Tag: edmonton

Pecha Kucha Night: Edmonton #8

Last night was Edmonton’s eighth Pecha Kucha Night, the first public event to be held at the University of Alberta’s brand new Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science. The lecture theatre we were in was massive, but the crowd was equally as large. Edmonton loves Pecha Kucha!

In order of appearance, here were the presenters at PKN8:

  1. Dr. Indira Samarasekera, President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Alberta
  2. Robert Rogers, Herbalist
  3. Carol Neuman, Board Member, LitFest: Edmonton’s Nonfiction Festival
  4. Dustin Bajer, Teacher & Permaculture Designer
  5. Ben Gardner, Intern Architect
  6. Nadir Bellahmer, Designer, and Michael Rivest, Intern Architect, M.A.D.E
  7. Leslee Greenaway, Edmonton-based Realtor, Save A Village
  8. Marcelo Figueira, Civil Engineer and Land Use Planner
  9. Anita Gregoire, Developer of Urban Food Production
  10. Isha Datar, Researcher

Pecha Kucha Night 8Pecha Kucha Night 8

For the most part, I thought all of the presentations were good. All of the presenters seemed as though they had practiced at least once, and no one really let nerves get the better of them. In contrast with PKN7, where the presenters could barely see the audience, last night’s presenters could probably see everyone, and I imagine that would have been quite daunting in such an imposing room.

I think my favorite talk of the evening was Dustin’s talk on permaculture. He started with a sort of introduction to the topic, before sharing the project he has been working on at Jasper Place School. Though he spoke pretty fast, he was loud, clear, and made permaculture sound very interesting. I really like the idea that “resiliency is the measure of connections.”

I also thought Carol’s talk was very good. She was very successful at promoting LitFest without actually talking about the event! That was in contrast to Nadir and Michael. Although they were entertaining, there wasn’t a lot of substance in their talk, and I don’t even think it was a very good introduction to M.A.D.E.

In talking with others after the event, Isha’s presentation seemed to be a favorite (she also spoke at PKN5). Anita’s talk on community supported agriculture was informative, and Robert took what seemed at first to be a very dry topic and ended up giving a talk with the most memorable quote of the night: “It tastes like chocolate, and it gives you sweet, sweet dreams.” Leslee’s presentation was very well done, but seemed out of place with the rest of the talks. I thought the topics that Ben and Marcelo chose were interesting, especially Ben’s on some new buildings in Edmonton, but perhaps could have been presented differently.

I also have to mention Indira’s talk. She’s a really great speaker, but I would say that her presentation last night probably wasn’t my favorite. She also went over time and bolted from the room as soon as she was done, but I realize she’s a busy lady.

Pecha Kucha Night 8Pecha Kucha Night 8

Some other thoughts on the evening:

  • Our hosts were Ryan Stark and Brian Murray, and once again they did a pretty good job of keeping the evening flowing. They also ditched cue cards in favor of iPads!
  • There wasn’t a theme last night, but “food” kind of emerged as the theme.
  • Edmonton was big on Twitter last night! #pkn8 trended in Canada (as did #yegvote). It seems that more and more people are using Twitter to enhance the Pecha Kucha experience.
  • Though it was cool to be the first ones in the new venue, it really didn’t work as well as it could have. The space outside the lecture room was tight and narrow, which made it difficult to move. Inside, the room had odd lighting and the occasional sound issue. And the event started a half hour late, due to technical difficulties.
  • There were free cookies! And a free photo booth (use password “Nextgen780” once the photos are uploaded).
  • The wonderful graphics for the event were done by Sarah Krzyzek. I understand she painted them on canvas and then scanned them in, which sounds like an incredible amount of work!

Edmonton Next Gen is planning the next Pecha Kucha Night in Edmonton for March 2011. Thanks to them for a great event, to all of the volunteers for making it happen! Stay tuned to @EdmNextGen on Twitter for updates.

You can see a few more photos from last night here.

Double props to the Edmonton Journal

As you probably know, I don’t shy away from criticizing the Edmonton Journal (or other local media). Though I don’t always succeed, I do try to be constructive, because I think there’s incredible opportunity facing The Journal. Two such opportunities: data-driven journalism, and real-time reporting.

Props to Brent Wittmeier & Lucas Timmons

Neither Brent nor Lucas have been with The Journal for very long, and maybe that’s why they were able to succeed with the unclaimed balances story. Brent was voluntold to write about the Bank of Canada’s unclaimed balances, which he did by teaming up with data journalist Lucas to create a searchable online database for Edmonton. They put together a three-part story, but it didn’t stop there:

We also got quite the response. Dozens of phone calls and emails poured in, and I began working on a follow-up story. And then two. And now, three. Some of these other stories are even better than the original… There should be an extensive piece either later this week or next weekend.

Start with some data, and more often than not a story will emerge. Brent noted: “In truth, they ended up being far more interesting stories than I thought.”

Props to Paula Simons & David Staples

I’m glad to see that Paula and David (with some help from other colleagues such as Todd Babiak) have started a new blog focused on local affairs, called The Edmonton Commons. They used it very effectively on nomination day to share stories about the candidates and the official start of the election. They’ve also got the #yegvote hashtag embedded on the page. Though they have cross-posted some columns, I’m hopeful that their use of the blog as way to forego the print deadline will expand.

Here is Paula’s first post, and here is David’s first post. I like what David had to say:

The sharpening of ideas, the accumulation of good information and the discarding of bad information is at the core of strong decision making. It’s what we hope to do here at this forum. In the past, there were more barriers in regards to entering into the great conversation of civil society, even for a newspaper writer…the conversation was largely one-way. The Internet gives us a new tool that enables that conversation to flourish.

Time will tell how successful the two are with the blog (will they still be writing as often in three months as they do now) but I think they’re off to a great start.

Edmonton Election 2010: Nomination Day Statistics

Yesterday was nomination day, the day that all candidates in the upcoming municipal election needed to file their paperwork and pay their fees. Dave was at City Hall and has a nice overview of how things went.

Now that we know who’s running (though some may still drop out) let’s look at some stats. In total, there are 113 candidates vying for the role of mayor, councillor, public school trustee, or catholic school trustee. Here’s a breakdown of the various candidates:

I wondered about gender, since that is often a hot issue in politics. Here’s the gender breakdown for the candidates:

The web is going to play a very important role in this election. It’s the first place people turn to when they want to know more – they search. How many of the candidates could be found online as of last night? And which details did they make available?

As you can see, candidates have some work to do.

Quite a few people, myself included, followed along yesterday on Twitter. Kudos to Dave and John for live-tweeting and posting lots of photos! Here’s what yesterday’s #yegvote activity looked like:

Candidates could file their paperwork between 9am and noon, which explains the big spike in the morning.

I hope Edmontonians take the time to learn about their candidates, and to voice their concerns and thoughts on the issues facing our city. I have updated ShareEdmonton to (hopefully) help make that easier. Here’s what’s new at the Election 2010 site:

I’d love your feedback on how I can improve the Election 2010 site at ShareEdmonton. And if you find additional candidate information that I’m missing, let me know. I’ve got a few planned improvements on the way, so stay tuned!

Recap: Elect Michael Janz Campaign Benefit Brunch

This morning Sharon and I joined a few dozen other fans and supporters of Michael Janz at the City Arts Centre for a benefit brunch for Michael’s campaign. Michael is running for Public School Trustee in Ward F, which means he’s been working extremely hard since at least May to talk with as many people as possible. Voter turnout in the 2007 election was abysmal, and it was even worse for school trustees, so it’s important to get the word out.

There was lots of coffee, thankfully, and a tasty breakfast prepared by some very dedicated volunteers! The event was a good opportunity to chat with others who care about what Michael is doing. Michael did give a short presentation as well, updating us on how is campaign is going, highlighting key campaign points, thanking volunteers, and outlining the work ahead as we inch closer to October 18.

I really like Michael’s position that the school board has a greater impact on our communities than just on the schools within them. I think that was made abundantly clear earlier this year with the school closures that took place. I encourage you to check out Michael’s site for more information on his priorities, but here are the key bullet points to whet your appetite:

  • Work to keep schools open.
  • Transform schools into community spaces.
  • Support students with special needs.
  • Empower and engage citizens.
  • Ensure a well-funded education system.
  • Make the school board more accessible.

I’d also encourage you to check out this article that Michael wrote on the issue of special education.

Elect Michael Janz

You can see a few more photos from the event here. You can follow Michael on Twitter, on Facebook, or you can email him. Election day is October 18.

Edmonton Notes for 9/18/2010

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

DECL on Community League Day
Sharon and I joined the Downtown Edmonton Community League today. Consider joining your community league!

DECL on Community League Day
DECL celebrated Community League Day with Corn Fest. Free corn!

Recap: Katz Group reaches out to Nextgeners on the Edmonton Arena District

Last night the Katz Group hosted an “off the record” meeting downtown to talk about the proposed Edmonton Arena District with “nextgeners”. Most of the nearly 60 people in attendance heard about the event through the Edmonton Next Gen’s weekly newsletter. Given that the last news update on their website was posted on July 23, I was curious to hear what Bob Black had to say.

Bob’s presentation lasted just under an hour, and was followed by a question and answer session. The newest piece of information to me was related to some concepts the Katz Group has come up with for street activations. The concepts are very much a work-in-progress, and will be shared more widely in the future after they are further developed.

Both Paul and Bruce have already written about the meeting, but here are my notes and favorite quotes (all quotes are attributed to Bob Black):

  • Much of the presentation was a recap. The district is 12 acres on the north side, 4 acres on the south side.
  • The current plan is for the arena to be centered on the north side, surrounded by a practice rink, office towers, and other development. The south side could host a hotel and a condo building.
  • As Bob walked through diagrams and concepts, he made sure to point out changes they have made based on feedback.
  • “We believe our project can contribute significantly to putting Edmonton on a new foundation for business.”
  • Bob called the July meeting with City Council “a watershed moment” in the history of the EAD project, because it gave them a process to follow.
  • “We think there’s more opportunity for live entertainment in Edmonton, and we intend to put it into the district.” Bob described two additional live entertainment venues that would be part of the complex, in addition to the arena itself. He talked fondly about the old Sidetrack Cafe.
  • “The project will be phased. To expect that all 16 acres be developed at once is not realistic.” In questions after the presentation, Bob confirmed that the arena would be built first, but couldn’t give specifics about the rest of the development.
  • Bob talked about the seasons, and explained the idea of a sidewalk-arcade. In the summer, activity would spill onto the sidewalk. In the spring/fall, the arcade could have roll-down shades, and in the winter, it could even be heated.
  • Bob also talked at length about the winter garden, perhaps the most controversial part of the proposed development thus far. He explained that it was created to solve a critical design issue – they don’t want to impair traffic on 104 Avenue, and they want to ensure the safety of patrons after large events. He mentioned the current “lemming” effect after hockey games, where large groups of people quickly “get the heck out of dodge.”
  • The winter garden is intended to be a year-round gathering place, and the Katz Group clearly sees it as the centrepiece of the development. Bob called it the “statement piece” and said it could be Edmonton’s “postcard snapshot”.
  • The winter garden would be roughly 1 acre in size, suspended 32 feet above 104 Avenue. Despite criticism that the winter garden moves pedestrian traffic off the street, Bob said that it “ties the arena into the downtown”.
  • The presentation did touch on the Oilers and its finances. “The Oilers are the only team in the NHL that do not receive non-hockey revenues.”
  • In response to a few questions about what the development would look like and how it would be funded, Bob said: “Until you have a project you can’t make the full investment required for architecture and costing.” He did spend some time explaining the CRL as well.
  • Bob proactively tackled the notion that we could simply retrofit Rexall Place. He explained the expense that would be required, and pointed out that renovating Rexall wouldn’t allow the Katz Group to achieve its goals. “We’re looking to change the nature of entertainment in Edmonton.”
  • In response to a question about what would happen to Rexall Place, Bob replied: “What happens to Rexall if the project goes ahead is not up to the Katz group.” He also pointed out that Northlands has not shown any desire to dialogue on the issue.
  • Parking of course came up in the presentation. Bob’s slides showed that there are roughly 8470 parking spaces available within a 10 minute walk from the EAD, and roughly 5075 within a 5 minute walk. Bob said the current plan is to build between 1500 and 3000 parking stalls in the EAD.
  • When asked about the Greyhound bus station and other surrounding development that might be considered “urban blight”, Bob said he has high hopes that Gene Dub will do something with the land when the bus station lease expires.
  • When asked about sustainability, Bob said the vision is to be “absolutely green”.
  • The very first question that was asked of Bob was what happens to the less fortunate who may be displaced by the development, or who simply can’t afford to access the facilities. Bob reiterated that some elements of the EAD are intended to be public gathering spaces, and did confirm that dialogue with agencies and other partners is ongoing, but said that “you can’t always reach every demographic.”
  • Some of the projects Bob referenced as potential examples during his presentation include: Hudson Yards in New York, Rockefeller Center in New York, British Museum in London, BCE Place Galleria in Toronto (which is actually classified as public art by the City of Toronto), and Fulton Street Transit Centre in New York.
  • Bob finished with his call to action, asking anyone with values similar to the Katz Group, to help. “We believe now is the time where Edmonton needs to be bold.”

Edmonton Arena District Meeting

The Katz Group has gotten a bit of a free ride in the media over the summer thanks to the City Centre Airport issue, but they’ve used that time to continue consultations with a wide range of individuals and organizations.

Check out the #yegarena hashtag on Twitter for updates.

I should point out that I did have permission to tweet and write about the event. I don’t think it was really meant to be off-the-record; the Katz Group just wanted the chance to chat without the media around. But of course, nextgeners like me are never far from an Internet-enabled device!

Envision Edmonton’s petition insufficient, City Centre Airport phased closure will continue

Yesterday the declaration of the City Clerk was released, stating that the petition put forward by Envision Edmonton was not sufficient, for two reasons:

  • There were no more than 73,657 valid signatures.
  • The petition was not brought within 60 days of Council’s decision to close the airport.

According to the Municipal Government Act (MGA) that means that City Council was not required to take any notice of the petition. They debated the issue in their final meeting before the election, and voted 10-3 against including a question on the ballot. The vote breakdown was exactly the same as it was in July 2009, when Council voted in favor of a phased closure of the City Centre Airport. Here are some of the quotes from the meeting:

  • “The decision to not put a question on the ballot is the right one for Edmonton.” – Mayor Mandel
  • “For some unknown reason it took 11 months to get a petition.” – Mayor Mandel
  • “This needs to end.” – Mayor Mandel
  • “This motion is the same year late as the petition. This needed to happen last year.” – Councillor Iveson
  • “I am not prepared to support something that could lead to 42 years of inefficient operation.” – Councillor Anderson
  • “Somebody has to have the guts to say enough is enough.” – Councillor Henderson
  • “I am prepared to stand up and say I did eight months of research on this issue.” – Councillor Krushell
  • “Is this the only big decision we’ve made in the last three years?” – Councillor Sohi

In both the meeting and a media briefing, we learned more about the petition verification process.

  • Roughly 80 staff worked for more than 3700 hours to verify the petition. About 60 of those staff were hired specifically for the verification process.
  • One of the first things the City had to do was photocopy every page of the petition. The copies and the originals are now stored in a vault, where they will remain for at least 5 years.
  • It turns out Envision Edmonton did not contact the City Clerk about its petition. If it had done so, it might have learned about the 60 day requirement.
  • Had the petition been valid and sufficient, the outcome of the question would have been binding for ten years. If Council had decided to put a question on the ballot anyway, its outcome would not have been binding.
  • The total cost for the verification is estimated at between $125,000 and $150,000.
  • Banister Research was hired to help complete the verification, which they did via telephone.
  • The petition signatories (addresses) were compared against both the Edmonton Elections database (current as of 2009) and SLIM (Spatial Land Inventory Management).
  • Since the July 2009 decision, the City has incurred costs of $12 million, while ERAA has incurred costs of more than $23 million.

Links

Lots of people have written about this already. Here are some relevant links:

Resources

PDF Municipal Government Act (2.4 MB)

PDF Declaration of the City Clerk (689 KB)

PDF Report on the Petition (55 KB)

Final Thoughts

I don’t for a second think the battle over the City Centre Airport is finished. I’m sure we’ll see additional challenges and fights in the weeks and months ahead. Edmonton Airports seems to think so as well, launching Share The Facts today. I am confident that City Council made the right decision yesterday however, and I think they’ll be rewarded for it on October 18.

Closing the City Centre Airport is the right decision for Edmonton’s future. Yesterday was simply another step along the way to making that future a reality.

Edmonton Notes for 9/4/2010

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Edmonton’s bid for Expo 2017 was on display in Shanghai this week. Here’s the new video:

City Market
The City Market featured a petting zoo today!

Mayor Mandel
I’ve started noticing more and more signs and billboards around town for the election, like this one for Mayor Mandel who is hoping to win a third term.

Exploring Apps4Edmonton using Microsoft Live Labs Pivot

You’re going to hear a lot more about apps over the next few weeks! The deadline for submissions for the City of Edmonton’s Apps4Edmonton competition was Friday evening. Local developers came up with more than 30 really interesting and useful local apps, which will now compete for your votes and for the attention of the judges. You can learn more about the prizes and the competition here.

I started looking at some of the apps, and decided I wanted a better interface to browse them. I thought it would be nice to be able to sort the apps, to see a screenshot of each one, and to see which datasets each of the apps made use of. I also didn’t want to spend too much time on it, so with all of that in mind, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to experiment with Pivot.

Here’s what I came up with! Click on the image below to load the Apps4Edmonton Apps Directory in Pivot. You’ll need Silverlight 4 installed for it to work. Alternatively, if you have downloaded Pivot and have it installed on your computer, you can browse to this URL inside Pivot.

Click here to launch the Pivot!

Might take a minute or two to load. If it doesn’t, just refresh it. What you see are all the apps from the contest page, with a screenshot, description, contest URL, and list of datasets for each one. If you want to see just the apps that use the “Police Stations” dataset for example, you can select it in the navigation pane on the left and the view will update.

Ever since TechEd, I’ve been really interested in Microsoft Live Labs Pivot, an interactive data visualization technology. It’s great for exploring large datasets, identifying relationships, visualizing patterns, etc. The Apps4Edmonton dataset isn’t very large of course, but the tool still does a great job.

How It Works

I started out by building a Pivot Collection using Microsoft Excel. Pivot has a pretty handy tool for turning spreadsheets into collections, so that’s what I used initially. Quickly though I realized that I wanted to host this on the web somewhere, and that I wanted others to help me refine the dataset.

I uploaded the spreadsheet to Google Docs, and then downloaded the Just In Time Pivot Collection sample. After a little bit of experimentation with the Google Docs API (which I have never used before) I had the code working to create my collection on the fly. It loads the spreadsheet from Google Docs, creates the collection, and then serves up the XML and Deep Zoom images.

The spreadsheet is mostly complete, but a few apps are missing datasets. This is because either it wasn’t immediately obvious which they were using, or they simply don’t use any that are part of the data catalogue. You can update the spreadsheet here.

If you’d like to experiment with creating your own just-in-time Pivot Collection, you can download the sample code here and the code for the collection I wrote here. I also made use of CutyCapt to generate screenshots. You’ll also want to check the XML schema.

Apps4Edmonton

There are some really great apps in the Apps4Edmonton competition, so check them out. You’ve got until September 10 to vote for your favorite ideas and apps!

And for full disclosure, I submitted ShareEdmonton to the competition. If you like it, vote for it!

UPDATE: Thanks to John for helping me get the Pivot Collection right!

Edmonton Notes for 8/28/2010

It’s the last weekend of August, and it certainly feels like it with the very cool wind. Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Downtown Edmonton
It was another wild week of weather here in Edmonton. Dark clouds!

City Market

Edmonton Opera had a “flashmob” at the City Market today.


Here’s a taste of the North Edge Outdoor Nite Market…from the hay ride!