Edmonton Minute: Mountain Bikes, Covid Restrictions, and We Got A Convoy

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

This Week In Edmonton:

• City Council is meeting today at 9:30 am to discuss a relatively large agenda, including the hot button issues of LRT safety, fines and penalties for excess vehicle noise (courtesy of Councillor Janz), and efficiencies in municipal service delivery. Administration is supposed to report back to Council with options to reduce the City's budget by about $10 million, but given the City's budget totals more than $3 billion, that would represent just an 0.3% cut, even if Council agrees to implement it.
  
  
• On Tuesday, there will be the Agenda Review Committee at 9:00 am. The Council Services Committee will follow at 9:30 am and will discuss the travel plan and furniture plan for Councillors, amongst other items. Finally, there will be a City Council Public Hearing at 1:30 pm to consider zoning amendments.
  
  
• Should the City Council Meeting not conclude on Monday, it will continue at 9:30 am on Wednesday. On Thursday at 9:30 am, there will be a meeting of the City Manager and City Auditor Performance Evaluation Committee which will be held in-camera.

Last Week In Edmonton:

• A large protest took over downtown Edmonton in solidarity with the convoy to Ottawa, protesting COVID-19 restrictions and vaccination mandates. Edmonton was jammed up, particularly around 99th Avenue and 109th St. - the roadways just north of the Legislature - as both people and vehicles converged in the area.
  
  
• The Provincial Government made some noise last week, indicating COVID-19 restrictions may soon loosen, possibly starting with the vaccine passport. Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said easing up on restrictions would be “too soon and too fast” and he would examine the City's authority to impose its own restrictions. We say enough is enough - let’s move on with our lives and learn to live with COVID-19.
  
  
• Mountain bikers are concerned with the city's “Ribbon of Green” plan which would limit mountain biking activities in some areas of the river valley. The plan would designate parts of the river valley as either preservation or conservation areas in which mountain biking would not be allowed, cutting the available trails from about 300 kilometres down to 20 kilometres. Final approval of the plan is expected in 2023, but has been in the works since the 1990s. (Yes, seriously! That's government efficiency for you!)

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