I made the long journey to India over the weekend! I’m in Pune for the rest of the week on business. I hope to share some sights & thoughts before the week is out, but of course I’ll be posting stuff to Twitter and Facebook as I go.

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• Happy 100th to the High Level Bridge!
• Well this is exciting! A pilot project will launch this week at a couple of downtown locations that replaces our aging parking meters with new ones using the same technology as Calgary.
• Congratulations to Michael Parkatti, winner of the Oilers Hackathon!
• All of the City’s outdoor pools are now open as of Saturday. Get out and enjoy!
• Folk Fest has once again sold out, this time with a ticket lottery that took place at Telus Field.
• Love paintball? Then you’re going to love the new Edmonton Paintball Centre!
• Edmonton will be hosting a number of matches next summer during the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. The tournament takes place from August 5 to 24, 2014. Then the following summer, we host 11 matches for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
• If you haven’t already done so, check out the LIVINGbridge project. Very cool.
• The Province has launched an Open Data catalogue, at long last!
• Finally a press release that talks about what the City is doing to try and solve the pothole problem! “Transportation Services, by way of its Engineering Services Quality Assurance Laboratory, has spent nearly a decade researching the materials and processes used by the City of Edmonton in roadway construction and maintenance.”
• Paula Simons: Edmonton’s municipal charisma deficit might make us Toronto’s envy
• Don’t worry, there aren’t any bed bugs on ETS buses. But they fumigated four buses anyway.
• Alberta’s minimum wage will increase 2.1% starting September 1, taking it from $9.75 to $9.95 per hour.
• Did you get your copy of the Urban Recycler newsletter?

Awesome look at Edmonton, with 8 images stitched together, by Darren.

Here are some upcoming events:

• The Creative Age Festival starts on Tuesday and runs until June 9.
• There’s another public involvement meeting taking place on Wednesday for the Southeast to West LRT.
• Nextfest has a great new website and starts on Thursday!
• Park after Dark kicks off on Friday night at Northlands Park at 6pm.
• It’s not quite Super Saturday anymore, but June 8 will still be busy with the Pride Parade as well as the Pancake Breakfast and Centennial Block Party.
• The next Red Shoe Crawl takes place on Whyte Avenue on Sunday!
• Also taking place on the weekend is the Sprouts New Play Festival for Kids.
• Don’t forget, TEDxEdmonton is coming up on June 15. Hope to see you there!
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Hope you’re enjoying the long weekend! I’m down in Portland, OR all week for DrupalCon.

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• Well the big news of the week was that Council voted to move ahead with the downtown arena. Construction is expected to start next year, with the new building slated to open in September 2016. I wrote about the news here.
• It’s official: Councillor Diotte was the first to announce he’ll run for mayor in the fall election. The news followed some very candid comments about Diotte from Mayor Mandel on Thursday. The mayor has called a press conference for Tuesday morning to announce his own plans. It’s going to be a very interesting election!
• Over in St. Albert, mayor Nolan Crouse has announced he will seek a third term.
• Our city has a pretty great environmental story, and it’s getting stronger all the time. The latest news is that the Greys Paper Recycling Industries facility is now using waste paper and old cotton clothes to produce a variety of paper products.
• The Light the Bridge campaign has another supporter – Peter Lewis, who created the Great Divide Waterfall, would like to see the money budgeted for it this year go to the LED project instead.
• Nominations for Edmonton’s Front Yards in Bloom are now open until June 30. The winners will be announced on August 15 at City Hall.
• I guess this is a positive stat? City crews are filling an average of 4,000 potholes every day. So far this year they have filled approximately 280,000.
• Here’s a new book that will soon find a home on my bookshelf! Building a Legacy: Edmonton’s Architectural Heritage celebrates the structures managed through the City’s historic resources management plan.
• The new Plaza Premium Lounge opened this week at the Edmonton International Airport. Walk-in pricing starts at $35 plus tax.
• Heads up that LRT service will be disrupted a number of times over the summer so that ETS can perform upgrades and prepare for the North LRT to NAIT connection.
• I’m quite happy to see another City of Edmonton data source go online: you can now search Assessment Review Board decisions.
• Could major structural changes be on the way for the University of Alberta?
• Sounds like the City is set to endorse a plan to expand WiFi access at City facilities in a new deal with Shaw. Wireless Internet on the LRT will be awesome!
• The City of Edmonton is looking for individuals to get involved with the new Edmonton Food Council. You have until June 10 to nominate yourself or someone else.
• The vacant lot at Whyte Avenue and 105 Street has been put up for sale by Esso. Sounds pricey though – the asking price of about $7 million works out to $235 per square foot. Let’s hope something positive happens!

Aurora over Edmonton Skyline by Darren Kirby

Here are some upcoming events:

• The Mayor’s Awards are taking place on Wednesday evening at 7pm at City Hall. The awards recognize individuals, organizations and businesses within Edmonton that demonstrate a commitment to persons with disabilities.
• Imagine Dragons play the Shaw Conference Centre on Thursday!
• Also Thursday is Edmonton Nerd Nite #6!
• On Friday evening, the Capital Awards Gala takes place at the Telus World of Science.
• This weekend is Hip Hop in the Park!
• Saturday is CKUA’s Party in the Park. It’s your opportunity to check out the Alberta Hotel!
• It was great to see the City Market return to 104 Street this weekend. The market runs from Jasper Avenue to 102 Avenue, and then along 102 Avenue between 103 Street and 105 Street. The change was made because of construction on the Fox Towers.
• The Mercer Collective returns on Saturday the Mercer Warehouse!
• Pecha Kucha Night 16 is coming up on June 13, and tickets are now on sale.
• Also keep in mind that TEDxEdmonton is coming up on June 15 and the theme this year is The Future Of… – should be a great day!
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

A bend in the river by Hugh Lee

Happy Mother’s Day! Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• Is it going forward? Is it dead? Whenever the arena comes up at Council, the safe bet is “postponed”. That’s what Council unanimously agreed on Wednesday, which means the issue should be back on or before May 22. What that really means is that there weren’t enough sure votes to plow ahead with or without the remaining $55 million.
• Didn’t see that one coming: the Capital Region Board voted Thursday to support a grant application that Edmonton will make for $25 million for the downtown arena from the provincial government. According to the Journal, “the provincial budget didn’t confirm the existence of this grant until April 25.” That’s a little scary, isn’t it?
• Speaking of regional cooperation, check out this interactive map highlighting annexation plans in the Capital Region. Elise Stolte’s related story is here.
• The Edmonton Police Service has purchased six Segways for officers patrolling the downtown core. I haven’t seen them yet, have you?
• MoneySense magazine has released its list of the Best Places to Live in Canada for 2013, and Edmonton comes in at #3 on the list of big cities.
• Route 595 is the new ETS shuttle that runs between South Campus and Fort Edmonton Park. It starts May 18 and runs until September 2, on a twenty minute frequency.
• Council gave its approval to the $3 million plan to light the High Level Bridge. You can buy your LED bulb here.
• Edmonton is the new home of the Canadian Women’s Basketball Team! There’s a lot of basketball history in our city, with the Edmonton Grads coming to mind right away. Here is the City’s news release.
• Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at last summer’s big July storm from EPCOR.
• The Edmonton Heritage Council has launched a new grant program directed at preserving and telling Edmonton’s story.
• A few Target stores are now open in Edmonton – have you been?
• Sad news for Oil Kings fans: the Portland Winerhawks won tonight by a score of 5-1 to eliminate Edmonton.
• Still no takers for a run at the mayor’s chair? Well at least there are lots of candidates declaring in the other races. Dave Colburn has announced that he will run for Council in Ward 7. Check out Dave’s updated list of candidates here.
• The Oliver community has grand plans for the former Molson Brewery site. Can they find common ground with the developers?
• Check out the last week’s worth of local news releases here.
• The new air traffic control tower is now up and running at the Edmonton International Airport! Here’s a shot of the tower, courtesy of NAV CANADA:

Oh and a small PSA: it’s pretty dry out there, so be careful with any open flame!

Here are some upcoming events:

• The Analytics, Big Data and the Cloud II conference is taking place Monday through Wednesday at the Delta Edmonton South, as well as online.
• On Tuesday there’s another information session on the Valley Line (Southeast to West) of the LRT.
• Want to learn how to sell to the City of Edmonton? There’s a couple information sessions taking place on Wednesday that’ll help you do just that.
• This sounds like fun: head over to Churchill Square at 7pm on Wednesday for Light Saber Training. May the force be with you!
• The NeWest Press Spring Spectacular takes place on Wednesday evening at Roast Coffeehouse on 104 Street.
• The next installment in the Oil & Social Economy Speaker Series takes place on Thursday evening.
• I hope to see you at the Royal Alberta Museum on Friday night for our first Truck Stop of the season! It’s going to be fun – it’s a ginger beef throwdown!
• Also Friday night is the Red Bull Tour Bus concert featuring Shout Out Out Out Out and Cadence Weapon.
• On Saturday, the City Market Downtown returns to 104 Street. We noticed they painted the stalls on the street this weekend. Can’t wait!
• Carrie Underwood plays Rexall Place on Saturday evening.
• Hip Hop in the Park 6 is coming up, with events taking place throughout the week.
• Check out ShareEdmonton for more upcoming events!

A Gorgeous View by Funtographer.

Here’s a Make Something Edmonton project I found interesting: The 30 Most Interesting Edmontonians Project. Here’s what Shawn Kanungo is looking to accomplish:

From June 19 – June 23, we want to showcase 30 of Edmonton’s Most Interesting People for one-hour Q&A sessions. We need help finding those people! If you know someone with an interesting or inspirational story, crazy life experience, or awesome/odd career, let us know! Our goal is not to find the most famous or popular people, but those who are just amazingly interesting!

Sounds like a cool idea!

I was thrilled to win a Yeggie in the Best in Edmonton category last night at the first ever Edmonton New Media Awards! It was truly an honor to be recognized alongside so many amazing Edmontonians. Congratulations to all of the other nominees and winners! Also, big props to Adam and the entire team that made the awards and event happen. It was a great evening!

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• It feels like this is going to be a big week for the downtown arena. Will it go ahead? What surprises are in store for us? Tomorrow afternoon the Downtown Vibrancy Coalition launches with a press conference at the Art Gallery of Alberta. I agreed to help build the page where you can voice your support. I’ll have more on my position in a follow-up post. Brad Ferguson posted about EEDC’s position on the arena tonight too. Council is set to discuss the issue again on Wednesday.
• In case you missed it, Dave Colburn wrote a guest post for daveberta.ca on saving inner-city schools from urban sprawl.
• The City of Edmonton is investing at least $264.8 million in arterial paving, bridges, and interchange projects this summer. “This year is going to be a busy year for road construction,” said Barry Belcourt, Branch Manager of Roads Design & Construction. So…like every other year then.
• A group of parents have launched a petition in an attempt to save an after-school music program that has been cut due to budget pressures.
• Nominations are now open for Edmonton’s 5th Poet Laureate. The next Poet Laureate will serve a two-year term beginning July 1.
• We finally had some beautiful weather this week! Fitting then, that Riverside Golf Course is now open.
• Almost all faculties at the University of Alberta are trying to find a way to deal with the $67 million shortfall in funding.
• Edmonton’s Chinatown gate, known as the Harbin Gate, is among eight in Canada featured on commemorative postage stamps.
• The City has added more measures to the Citizen Dashboard, this time focused on Edmonton’s livability.
• A total of seven new schools will be built in the Edmonton area, including three inside the city and two in St. Albert, the province has announced.
• Looking to build a secondary suite or garage suite? Now’s the time! The City is offering up to $20,000 to homeowners to make it happen.
• I’m stoked about the weather, but not enjoying the allergies I get at this time of year. I’m not even close to being ready to think about mosquitoes, but the City says it is prepared for the 2013 mosquito management program.
• If only all funding challenges could be solved like this! A joke has turned into a $1 million donation to the U of A’s creative writing program.
• Some surprising news about the Edmonton Opera: CEO Sandra Gajic has resigned.

Wonder how much longer phone booths like this will be around. Photo by Darren Kirby.

Here are some upcoming events:

• The next Indigo Drinks takes place Monday evening at Noorish Café. It’s your chance to discuss business and money!
• Tuesday evening is the DECL AGM, taking place at Yellowhead Brewery.
• CJSR is holding a volunteer awards and appreciation party on Thursday evening at The Empress Ale House.
• Erica Viegas is having a CD release concert on Thursday evening at the Citadel!
• The first in a series of lectures on oil & the social economy will take place on Thursday evening at the University of Alberta, and features Dr. Jorge Sousa and Dr. Roger Epp.
• Fruit Loop Edmonton is launching its summer series of events on Friday night at the Yellowhead Brewery!
• Head over to the Glengarry Arena on Saturday for the Edmonton Bike Swap!
• The Planning Academy’s session on Urban Design takes place at City Hall on Saturday.
• FC Edmonton is taking on the Atlanta Silverbacks on Sunday at Clarke Stadium.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Nice shot of the Gibson Block by Tim Goos.

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• The City will be mailing tax notices to all property owners on May 24. For a typical single-family home, taxes are going up by about 3% or $7 per month.
• In news that should surprise absolutely no one, a new City report suggests that unless annual road maintenance spending increases to $65 million, our arterial roads will crumble back to their mid-1990s condition.
• Don’t miss this interview with Mayor Mandel at The Wanderer. “Every great team has, behind it, a great captain. For the last nine years, that is what Stephen Mandel has been to the City of Edmonton: mayor and team captain.”
• Edmonton’s Homeless Commission released its Year 4 Update, and concluded the plan is on track. Thus far, 1,664 permanent homes have been secured for 2,325 people who were homeless.
• Ever wonder how your tax bill compares to people who live elsewhere in the Capital Region? Wonder no more, thanks to Elise Stolte.
• I’m sure this was not the headline Mayor Mandel wanted to read on Wednesday morning: Mandel begs province to support the downtown arena. Especially since nearly two-thirds of Edmonton and area residents don’t think the province should give money to the project.
• Sharp Magazine created a list of the 25 best coffee shops in Canada, and four locals made the cut: Credo, Transcend, Elm, and Leva. Awesome!
• It’s going to cost about $3 million to put 1,120 programmable LED lights on the High Level Bridge. It’ll cost about $17,000 per year to light the bridge for an average of seven hours per night.
• Congratulations to Corb Lund and all the other big winners at the third annual Edmonton Music Awards!
• Have you heard of “Waterpark”? It’s the directorial debut of Canadian filmmaker Evan Prosofsky, and it’s all about West Edmonton Mall.
• Are you going to take the Edmonton LRT Rapid Transit Challenge?
• Here’s the latest Council Roundup. The City will be voting on the final list of projects included in the downtown CRL on May 8.
• Some sad news for music festival-goers: the Open Sky Music Festival won’t be taking place this year. It should be back in 2014 though.
• A reminder that you can find your neighbourhood’s street cleaning schedule here.
• How much sway to real estate developers have on City Council? David Staples asks a number of Councillors. What do you think they’re going to say?
• The Oilers are frustrated about missing the playoffs again? How about the fans?! The team finished strong, but we need to see those kinds of victories all year long.
• Bad news for the new Walterdale Bridge project: it could cost $20 million more than budgeted and take a year longer to complete.
• Want to be a presenter at Pecha Kucha Night 16, taking place on June 13? The deadline to submit your idea is May 17.

Lovely shot of the EPL Parkade ramp by Ian McKenzie.

Here are some upcoming events:

• Monday night is the 26th annual Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts. Hope to see you there!
• Great food events coming up this week! The third Mosaic Minds Unconference continues tomorrow evening focused on food, TEDxEdmonton’s next salon series event is all about food on Tuesday evening, and Wednesday is the next Green Drinks, also focused on food.
• On Friday night, get ready to Trip the Light 2 at BT Edmonton!
• It’s time for the Planning Academy! There’s two events this week: Transit Oriented Development on Tuesday and Using Your Voice on Thursday.
• The Royal Bison Craft & Art Fair returns this weekend, running Friday through Sunday. Also this weekend is the Butterdome Spring Craft Sale.
• If science is your thing, don’t miss LogiCON this weekend. I’m speaking on Saturday about programming!
• The social media event of the year is happening on Saturday (May the 4th be with you) – see you at The Yeggies!
• The Callingwood Farmers’ Market reopens on Sunday at 10am!
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

I love street art. This is somewhere near 124 Street, photo by Alina Strandberg.

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• Despite some flurries over the weekend, the city looks pretty brown at the moment. And dirty. That’s why this week the City is encouraging you to participate in the 15-to-Clean Challenge! Take just fifteen minutes to clean up litter.
• The City of Edmonton’s neighbourhood street cleaning program kicks off tomorrow. You can find out when your hood is scheduled here. You can also get the data in the Open Data Catalogue.
• Here’s a positive public involvement story for the City of Edmonton. The Citizens’ Panel on Edmonton’s Energy and Climate Change Challenges sounds like it went very well, and resulted in some strong recommendations for Council.
• The $50 million Civic Precinct plan might be too costly for City Council – we’ll find out on Wednesday. I think Paula is right on this one: “We don’t need to make it harder to get to the LRT, we need to make it easier.”
• Speaking of LRT, the City posted a new North LRT video this week:

• Elise has the scoop on the City of Edmonton’s proposed “transformational” office tower. Most of the usual suspects submitted proposals in response to the City’s RFP. If all goes well, City employees would start to call the new building home in 2016.
• This is sort of interesting – the Edmonton Police Service has produced a web show called The Squad, described as “a gritty, hard-hitting look at policing in Edmonton.”
• The Victoria Driving Range opened on Thursday, April 18. The course itself will open “as soon as course conditions permit.”
• Finally some good news for patios in our city: smaller sidewalk cafes that don’t serve alcohol should now be approved immediately.
• In case you missed it, here’s Josh Wingrove’s piece on Mayor Mandel.
• This comic cracks me up.
• Maybe next year? The Edmonton Oilers were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs tonight with a 3-1 loss to Anaheim (and because Columbus beat San Jose). Are the Edmonton Oilers in the Playoffs?

4/20 Edmonton, photo by Hugh Lee.

Here are some upcoming events:

• The Edmonton Poetry Festival runs all week. The much anticipated Map of Canada Gala Event takes place on Saturday.
• The Oilers host the Ducks again tomorrow night and Chicago on Wednesday before taking on the Wild in Minnesota on Friday. The Oilers then return home for their final game of the season, hosting the Canucks on Saturday.
• Serena Ryder is performing at the Winspear Centre on Monday night.
• If you love beer you’ll won’t want to miss Edmonton’s International Beerfest at the Shaw Conference Centre on Friday & Saturday.
• The third Mosaic Minds Unconference is coming up on April 28, and the topic this time is food!
• The 26th annual Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts is coming up on April 29. Here’s a preview in the Examiner.
• Edmonton’s 5th Annual International Conference on Urban Traffic Safety is coming up on May 29, but before that there’s the Run Walk Ride 4 Traffic Safety taking place on Saturday at Concordia University College.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Post-It Notes at Churchill LRT Station, part of the Ideas for Edmonton competition! Photo by Funmi Omotade-Tan.