Edmonton Minute: Emergency Shelter, Lobbyist Registry, and Temporary Dog Parks

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

This Week In Edmonton:

• Today, there will be a City Council Public Hearing at 9:30 am to deal with zoning amendments. The Agenda Review Committee will meet on Tuesday at 8:30 am.
  
  
• Also on Tuesday, there will be a meeting of the Council Services Committee at 9:30 am. On the agenda is the Common Travel Plan - the Committee is being asked to approve funding for the costs associated with representing the City of Edmonton as an official representative or appointee at conferences and board meetings. The Code of Conduct Sub-Committee will meet later in the day, at 1:30 pm, to discuss feedback from Councillors on the Code of Conduct Bylaw.
  
  
• On Wednesday, at 9:30 am, there will be a meeting of the Emergency Advisory Committee. The Committee will review the 2022 Municipal Emergency Plan. Also on Wednesday, at 1:30 pm, there will be a City Council Non-Regular Meeting to discuss the first update to the 2023 Operating Budget. This is why we haven’t given up the fight against reckless spending like the $100 million bike lane boondoggle - there are always amendments and opportunities for Council to listen to reason and cancel programs!

Last Week In Edmonton:

• A new temporary emergency shelter in west Edmonton opened in a former hotel at 155th Street and Stony Plain Road. The facility is operated by Jasper Place Wellness Centre in partnership with Tallcree Tribal Government. Only 59 private transition beds will be initially available, and the remaining 150 congregate shelter spaces will open through January and February. The shelter will remain open until May 31st.
  
  
• After a $26.5 million sole-source contract with Ledcor was drafted for the creation of the 103A Avenue pedway, Councillor Michael Janz called for the creation of a lobbyist registry. Janz believes that creating a municipal registry could help to build public trust and ensure transparency in the City's decision-making process. He also pointed out that lobbyist registries already exist at the federal and provincial levels, but municipalities are missing this transparency.
  
  
• The City announced a six-month pilot project that would establish pop-up dog parks in neighbourhoods across the city this spring. The cost to taxpayers for the temporary parks is around $300,000, and the project is intended to help build 15-minute communities. They are only temporary, as making them permanent would require a larger capital investment. Some Councillors expressed concern that, once the parks appear, people will want them to stay, which would require additional funding anyway. No money has been allocated to extra enforcement for dog-related confrontations or animal control either. The dog parks will mostly be located in newer areas to the south and west, and by adding them, the City says 85% of neighbourhoods will be within a 15-minute walk of a dog park.

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