Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• Edmonton is one of five finalists in the federal government’s $50 million Smart Cities Challenge. “As a finalist, Edmonton will get a $250,000 grant to complete Phase 2. This Phase will focus on building a plan to support connectedness to the community, decrease loneliness and increase a sense of belonging.”
• Congratulations to City Hall School teacher Linda Hut on receiving a Certificate of Achievement in the Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence. “Each year, Linda Hut teaches 600 students from 25 classes who participate in a week of hands-on, inquiry-based learning at Edmonton City Hall.”
• After two years as the Deputy City Manager in charge of Communications and Engagement, Carolyn Campbell is leaving the City of Edmonton to pursue a doctorate in board governance of major museums. Congratulations to Mary Sturgeon who will be stepping into the position.
• Tickets went on sale Friday for the 106th Grey Cup taking place here in Edmonton and in short order more than 47,000 of the 55,819 tickets were sold. The last time Edmonton hosted, tickets sold out in six days.
• Elise Stolte: “Edmonton has narrowed what it wants to achieve in the next 10 years to four goals and one overarching principle: connectedness.”
• The City is advising that changes are coming to Park & Ride at Century Park and Stadium stations. The stalls at Century Park are gradually shifting from the City to private operation, while 50 spots are being closed at Stadium to allow for construction of the new Muttart Crossing road.
• Don’t expect any more updates on the Metro Line LRT until the fall. Apparently Council will get private updates, but due to “contractual mechanisms” there will not be any public updates.
• Incredibly, the Edmonton Transit System Advisory Board says a gondola would help with the “very large challenge in getting people directly from Whyte Avenue to downtown.” You know what else would help? Bus schedules that don’t suck.
• EPS Chief Rod Knecht says his relationship with the Edmonton Police Commission became “caustic” last year. “I felt like I was in a little bit of purgatory there for a while,” said the chief. He’ll be retiring in October.
• Mayor Don Iveson was reappointed as chair of FCM’s Big City Mayors Caucus this week, extending his term to 2020.
• WinterCity Edmonton has won a national award for the winter design guidelines from the Canadian Institute of Planners.
• EPS has asked the City for an immediate moratorium on raves because of too many recent drug-related incidents. “The main concern at these events is the prevalent drug use, drug-facilitated sexual assaults and resulting public safety issues,” the report reads.
• Congratulations to the accessibility leaders and advocates recognized at the 22nd annual Mayor’s Awards.
• The month of May was a warm one in Edmonton, with 23 days of temperatures 20°C or higher. Now that summer is here, look forward to Edmonton’s Hottest Days.
• Thanks to some much needed rain this week, Edmonton Fire Rescue Services was able to lift the fire ban. “Everyone is reminded to exercise fire safety caution at all times.”
• Wondering what those oatmeal-looking things are all over the ground? Seed production from elm trees! “This is indication of seasonal abnormalities, not of tree stress or death,” says YEG Parks.
• Edmonton-area mayors and members of the Edmonton Metropolitan Regional Board made a collective statement in support of the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion at City Hall on Monday. Later in the week, the federal government announced it would buy the pipeline for $4.5 billion.
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

Jasper & 96, photo by Kurt Bauschardt

Upcoming Events

• Nextfest continues throughout the week at various locations.
• The first full week of June is Alberta Seniors’ Week.
• The United Way’s Each One, Teach One program is hosting a financial literacy workshop on RESPs on Tuesday evening at the Idylwylde library.
• EPCOR and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra are hosting the Road to Joy fundraising concert on Tuesday evening at the Winspear Centre. All donations made “directly support the YONA-Sistema program”.
• Wednesday is Clean Air Day, “an annual occasion for celebrating clean air and reflecting on how our individual and collective actions contribute to air quality.”
• The City is celebrating Canadian Environment Week 2018 with free tours of the Edmonton Waste Management Centre from Wednesday to Saturday.
• The Infill Development in Edmonton Association (IDEA) is hosting its AGM at Homestead Coworking on Wednesday evening.
• Automated Vehicles 2018: Planning for Urban and Rural Transitions is taking place at the Shaw Conference Centre on Wednesday and Thursday.
• REACH Edmonton is hosting its AGM and community showcase on Thursday evening at the Central Lions Recreation Centre.
• Edmonton’s NextGen will kickoff NextGen Month on Thursday evening at Cartago.
• Sustainival takes place at the Edmonton EXPO Centre from Thursday to Sunday.
• Join Linda Hut and the kids of City Hall School on Friday afternoon for the annual Citizenship Fair at City Hall.
• MacEwan University’s Office of Sustainability is giving tours of the school’s urban beehives on Friday.
• This year’s Edmonton Pride Festival kicks off on Friday and runs until June 17. The Pride Parade takes place on Saturday starting at 11am.
• Bryan Adams is performing at Rogers Place on Friday night.
• The Edmonton Native Plant Group and the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters Society are hosting a Native Plant River Valley Bike Tour on Saturday, starting at Dawson Park.
• Kevin Hart is performing at Rogers Place on Saturday night.
• The 124 Grand Market is now running on Sundays in addition to its usual Thursday time!
• Plan your calendar with Taproot Edmonton’s 2018 guide to summer festivals and events! It includes 75+ happenings you can look forward to this summer in and around the city.

104 Avenue

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Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• Edmonton Transit is making transit free for children 12 and under. “Effective June 1, children can ride any ETS bus or LRT free of charge if they are accompanied by a fare-paying adult. A family of four with two children will save $13 when they take a round trip.”
• Property tax notices were sent out this week. “A typical single-family home, assessed at $399,500, will pay $3,470 in property taxes this year, an increase of $62 a year or $5 a month compared to last year.”
• A three-month gap was all that separated Police Chief Rod Knecht from a contract extension. “It was a peculiar and messy ending for a police chief whose years in office were largely devoid of peculiar mess,” wrote Paula Simons.
• City Council has agreed to move forward with a new plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. It is expected to cost $67 million over the next three years “but would save $76 million within 12 years.” The plan does not involve carbon offsets and instead relies on buying green energy.
• The Edmonton Public School Board has voted unanimously to support an inclusive guideline for dress codes.
• Troy Pavlek has looked at the numbers and found that the year after the new bike grid opened there was a 92% increase in cyclists. “Every cyclist on the downtown bike grid is one less potential car driver being traffic,” he wrote.
• The City has launched a summer information campaign designed to help everyone share the road safely. “The Bike Education Street Team will be out this summer talking to cyclists, pedestrians and motorists about how to safely navigate the new protected bike lanes.”
• City Council has given approval to move forward with expropriation proceedings against nine landowners for the Valley Line LRT West extension. “The lands include dozens of businesses, including two block faces on Stony Plain Road.”
• The 93-year-old A. Minchau Blacksmith Shop building is at risk of being lost as the current owner has applied for a permit to demolish it.
• If ETS was to have a celebrity voice for stop announcements, Mayor Don Iveson would want it to be Patrick Stewart. “ETS employee Janis Noble has been the voice of the local transit system for the past 24 years, lending her golden tones to recording messages for BusLink, the LRT and smart buses.”
• The Edmonton Eskimos won their first pre-season game tonight, defeating the Saskatchewan Roughriders by a score of 35-12.
• From OilersNation (yesterday): “Thirty years ago today, the Edmonton Oilers started a Stanley Cup tradition.” This week the Oilers hired assistant coaches Glen Gulutzan, Trent Yawney and Manny Viveiros.
• The provincial government is accepting comments from the public as it decides what to do with the old Royal Alberta Museum building.
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

Upcoming Events

• The RISE Reconciliation Film Festival continues this week until Saturday.
• The Downtown Business Association is hosting a panel on the future of work at Yellowhead Brewery on Tuesday evening.
• I will be at City Hall on Wednesday evening for the Edmonton Heritage Council’s AGM.
• Nextfest gets underway on Thursday and runs until June 10.
• artsVest, a program that aims to spark sponsorship opportunities for small and mid-sized arts organizations, is taking place at the Prince of Wales Armouries on Thursday and Friday.
• Thursday evening is Servus Free Family Access Night at the Alberta Aviation Museum.
• Edmonton is hosting the Grey Cup this year and the CFL is kicking things off with the ‘Bring the Heat’ breakfast at the Shaw Conference Centre on Friday.
• The Edmonton Craft Beer Festival takes place on Friday and Saturday at the Edmonton EXPO Centre.
• Bonnie Fest is back for another year at the Bonnie Doon Community Hall on Saturday.
• Elk Island National Park’s Bison Festival takes place on Saturday.
• This year’s Heart of the City Music & Arts Festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday at Giovanni Caboto Park.
• Another season of the Foodie Bike Tour starts on Saturday. Sharon and I went last year – read about our experience here!
• The Residential Infill elective in the City’s Planning Academy takes place on Saturday at the Edmonton Tower.
• The Edmonton Oilers Locker Room Sale will take place from 11am-2pm on Sunday at Rogers Place.
• Plan your calendar with Taproot Edmonton’s 2018 guide to summer festivals and events! It includes 75+ happenings you can look forward to this summer in and around the city.

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Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• The City’s Office of Traffic Safety has published Motor Vehicle Collisions 2017, “an annual account of collisions and related deaths and injuries of people who use the streets in Edmonton.” From 2016 to 2017: total collisions rose 3.3%, fatal collisions rose 23.8%, injury collisions rose 2%, pedestrian collisions fell 7.5%, bicycle collisions fell 16.4%, and motorcycle collisions fell 19.4%.
• The federal government has committed $39.8 million toward a road improvement project aimed at improving traffic flow along 50 Street between 76 Avenue and 90 Avenue by widening the road to 6 lanes and “addressing traffic delays related to the current at-grade Canadian Pacific (CP) Railway crossing north of Sherwood Park Freeway.”
• “Due to prolonged dry, hot and windy conditions and a lack of rainfall,” a fire ban was issued for Edmonton this week. There are currently 16 fire bans across Alberta.
• Another $4 million in joint federal-provincial funding was announced this week for the revitalization of the Stanley A. Milner Library downtown, bringing the total raised to $80 million out of a total budget of $84.5 million.
• I haven’t been down to see it yet myself, but “an internationally loved pixel art installation” known as “Happy Wall” has been installed in Churchill Square to help keep it “a hub of activity for people while it is impacted by Valley Line LRT development and other rehabilitation projects.” Created by Copenhagen artist Thomas Dambo, the Happy Wall will remain in place until May 2019.
• The Edmonton Police Service has said the total cost of policing pot in 2018 will be $1.4 million, about $300,000 of which will be for roadside saliva testing.
• Edmonton is better positioned than Calgary for economic recovery and growth thanks to “a more diverse economy, a massive downtown rejuvenation, a growing health tech cluster and throngs of young grads streaming from its colleges and universities.”
• On the other hand, new figures show that inflation in Edmonton is above the national and provincial averages at 2.5%, thanks to increasing gasoline prices and the rising cost of utilities.
• The City has flagged six sites as potential permanent urban beach locations, including last year’s Accidental Beach in Cloverdale (if it reappears this year, the City plans to put more garbage cans, portable toilets, and bike racks around the area). Incredibly, Louise McKinney Riverfront Park is not one of the six locations.
• A total of $238,412 was raised in this year’s DONATE A RIDE campaign. “As a result, 71 social agencies in Edmonton will receive 93,330 Edmonton Transit Service tickets to distribute to Edmontonians who require assistance to get to and from school, work, social services and other appointments.”
• The Edmonton Journal reports that the Oilers Entertainment Group has laid off 30 workers as it aims to focus on its existing sports & entertainment operations rather than build toward global expansion.
• Summer is here! The Fred Broadstock and Queen Elizabeth outdoor pools opened this weekend, with three other outdoor pools set to open in June.
• The City has announced it is already tackling dandelions by applying iron chelate and increasing mowing.
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

NAIT, Kingsway LRT Stations

Upcoming Events

• Looking to volunteer at an upcoming festival? The Edmonton Festivals Volunteer Fair takes place on Monday at the ATB Financial Arts Barns.
• The Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton’s 5th annual fundraising and awareness gala will take place on Wednesday at the Shaw Conference Centre.
• Visual Arts Alberta-CARFAC is hosting Re-Imaging Normal on Wednesday, a panel discussion that “will address aspects of LGBTQ+ history in Alberta and foster a re-evaluation of what ‘normal’ can mean in the 21st century.”
• Walterdale Theatre will launch its 60th anniversary season on Wednesday evening!
• Head over to MacEwan University’s new Allard Hall on Wednesday evening for a screening of the documentary Bag It.
• The Mayor’s 2018 State of the City Address takes place on Thursday at the Shaw Conference Centre.
• The Thousand Faces Festival starts on Thursday.
• Both the NUOVA Opera & Music Theatre Festival and the TALES Storytelling Festival kick off on Friday.
• The first annual UFest Edmonton Ukrainian Festival takes place on Friday and Saturday.
• I hope to see you at What the Truck?! on Saturday, May 26 from 3-8pm at Capital Boulevard! Here are the lineup and the menus. You can RSVP on Facebook.
• Also taking place on Saturday is the Edmonton International Cat Festival from 10am-5pm at MacEwan University!
• This year’s Festival of Health takes place at the Edmonton Clinic Health Academy at the University of Alberta.
• The second annual Edmonton Fibre Frolic takes place Saturday at the Terwillegar Community Church.
• The RISE Reconciliation Film Festival starts Saturday and runs to June 2.
• The Alberta Fire Chiefs Annual Conference & Trade Show starts at the Edmonton EXPO Centre on Sunday.
• The Edmonton Eskimos will play their first preseason game at home on Sunday against Saskatchewan.
• Plan your calendar with Taproot Edmonton’s 2018 guide to summer festivals and events! It includes 75+ happenings you can look forward to this summer in and around the city.

Ice District Edmonton, photo by jasonwoodhead23

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Happy Mother’s Day! This one is special.

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• Thales Canada fired back at the City of Edmonton this week saying “a big challenge is education, fundamentally.” Thales vice-president Dave Beckley said “it’s at all levels of the organization.” They have submitted a new schedule for review, which the City is evaluating.
• City of Edmonton Chief Economist John Rose says Edmonton’s economy should continue growing as long as the Province avoids deep spending cuts. “We have already seen the leader of the UCP (Jason Kenney) talking about significant reductions in provincial expenditures, so that could be very negative in terms of the outlook, but right now, modest growth.”
• The City received 12 formal submissions and 50 ideas on developing the Northlands Coliseum lands. The next step is to review the submissions and explore “a list of viable, innovative ideas that best realize the project’s potential and guiding principles.”
• Clare Drake, “the legendary University of Alberta coach known as the winningest college hockey coach ever,” died today at the age of 89.
• The City of Edmonton’s proposal in the $50 million Smart Cities Challenge has been officially accepted by Infrastructure Canada. “Edmonton’s proposal makes the case for an innovative Healthy City Ecosystem of residents, post secondary institutions, research organizations and governments united to provide meaningful and efficient health services to people.” You can read the submission here.
• Joy Lakhan is the City of Edmonton’s new GoatWorks coordinator. “I’m both humbled and excited to work in this position,” she said. You can look forward to “Meet and Bleat” events this summer!
• Edmonton’s Borden Park Pavilion won a Governor General’s Medal in Architecture and is another example of how architecture in our city is improving. “I think the whole culture of architecture in Edmonton is really … frankly, it’s become interesting to the rest of the country,” Pat Hanson said.
• Jay Esterer, who bought the Edmonton Queen riverboat two years ago, has received regulatory approval to operate for the next two summers. “I think it showcases the river valley. It gets more people down on the river and it’s really beautiful here.”
• Could colorful crosswalks enhance safety in our city? The idea came up recently from Child Friendly Edmonton and Councillor Aaron Paquette thinks it could really make a difference.
• Organizers for the 2018 Grey Cup Festival, taking place right here in Edmonton in November, are looking for 1,000 volunteers to help out with activities like the zipline, which is coming back, bigger and better than last time!
• Edmonton Fire Rescue Services planned to visit 350 homes in Eastwood and Alberta Avenue over the weekend to install combination carbon monoxide/smoke detectors. “Since the Smoke Alarm Program began in 2007, EFRS has provided close to 7,000 smoke alarms.”
• ICYMI: Here’s my recap of the topping off ceremony for the new JW Marriott Edmonton ICE District.
• Mark Messier was among the 45 Canadians invested into the Order of Canada this week.
• From Explore Edmonton, here are your Summer Must-Dos in Edmonton. They made a video too.
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

Upcoming Events

• Edmonton Crime Prevention Week kicks off with a launch event on Monday afternoon at Giovanni Caboto Park.
• Governor General Julie Payette will visit Edmonton on Tuesday as part of her first official visit to Alberta.
• Two concerts this week at Rogers Place: the Eagles are on Tuesday, Queens of the Stone Age are on Friday.
• The Volleyball Canada National Championships start on Wednesday at the Edmonton EXPO Centre.
• Learn about selling to the City at an information session on Wednesday evening at City Hall.
• The City is hosting an information session on the proposed rezoning of Bonnie Doon Centre on Wednesday evening at La Cite Francophone.
• The DBA Spring Luncheon takes place on Thursday at the Chateau Lacombe and will feature a presentation on the Valley Line LRT, described as “a game changer for Downtown when the first phase is completed in 2020.”
• Friends of the Royal Alberta Museum Society is hosting Connections Through Collections: The Future of Museums on Thursday evening at Allard Hall, MacEwan University.
• Rainforest Alberta’s next Connector networking event takes place on Thursday afternoon at the Advanced Technology Centre (Edmonton Research Park).
• Head over to the ATB Entrepreneur Centre on Friday morning for Entrepreneurship 101.
• The Fairmont Hotel Macdonald is hosting a royal wedding viewing party early Saturday morning.
• Etsy is hosting the Made in Canada Spring Market on Saturday and Sunday at the Alberta Aviation Museum.
• Save the date: Waste Free Edmonton, Boomerang Bags, and MacEwan’s Office of Sustainability are hosting a free screening of the documentary “Bag It” on Wednesday, May 23.
• The City is hosting a series of Big Bin Events this month and throughout the summer to help you clean up.
• Plan your calendar with Taproot Edmonton’s 2018 guide to summer festivals and events! It includes 75+ happenings you can look forward to this summer in and around the city.

Edmonton Playground, photo by Kurt Bauschardt

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