Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• This ad has got to rank near the top of bad ideas from the City of Edmonton. Encouraging pedestrians to wear reflective tape? Really?! Why not encourage the people operating large weapons to slow down and pay attention? This ad is another example of our city’s car-oriented perspective. The onus should be on the driver, not the pedestrian. What a ridiculous ad. Troy wrote about this too.
• Earlier in the week, the City launched a new mobile app to warn drivers of school zones, speed-limit changes, and high-collision locations. It did not receive a warm welcome. Once again, here’s Troy.
• Sounds like the FISE World Series Edmonton event that took place in Hawrelak Park this weekend was a big success! The event will return to our city in 2017 and 2018.
• The Province is looking for input on the Big City Charters being developed with Calgary and Edmonton. Two information sessions will be held in Edmonton on October 3 and 4.
• The City is being sued for more than $3 million over a death at the 2014 World Triathlon championships. The victim’s “widow and two daughters are suing the city for negligence, arguing there were not enough competent spotters or lifeguards.”
• The City has launched a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of pet licensing. “The fine for having an unlicensed cat or dog in Edmonton is $250 and failure to display a pet’s licence tag could result in a fine of $100.”
• Here’s a timelapse of the construction of Rogers Place – 80 seconds of 4K video. Pretty cool to watch it rise up.
• The Oilers announced the roster for the 2016 Rookie Camp and Young Stars Classic earlier this week. The Rookie Camp wraps up on Wednesday.
• A safety blitz focused on commercial vehicles this week resulted in more than 40% failing inspections. “There were 502 violations noted by inspectors and 111 provincial statute violation tickets issued for a variety of commercial vehicle infractions, including overweight loads, faulty equipment, load dimensions and load securement.”
• The only Canadian-led experiment at the Large Hadron Collider celebrated its first published results this summer. MoEDAL is led by University of Alberta professor James Pinfold.
• Tickets are on sale now for Pecha Kucha Night 26, taking place on September 29.
• Interesting thoughts about the stories we’re losing along with the Cloverdale Bridge.
• Here is part 3 of ECAMP’s look at Edmonton’s Italian Community, this time from 1949 to the present.
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

Harvest Moon, photo by Jeff Wallace

Upcoming Events

• Western Canada Fashion Week continues this week at the ATB Financial Arts Barns.
• If you want to learn more about Edmonton’s Community Energy Transition Strategy, head down to City Hall on Tuesday for lunch.
• Drake plays Rogers Place on Tuesday and Wednesday this week!
• The next Capital Ideas Edmonton event takes place at the Edmonton Journal on Wednesday.
• DemoCamp Edmonton 32 takes place on Thursday evening at CCIS on the U of A campus. We’re going to be demoing Taproot!
• Only a few market weeks left – don’t miss the 124 Street Grand Market on Thursday evening!
• Martin Kerr is playing his first big concert on Thursday at Festival Place in Sherwood Park. Only a handful of tickets left!
• The Edmonton Comic & Entertainment Expo kicks off on Friday at the Edmonton Expo Centre.
• September 22 to 25 is Alumni Weekend at the University of Alberta. Friday is Green & Gold Day, so wear your colors proudly!
• The Eskimos host the BC Lions on Friday night at Commonwealth Stadium.
• Petite Nuit takes place Friday and Saturday evenings at Beaver Hills House Park downtown.
• Head over to the Shaw Conference Centre on Saturday for the big Etsy Made in Edmonton market.
• The next Big Bin Event takes place Saturday and Sunday at the City’s Southwest District Yard.
• The second annual Festival of Faiths takes place on Saturday and Sunday at the Stanley Milner Library downtown.
• I hope to see you at Churchill Square on Sunday for our final What the Truck?! event of the season! You can check out the truck lineup and menus here.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

FISE World Series Edmonton, photo by IQRemix

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• Rogers Place officially opened this week with a ceremony on Thursday evening and a public open house on Saturday. You can see the full video of the ribbon cutting here and here’s a collection of photos from the official opening. Here’s a statement from PCL Construction and here is the City of Edmonton’s news release.
• Critics mostly seem impressed by the new arena and the surrounding development still to come, but a lot remains to be seen about the impact the arena will have. There’s uncertainty about what the new Edmonton will mean for 104 Street and the rest of downtown.
• Also unveiled Thursday was Alex Janvier’s Tsą tsą ke k’e – “Iron Foot Place” – a 45-foot diameter circular mosaic set in the floor of Ford Hall (formerly known as the winter garden). It looks spectacular! Here’s the news release.
• Here’s a look at the new food and beverage options that will be available at Rogers Place. At the open house, chocolate bars and bottles of water were priced at $5 each.
• The new $32 million Grand Villa Edmonton Casino also opened this week in ICE District.
• The City of Edmonton is one of only two cities in Canada to become a champion city for the UN Women Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Global Program. “By joining the UN Women Safe Cities Initiative, Edmonton is part of the global movement to change harmful social norms and attitudes that discriminate and tolerate violence against women,” said Mayor Don Iveson.
• Employment in the Edmonton region fell by 8,500 jobs in August 2016 which means the Edmonton CMA’s unemployment rate increased from 7.7% in July to 8.0% in August (Calgary is at 9.0%).
• Paula Simons on Edmonton’s proposed Suicide Prevention Strategy: “The strategy is a remarkably idealistic and aspirational document…but while it’s long on soaring rhetoric, it’s short on concrete, specific proposals that might actually save lives.”
• The University of Alberta is getting $132 million in upgrades over the next two years thanks to newly announced federal and provincial funding. “The federal government is providing $56.3 million from its post-secondary institutions strategic investment fund while the provincial government is contributing $26.5 million. The private sector and the U of A are together adding $48 million.” Here’s more on the funding at ExpressNews.
• The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta has endorsed the concept of safe-injection sites in Edmonton. Vancouver is currently the only Canadian city where safe-injection sites are operating.
• There’s an opening on the Edmonton Police Commission, with tenure starting in January 2017. The deadline to apply is September 25.
• The Capital Region Board’s updated Growth Plan will go to vote on October 13.
• The official portrait of former Premier Alison Redford was hung at the legislature on Thursday without any ceremony.
• From Vintage Edmonton: William Hawrelak for Mayor Handbill (1974).
• Here is the second part of ECAMP’s feature on Edmonton’s Italian community. It covers the period of 1921 to 1945.
• The deadline to nominate someone for the 2016 Stars of Alberta Volunteer Awards is September 20.
• A memorial service was held today at the Firefighters Memorial Plaza in Old Strathcona to mark the 15th anniversary of 9/11.
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

Ford Hall, photo by Kurt Bauschardt

Upcoming Events

• The Edmonton premiere of Catching the Sun!, a film about solar energy, takes place on Tuesday at the Garneau Theatre.
• Dark Matters returns on Thursday to the TELUS World of Science with a focus on the science of science fiction.
• Head over to Hall D at the Shaw Conference Centre on Thursday for the Balcony Harvest Party in support of the High School Culinary Challenge.
• Western Canada Fashion Week gets underway on Thursday and runs through September 24 at the ATB Financial Arts Barns in Old Strathcona.
• Edmonton is hosting the FISE World Series this weekend at Hawrelak Park. The event features 400+ riders and is free to attend. They have quite the lineup of food trucks too!
• Vignettes takes place on Friday at the former Sobey’s location on 104 Street. The event “is an interdisciplinary competition that invites teams of local designers, woodworkers, visual artists and contractors to bring their best in collaboration, creation, and competition in a challenging and innovative way.”
• MacEwan is hosting tours of its urban beekeeping project for the next few weeks – the first is on Friday during lunch.
• A meeting for the Edmonton Soccer Project takes place Friday night at the Mill Woods library.
• Keith Urban will play the first concert at Rogers Place on Friday evening. Dolly Parton will play the second concert, on Saturday evening.
• The City is hosting another Big Bin Event this weekend at Commonwealth Stadium. Bring your household items that can’t be set out for regular waste collection.
• Rogers Place is hosting a viewing party for Team North America vs. Team Finland on Sunday. Tickets are $5 and go on sale Wednesday at 10am.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Happy long weekend! Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• You’ve no doubt seen the horrible video of a group of men in a car yelling racial slurs at Jesse Lipscombe in downtown Edmonton. Jesse later met with the mayor and now they have teamed up on the #MakeItAwkward campaign to call out discriminatory and ignorant behavior.
• The latest municipal census puts our city’s population at 899,447. I wrote about it here and Dave says the results “could give some indication into how provincial electoral boundaries in the city will be redrawn for the next election.”
• Former Lt.-Gov. Norman Kwong died on Saturday at the age of 86. Here’s a statement from Premier Notley. Online condolences can be shared here.
• The City of Edmonton and the Edmonton Police Association have “settled a retroactive collective agreement for 2014, 2015 and 2016 through binding arbitration.” Wage increases of 2.4% in 2014, 2.5% in 2015, and 2.75% in 2016 were awarded.
• For the 5th consecutive year, Edmonton has been awarded a score of AA+, the second-highest possible, from credit agency Standard & Poor’s.
• Jonathan Brownlee of Great Britain finished first in the Elite Men’s race at the ITU World Triathlon Edmonton today.
• The federal government has agreed to put $143.9 million toward more than four dozen Edmonton transit project, CBC Edmonton reports. “Today’s agreement means projects that are not only shovel ready, but also shovel worthy, can proceed without delay,” Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi said at the Alberta legislature.
• Councillor Tony Caterina’s son Rocco is planning to run in Ward 4 next year if current councillor Ed Gibbons chooses not to run again.
• Do you love Edmonton? Then you might want to support Emil Tiedemann’s campaign to print a book called 101 Reasons Why I Heart Edmonton. He’s looking to raise $6,000.
• NorQuest College is facing a “massive privacy breach” as well as fraud that cost the college nearly $2 million in damages.
• Paula Simons on Rogers Place and ICE District: “The pace and scale of development is dazzling — more like something you might see in Shanghai or Dubai than Edmonton.”
• Changes to park & ride at the Belvedere, Century Park, Clareview, and Stadium LRT stations took effect on September 1. “Across the system, ETS now offers approximately 1,700 free stalls and 2,300 reserved paid stalls at the above-mentioned LRT lots.”
• “When Fort Mac needed you, you were there.” Check out the #WeAllResponse microsite.
• Gretzky’s Wine & Whisky is Wayne Gretzky’s new restaurant which opened on Friday at the Edmonton International Airport.
• Police are urging motorists to slow down on the High Level Bridge after catching multiple drivers travelling more than double the posted speed limit.
• Three new schools opened in Edmonton this month, part of the 32 school projects that were completed this month across the province.
• Stand Up To Cancer takes place on Friday, September 9 across Canada and the U.S. and a number of buildings are being lit up in support including Edmonton’s High Level Bridge. It will be lit red, orange, and yellow from September 7-9.
• Here’s the first of a three-part chronicle of Edmonton’s Italian community. In it, “Adriana A. Davies highlights the people, places, and motions that were at the heart of Italian immigrants finding a foothold in Alberta and Edmonton.”
• Major ETS bus service changes went into effect today. “This year, the changes are bigger than ever with 50,000 service hours being reallocated to improve on-time performance and to serve higher demand routes.”
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

Upcoming Events

• Monday is the final day for the Tour of Alberta!
• There’s a public meeting and Belgravia Traffic Street Lab event taking place on Tuesday evening at St. Paul’s United Church.
• The next Green Drinks takes place on Wednesday at Yellowhead Brewery with a theme of Sustainability on Campus.
• I’m participating in the YEG Downtown Speak-off on Thursday evening at the Centennial Pavilion in Churchill Square. Hope to see you there!
• Kaleido is back! The family arts festival takes place Friday through Sunday on Alberta Avenue.
• You can get a tour of Blatchford on Friday afternoon! Meet at the old airport control tower.
• Head over to Strathearn Park on Saturday afternoon for the 2016 edition of the Strathearn Art Walk! Here’s a preview from Linda.
• Churchill Square will be busy on Saturday with the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival! Don’t miss the 1000 lit wish boats around 8pm.
• Thousands of people will get their first look inside the new arena at the Rogers Place Open House on Saturday.
• The next #YEGparity Speaker Series event takes place on Saturday morning at ATB Place and features Kim Armstrong, Deputy Minister of the Status of Women.
• Help celebrate 40 years at the Muttart Conservatory on Saturday!
• The City is hosting another Big Bin Event this weekend at the Jasper Place Fitness & Leisure Centre.
• The Eskimos host the Stampeders at Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Beautiful Morning to Build a Bridge, photo by Dave Sutherland

I hope you had a great weekend! It certainly feels like summer is winding down with a noticeable chill in the air. Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• Rapidly rising water levels due to steady rainfall led to warnings to avoid the North Saskatchewan River this week. A number of river valley trails remain closed, which you can see here.
• EPCOR on Friday reiterated its appeal to Edmontonians to reduce non-essential water use, as the increased debris in the water has caused the rate of potable water production to slow. “Customers should not be concerned about the quality of the drinking water,” however.
• The final countdown is on for Rogers Place. The Oilers expect to receive the keys from PCL Construction on Thursday.
• Skater’s Arch is a sculpture created by artist Douglas Bentham for the northeast corner of Rogers Place. Also, here’s a gallery of the new Rogers Place bowl.
• The John Janzen Nature Centre celebrated its 40th anniversary today! “The nature centre was a project of the late John Janzen, Superintendent of Edmonton’s then-named Parks and Recreation Department from 1966 to 1972.” The Bonnie Doon Leisure Centre also celebrated a milestone this weekend: 50 years!
• A new report from the Downtown Business Association suggests that as office vacancy climbs downtown, some towers could be turned into residential or hotel spaces.
• A total of 3,583 tickets were given out during the Operation 24 Hours that took place on Wednesday. Of those, 3,213 were for speeding. In related news, anti-photo radar activists have been warning drivers across the city about the location of radar trucks.
• Here’s a recap of our last What the Truck?! event which took place at the Edmonton Ballpark. Our final event of the season is on September 25 in Churchill Square!
• The Oilers open training camp on September 22 and it’s at that event the Oilers will confirm that Connor McDavid is the team’s next captain.
• Alberta Health has partnered with Park Place Seniors Living to develop new long-term care spaces in Edmonton.
• You can now view Edmonton Crime Analytics online. The release of crime data was the “number one request from data seekers”.
• Urban Sparq has launched an appeal for its two proposed megabars that the City rejected earlier this month. It will be heard in early fall by the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board.
• Postal workers in Alberta look set to strike on Tuesday, kicking off rotating job action across the country by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

Upcoming Events

• This week is Race Week! Though as far as I can tell, nothing is really happening until Friday.
• Monday is the day to get tickets for the Rogers Place Open House which takes place on September 10.
• The next 100 People Who Care event takes place on Tuesday at the Terwillegar Community Recreation Centre.
• The Callingwood Farmers’ Market runs Wednesday and Sunday at The Marketplace at Callingwood!
• The ITU World Triathlon Edmonton starts on Friday at Hawrelak Park.
• There’s a Food Bike Tour taking place on Saturday. It takes place over 6-8 hours at 5-7 different places!
• SONiC BOOM 2016 takes place at Borden Park on Saturday and Sunday.
• The Tour of Alberta comes through Edmonton on Sunday and Monday for Stages 4 and 5. Be aware of temporary road closures!
• It’s the long weekend, enjoy!
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Canadian Derby, photo by IQRemix

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• Mayor Iveson and Treaty No. 6 Chiefs commemorated 140 years since the signing of Treaty No. 6 on Friday (it was actually signed on August 23). “Edmonton was founded in Treaty No. 6 territory. The Treaty No. 6 flag will fly outside of City Hall for the next week, however it is permanently displayed inside City Hall as an acknowledgement that Edmonton is on Treaty No. 6 territory.”
• Rogers Place will open to the public on September 10 which is before any concerts or games. Tickets for the open house will be released on August 29. And be advised that 104 Avenue from 101 Street to 105 Street will be closed starting Tuesday until August 29 for roadway work related to the arena.
• The City is extending EPark’s hours of operation from 6pm to 10pm on Rogers Place event nights as of September 1. “The hourly extension is intended to help balance the limited amount of on-street parking spaces with the high demand for parking by businesses, residents and visitors, as well as to encourage event-goers to use alternate means of transportation, such as transit.”
• Final numbers are yet to come but it appears that this year’s Fringe festival sold more than 121,400 tickets to 213 indoor shows, breaking last year’s record.
• Nearly 4,500 people took part in the 25th Edmonton Marathon this weekend, with Camrose’s Brendan Lunty crossing the line first (on his birthday) with a time of 2:35:21.
• The City has released detailed plans and new renderings for the first residential phase of Blatchford. Roughly 250 townhomes and low to mid-rise condos and apartments will be built during the first phase. Check out the new BlatchfordEdmonton.ca website for more information.
• Primary building construction on the new Royal Alberta Museum is now complete, though work continues inside. The museum is slated to open in late 2017.
• In his latest data-driven post, Michael Ross takes a look at bike safety in Edmonton. You shouldn’t be surprised by his conclusions!
• Mayor Iveson thinks a new promenade similar to Vancouver’s seawall could help with congestion on the trails along the river. “I actually think there’s a phenomenal opportunity to do a promenade, a seawall kind of experience,” he said.
• A new pilot project will match funding “for creative lighting installations on heritage buildings” up to $50,000. “A maximum of three large projects will be approved, requiring the full $50,000 support, with the remainder supporting smaller projects.”
• The Naming Committee has designated 101A Avenue between 99 Street and 100 Street as Judy Padua Way in honour of the Edmonton-born philanthropist who died in 2008.
• The Edmonton Police Commission is looking for a new Executive Director. The deadline to apply is September 9.
• Here’s a feature on Edmonton’s love-hate relationship with the pedway at the Edmonton City as Museum Project. “By 1968, a pedway plan was approved by the city. It is important to note, though, that this plan was never a unified one—clarity never seems to have been reached regarding exactly what our pedway would look like or encompass.” I wrote a series on the pedway back in 2013.
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

Five Towers and a Pyramid, photo by Jeff Wallace

Upcoming Events

• The Vally Zoo is hosting Pokemon Go Safari on Tuesday.
• Movies on the Square returns on Tuesday evening with a screening of Kung Fu Panda 3.
• There are always fun things to do on Thursday night, like the 124 Street Grand Market and the Latitude 53 Patio.
• The Eskimos host the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Commonwealth Stadium on Friday.
• Head over to the Union Bank Inn on Friday night for Style in the City.
• The Vixens of Vintage Summer Bazaar Market takes place Saturday and Sunday at the Prince of Wales Armouries.
• There’s another Big Bin Event taking place on the weekend at the Clareview Community Recreation Centre.
• Don’t miss the Secret Alley Gallery taking place on Saturday in the alley beside the Fox Towers.
• Next week is the ITU World Triathlon Edmonton and Tour of Alberta so to celebrate the folks at Yardstick have planned a Raceweek Street Party taking place on Saturday.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Rogers Place on August 20, photo by jasonwoodhead23