Edmonton Minute: Council Vacation, Commonwealth Games, and Automated Traffic Enforcement

Edmonton Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Edmonton politics

This Week In Edmonton:

• There are no Council or Committee meetings this week. Council’s vacation will last until the week of August 21st, though Agenda Review Committee meetings will begin again on August 8th.
  
  
• The Alberta Avenue District is hosting two special edition K-Days Pop Up Markets today and tomorrow. The District puts on several Night Markets throughout the year that offer local vendors, food, and entertainment. Normally, these run from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm, but there are extended hours from 12:00 pm to 10:00 pm for the K-Days Markets.
  
  
• The Province is seeking operators for three population-specific emergency shelters in Edmonton - a temporary winter adult emergency shelter, a permanent 24-7 Indigenous-led emergency shelter, and a permanent 24-7 women-only shelter. The initial call for operators closes on July 28th, after which the Province will assess the suitability of the operators and determine next steps.

Last Week In Edmonton:

• A criminologist accused Edmonton police of creating an atmosphere of fear after a homicide detective warned residents to be “extremely cautious” on the transit system and on the Downtown streets. The criminologist declared the detective’s statements at a press conference to be overly emotional, saying it felt as though Edmontonians were being told to be afraid. While the police statement was unprecedented, it was necessary, as the City cannot continue allowing the kind of disorder that has been taking place. Mayor Amarjeet Sohi is finally taking some notice too. He called on the federal government to take urgent action on the bail reforms needed to keep violent offenders behind bars. We’ve been calling on the City to Declare A Transit Safety Emergency for some time now - if you agree that we need to keep up the pressure on Council, please sign our petition.
  
  
• At least one type of crime trended downward. The Edmonton Police Service said that the number of high-speed chases dropped last year. Officers chased 18% fewer vehicles in 2022 than 2021, which can be attributed to police use of more prevention tactics, such as boxing in parked cars to prevent them from speeding away. But, while cars may not be speeding away from police, they are speeding through the intersection of 127 Street and 126 Avenue. One in 10 photo radar tickets in the whole city came from just that one intersection - a total of 156,565 tickets.
  
  
• Victoria, a state in Australia, has backed out of hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games due to rising costs - which should be a sign to immediately halt the joint 2030 bid by Edmonton, Calgary, and the Tsuut'ina Nation. The cancellation is yet more proof that local economies rarely benefit from hosting international games, and that the events almost always run over budget. Around $3 million in provincial and municipal funding has already been spent exploring the feasibility of hosting the games - that’s more than enough money out the door already. Let’s not set ourselves up for a gigantic financial boondoggle. We'll have more to say in the coming days, but if you agree that there should be No Taxpayer Funding For The Commonwealth Games, sign our petition here.

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