Tag: events

Edmonton Notes for 1/3/2016

Happy New Year! Here are my first weekly Edmonton notes of 2016:

Headlines

Edmonton New Year 2016
Edmonton New Year 2016, photo by IQRemix

Upcoming Events

Edmonton Skyline
Edmonton Skyline, photo by IndustrialAndrew

Edmonton Notes for 12/27/2015

Merry Christmas! I hope you’ve been having a relaxing and enjoyable holiday season thus far. Sharon and I have really enjoyed a few days off, pretty much just watching TV and eating unhealthy food. Compared to her I’m definitely a scrooge, but I do really like this time of year. That said, I’m looking forward to not hearing Christmas music everywhere!

Edmonton's FreezeWay
Edmonton’s FreezeWay, photo by Jeff Wallace

This is my final Edmonton notes of 2015, and it’s a light edition to reflect the holiday week:

Winter Walk

All the best in 2016!

Edmonton Notes for 12/20/2015

Just five more sleeps until Christmas! Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

101A Ave
101A Avenue, photo by Jeff Wallace

Stay safe this holiday season! The Province has a reminder about the numbers you can call or text to get help over the holidays,.

Upcoming Events

Ice District - December 2015
Ice District – December 2015, photo by Jeff Wallace

Edmonton Notes for 12/13/2015

Less than two weeks until Christmas, if you can believe it! Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

Hyatt Place - Under Construction
Hyatt Place, photo by Jeff Wallace

Upcoming Events

ETS
Central Station, photo by Dave Sutherland

High Street Lawsuit, Glen Sather Arena, Adult Colouring Book Nights

Here’s the latest entry in my Edmonton Etcetera series, in which I share some thoughts on a few topical items in one post. Less than I’d write in a full post on each, but more than I’d include in Edmonton Notes. Have feedback? Let me know!

High Street going to court over the 102 Avenue Bridge

Springwood Developments, the company that owns High Street, is planning to file suit against the City of Edmonton and Graham Construction over the 102 Avenue Bridge project. They’re seeking damages for all tenants for sales lost between October 1, which is roughly when the bridge was supposed to open, and the date the bridge eventually opens, currently expected to be Fall 2016.

I’m no lawyer, but after looking at the Municipal Government Act (specifically sections 23, 25, 534) and looking through past Council decisions on similar matters, I can’t really see how such a lawsuit could be successful. Municipalities generally cannot be held liable for this sort of thing unless they were extremely negligent, and there’s no evidence to suggest the City of Edmonton was. Furthermore, the “injurious affection” they’re probably going to cite must result in a “permanent reduction” in the value of appraised land in order for a claim to be available.

102 ave bridge girders
Photo by SphinxTerrific

Apparently the City of Edmonton has been receiving $11,500 a day in penalties from the contractor to compensate for not opening on time, and many feel that at least some of those funds should go to the businesses affected. But I agree with Councillor McKeen, who called that “a pandora’s box”. It’s not a precedent the City should be setting.

This isn’t the first time that Council has had to deal with the suggestion either. Back in April 2013, Council denied a request for partial tax cancellation for a convenience store and tailor shop affected by the Central LRT Station renovations. In that case the owner was seeking a 70% tax reduction, which would have only amounted to $742.77, but Council agreed with Administration that granting the request “would create a precedent for future requests.”

I personally think the City is already walking a fine line in supporting the Cash Mob that will take place in the 124 Street area tomorrow. In addition to Mayor Iveson and Councillor McKeen’s attendance, the City is running Park & Ride service from Hawrelak Park and Stadium. It’s great to show support, but at what point does it become perceived as an admission of guilt?

Not to mention that I find the hyperbole around the Cash Mob a bit off-putting. News releases about the event have consistently said that “businesses may not survive the winter” and one even said “this may literally be the last chance to help these businesses stay afloat”. I don’t think that’s helping the situation, and may in fact be feeding growing skepticism about the impact of the bridge on the businesses.

I’m reminded a bit of You’ve Got Mail with Meg Ryan and her character’s independent book store, The Shop Around the Corner. Facing the prospect of closing, a media campaign is launched to “save the shop around the corner!” But it doesn’t work. “Don’t tell me. Not the slightest difference?” exclaims Kathleen Kelly. “How can that be? All this publicity and not one bit of difference?”

To be clear, I think what organizer Tommy Kalita has done with Cash Mobs in Edmonton is fantastic and I have no doubt he’ll continue to have a positive impact on our community in the future. And both Sharon and I are fans of many of the businesses in the area and have and will continue to spend money there. It would indeed be sad to see the independent shops go. But if they do, should all the blame fall to the bridge? No, I don’t think it should.

Glen Sather Day in Edmonton

The architect of the Oilers dynasty, Glen Sather, is being recognized in Edmonton tonight with a banner raising ceremony at Rexall Place before the Oilers take on the New York Rangers. Mayor Don Iveson proclaimed today Glen Sather Day, and Daryl Katz announced a million dollar donation to the community arena which will now be named in Sather’s honor.

“To do this in Glen’s name is fitting and it’ll serve as a lasting tribute to his tremendous legacy in Oil Country,” said Bob Nicholson, the head of the Oilers Entertainment Group.

The money donated by the Oilers Community Foundation and Katz Family will be used to create a fund “to have programs for all the underprivileged kids so that hockey continues to grow in this city,” said Nicholson. “We’ll make sure that kids from all parts of this city get to use this community rink.”

The name “Downtown Community Arena” was given to the rink back at the January meeting of the Edmonton Naming Committee. If that sounds like a placeholder name, that’s because it likely was. With a high profile building like this, it’s not surprising that naming rights would be up for grabs.

The City will own and operate the community arena, and all revenues and costs will go to the City. The originally estimated cost to build the community arena was $23 million, with $14 million to come from the Federal and Provincial governments, $7 million to come from the Downtown CRL, and $2 million to come from MacEwan University. But now the bulk of the cost is going to be covered by the CRL, with $7 million coming from the Federal government.

Adult Colouring Book Nights at EPL

Colouring books for adults are all the rage right now. Walk into nearly any book store or gift shop and you’ll see them. They’re regularly in Amazon’s list of best selling books. I haven’t gotten into the trend myself, maybe because every time I flip through one I get overwhelmed just thinking about colouring the large, complex scenes! But plenty of people enjoy the activity and have even been bringing their own colouring books into the library, which is why EPL decided to host an event for adults to colour together:

“One of our goals is just to create fun program and connect people in our space,” said Stanley Milner associate manager Kate Gibson. “It’s a chance to take a break from the stress of life and relax, and come in and just calm down for a bit.”

For now it’s only happening at Stanley Milner downtown, but it could expand to other branches if it proves popular enough. The next event is slated to take place on December 21 at 7pm in the program room on the main floor.

Sharon pointed out to me that this isn’t the first event for colouring books in Edmonton. Audrey’s has hosted some very popular all-ages colouring parties this year. Who knew?!

Goodbye, Hello at the Royal Alberta Museum

More than 35,000 Edmontonians visited the Royal Alberta Museum over the weekend to say goodbye to the building that has seen more than 14 million visits since it opened back on December 6, 1967. The numbers from this weekend speak to the impact the museum has had on the community:

“The museum saw 16,290 people in the first 24-hours alone, eclipsing the previous single-day attendance record of 13,212, which was set in 1974 with gear from the Apollo moon landings on display.”

Goobye, Hello RAM

In addition to one last look at the bug room, visitors had the opportunity to visit the “Goodbye, Hello” exhibit in the feature gallery where they could share a memory or write a message for the new building. They could also see a video overview of the new building that is currently under construction downtown.

The new building will be roughly twice the size, with more than 82,000 square feet of exhibition space. It is being built to the LEED Silver standard at a cost of $375.5 million, $253 million of which is coming from the Province with the rest coming from the Federal government. Construction began on February 7, 2014 and is expected to finish in mid-2016. The goal is to open the new museum to the public in late 2017.

Goobye, Hello RAM

While the new building will certainly be an exciting addition to the downtown arts district, it does raise the question of what will happen to the current building. There’s nothing wrong with it, aside from being too small to share the museum’s growing collection. Here’s what the FAQ says:

“There has been no decision on the future of the Royal Alberta Museum building when the existing museum closes. When determining the future use the general process is to first see if government still has a use for the building/property. If government doesn’t require the property then the municipality is consulted to see if they have a use for it. The building is offered to the public if neither levels of government have a use for the property. Although the museum will be closing its doors in December 2015, the building will still be occupied with staff and collections until likely Fall 2019, as it makes the massive move to its new location.”

So while there’s still time to determine its fate, it’s an issue we’ll have to address as a community soon. To learn more about the history of the museum, have a look at Then & Now feature and check out this article by Janet Vlieg:

“The first two decades of the museum’s existence saw new exhibits added in keeping with the original goals of preserving Alberta history. No admission fees were charged and the museum relied almost completely on provincial funding. Help for extras came in 1982 with a new fundraising support group, now known as Friends of Royal Alberta Museum.”

On Monday evening, the final day the museum was open, Sharon and I were able to attend the RAM: A Moving Tribute event as guests of the Friends of Royal Alberta Museum Society (FRAMS). It was an “evening of fond farewells to a beautiful building.” A well-dressed crowd gathered to hear some speeches, visit the galleries, and reminisce about their previous visits to the building.

Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchell, Minister of Culture & Tourism David Eggen, and City Councillor Scott McKeen were among those who brought greetings and reflected on their experiences in the museum. Guests could then explore the museum one last time, stopping perhaps to learn from the experts that were stationed throughout.

Goobye, Hello RAM

I didn’t grow up in Edmonton, so I don’t have the same memories of visiting as a kid. But I have enjoyed visiting in recent years and look forward to spend lots of time at the new building. Sharon does remember visiting as a child and was quite eager to visit the Wild Alberta Gallery one last time! We had fun exploring and adding our own messages to the wall in the feature gallery.

Goobye, Hello RAM

Thanks to FRAMS for having us! We look forward to visting the new museum when it opens on (or around) December 7, 2017. Can’t wait!

Edmonton Notes for 12/6/2015

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

Alberta Legislature Lights
Alberta Legislature Lights

Upcoming Events

#RoyalAlbertaMuseum Goodbye, Hello!
#RoyalAlbertaMuseum Goodbye, Hello, photo by Greg Scratchley

Edmonton Notes for 11/29/2015

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

  • Tonight the Edmonton Eskimos won their 14th Grey Cup, defeating the Ottawa RedBlacks in Winnipeg with a final score of 26-20! Ottawa started with a 13-0 lead but the Esks came back and played a solid game after those few opening minutes. It all came down to a coach’s challenge on pass interference which got us in position to score. Quarterback Mike Reilly was named MVP.

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Edmonton - More Light! (Explored)
Edmonton – More Light! photo by Jeff Wallace

Upcoming Events

Edmonton Festival of Trees
Edmonton Festival of Trees, photo by IQRemix

We had our first big snowfall this week, but aside from a couple of days it has been pretty warm. That looks set to continue starting Tuesday, with highs above zero and lows in the -3 to -7 range.

Recap: DemoCamp Edmonton 29

Edmonton’s 29th DemoCamp took place tonight at the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences (CCIS) on the University of Alberta campus. I wasn’t able to make it unfortunately, but I did follow along with each of the demos via Twitter (thanks to Karen Unland). In the spirit of continuing to document the startup scene in Edmonton, I wanted to do a quick write-up. You can read my recap of our last DemoCamp here.

DemoCamp Edmonton 12

If you’re new to DemoCamp, here’s what it’s all about:

“DemoCamp brings together developers, creatives, entrepreneurs and investors to share what they’ve been working on and to find others in the community interested in similar topics. For presenters, it’s a great way to get feedback on what you’re building from peers and the community, all in an informal setting. The rules for DemoCamp are simple: 7 minutes to demo real, working products, followed by a few minutes for questions, and no slides allowed.”

In order of appearance, tonight’s demos included:

Home Tribe debuted back in October at Launch Party Edmonton 6. It’s a new way to explore real estate. They have a feature called Home Tribe Match which Karen described as “sort of like a dating site for you and your future home”. I saw the demo back at Launch Party and found it to be a clever way to sort through MLS data. Instead of just looking by location, you fill out a questionnaire of preferences and Home Tribe uses MLS and other datasets to narrow down to the best matches for you.

Shelfie is a project of some Jobber employees. It’s a “small library management” tool. You can scan books to add them, you can rent books with a single-click, and you can keep track of what you’ve read. Sounds a little like GoodReads but for libraries. The application won fourth place in the 2015 Rails Rumble hackathon, which is a distributed programming competition with participants from all over the world. Great to see an Edmonton team take part and do so well!

Run-WithIT strikes me as one of those things you have to see to get, but I’ll try. The website says they “create a continuous simulation of your future field conditions complete with real data and millions of metrics so you can have IT all figured out before release.” I gather it is a tool for planning through simulations, and those simulations are really about the performance and scalability of web applications. Karen wrote: “The field is the greatest teacher, so Run WithIT simulates the field so IT pros can learn.”

FitCoins sounds like a wonderful idea, though there’s nothing on the website to explore yet. Just an explanation that “Fitcoins are an activity based point system that allows kids to earn screen time.” It’s a smart way to tackle the challenge of getting kids to be physically active when all they want is to message their friends or whatever it is kids do these days on their devices. Sounds like FitCoins is still at a very early stage, as Karen noted: “Really neat to see a demo at the stage that FitCoins is at. It’s Arduinos in a box, but it works.”

The final demo was from CareNetwork, which also presented at Launch Party 6. It’s an app and service that “helps acute-care medical teams stay in sync without breaching privacy,” Karen wrote. It has a very clean and modern design with features like a newsfeed on each patient. I talked with the team at Launch Party and learned they have had difficulties piloting in Canada, which is why they’re focusing on the US to start. There’s huge potential for a service like this, so I hope they find success abroad and here at home.

Karen tells me every demo tonight was impressive but highlighted how interesting FitCoins was. I think there’s a certain appeal to the straight-from-the-garage projects, which is not meant to be a negative comment. But everyone can rally behind that “yay it works!” feeling that you get from seeing something early and rough and full of opportunity.

Some upcoming events to note:

Over 150 meetup events took place at Startup Edmonton last year! Keep an eye on the Startup Edmonton Meetup group for more upcoming events. They have also added a listing of all the meetups taking place at Startup to the website. You can also follow them on Twitter.

Want to work with a local startup? Jobber, Home Tribe, Granify, Drivewyze, and Invidi Technologies are all hiring, so get in touch with them!

See you at DemoCamp Edmonton 30! (hopefully)

Edmonton Notes for 11/22/2015

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

Bridge Float
Bridge Float, photo by Dave Sutherland

Upcoming Events

Winter Is Inbound
Winter is Inbound, photo by Jeff Wallace