Edmonton Minute: Parking Uproar, Delayed Auctions, and Council Training Continues

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

This Week In Edmonton:

• The Community and Public Services Committee will kick off the week, meeting today from 9:30 am to noon to discuss the Edmonton Police Commission’s semi-annual report and the 2021 anti-racism grant recommendations. Later today, from 1:30 pm until 5:30 pm, City Council will meet to continue new councillor orientation with a training session.
  
  
• Tuesday promises to be particularly busy with the Agenda Review Committee meeting from 9:00 am to 9:30 am, followed by the Urban Planning Committee from 9:30 am to 10:00 am. The Urban Planning Committee will discuss landscaping. From 10:00 am until noon there is an Emergency Advisory Planning Committee to discuss COVID-19. Then, finally, City Council will resume training from 1:30 pm until 5:30 pm. Quite the day.
  
  
• On Wednesday, the Executive Committee meets to discuss making the Edmonton Cenotaph a Municipal Historic Resource, followed by a sole-sourced advertising request to Postmedia. There will also be more City Council training from 1:30 pm to 5:30 pm.

Last Week In Edmonton:

• A decision by the previous Council meant that, on November 1st, parking along Wolf Willow near the trailhead was to be designated for residents only. This has caused quite the uproar, as that area is home to a popular trail, dog park, and access to and a bridge across the South Saskatchewan River. We understand residents wanting access to parking, but why invest so much in public facilities in the area, only to then make it difficult for the public to access?
  
  
• We mentioned in our last email that the City was preparing to auction off a large number of City properties in tax arrears, but the City has now postponed this auction. Perhaps a whole new method is needed to deal with properties in substantial arrears, as previous City auctions - in 2017 and 2018 - sold 0 of 4 properties, while in 2019 the auction sold only 1 of 25.
  
  
• The Edmonton Mountain Bike Alliance announced a mountain bike park is slated to be built in Queen Elizabeth Park in Central Edmonton. The Edmonton Mountain Bike Alliance has an open survey where people can give their ideas for the design of the park. Of particular note, the planning permission for this park was received way back in 2013! 

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