Canadian teams in the NHL playoffs but TSN fared better without the NHL than expected. “TSN, for the most part, remains the network viewers turn to for NHL events outside of the games, such as the trade deadline and free agency.” Lots of good information in that article about both TSN and Sportsnet.
  • According to a recent CRTC report, about 160,000 Canadians cancelled their TV subscription last year. But losses were offset by increased prices, of course.
  • Netflix had forecasted it would add 2.5 million subscribers in Q2 but it only added 1.7 million and it blamed the miss on press about the price hike.
  • This is so incredibly interesting to me: “When the Republican National Convention kicks off in Cleveland Monday, BuzzFeed will have a reporter in everyone’s pocket. On Sunday, BuzzFeed launched BuzzBot, an automated chatbot for Facebook’s Messenger app.” I’m very eager to see what comes of it.

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Edmonton Notes for July 17, 2016

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

  • Have you been frustrated by the barriers on the High Level Bridge? Mayor Iveson has heard you, and blogged about it this weekend. “What I should have done was to ask for compassion for the emotionally difficult position Council has been in with respect to the barriers, and to ask for patience as we examine options to mitigate the conditions we’ve created.”
  • The Edmonton Bicycle Commuters Society, frustrated with the poor implementation of the barriers, suggested exploring the use of the top deck for a new pathway to ease congestion.
  • There was a lot of frustration at Council this week. “I think that’s what Edmontonians expect of their councillors is rigorous agreement or disagreement on the issues but not that any member of council be disagreeable with one another or city staff or the public,” the mayor said. Sounds like the summer break couldn’t have come at a better time.
  • Council did unanimously approve a review “that will look at Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy requests, closed-door council debates, and contracts kept secret for the benefit of third parties.” Councillor Mike Nickel made the motion and I really like his suggestion of sunset clauses so that information can be released after it is no longer sensitive. The report should come back in October.
  • On Friday, the Province of Alberta and Government of Canada announced funding to construction the southwest portion of the Calgary Ring Road. Mayor Don Iveson made a statement in response: “We are pleased that Calgary received the funding they needed for their ring road today and we’re hopeful Edmonton will soon see similar funding for top priority projects like upgrades to the Yellowhead Trail.”
  • Also Friday, the 102 Avenue Bridge over Groat Road finally reopened! There’s still some work to be done that will result in lane reductions during off-peak hours and on the weekends, but it should be all finished by the end of September. “The City of Edmonton thanks the local businesses on 102 Avenue and 124 Street, residents, motorists and trail users for their patience during bridge construction.”
  • The City has released a series of nine “Guiding Perspectives” reports as part of the new Transit Strategy development. They cover topics like “why people do or don’t take transit”, “how Edmonton’s transit system is performing”, and “how Bus Rapid Transit can be included in Edmonton’s transit system”.
  • Paula Simons wrote about the Edmonton Public Library’s temporary relocation to Enterprise Square while the Stanley Milner renovations take place. They’re leasing about 17,200 square feet of space. The Stanley Milner is slated to close in late December for three years. Here’s more on the move from EPL.
  • Startup Edmonton has released its Summer 2016 Update. They now have more than 120 members working in the space and more than 440 currently enrolled in programs.
  • The Edmonton Oilers signed winger Jesse Puljujarvi to a three-year entry level contract this week.
  • Dave Mulcair has some suggestions for improving the ePark app. “If you live in Edmonton and have used this app then you understand how painful it is to park a car with this app.”
  • The City of Edmonton will host the Canadian Open Data Summit in May 2017. The event will bring ” approximately 500 national leaders representing the public sector, non-profit, and private sector” to our city to discuss best practices and learnings around open data.
  • July’s big ticket event saw 3,449 violations handed out, including 3,030 for speeding.
  • Here’s a look at some of Edmonton’s power history from the Edmonton Power Historical Foundation.
  • For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

The Rainbow
The Rainbow, photo by Jeff Wallace

Upcoming Events

Bridging
Bridging, photo by Dave Sutherland