Edmonton Minute: Transit Safety, Water Usage, and a Leadership Race Debate

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

This Week In Edmonton:

• On Monday, at 9:30 am, there will be a Community and Public Services Committee meeting. On the agenda are several community safety initiatives as well as the Recreation Centre Master Plan. The Committee will also discuss an annual update from the Edmonton Arts Council. The Agenda Review Committee will meet at 9:00 am on Tuesday - usually these meetings only last 30 minutes.
  
  
• On Wednesday, there will be an Executive Committee meeting from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm to consider the Police Service Funding Formula Policy, as well as a safe streets initiative. Finally, the Committee will consider whether to designate Hangar 11 as a Municipal Historic Resource. At 12:15 pm, there will be a meeting of the Audit Committee which will have an in camera discussion about the Committee itself.
  
  
• While the rest of us are getting ready for May long weekend camping, on Friday, the Utility Committee will meet from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm to discuss a report from Epcor on Edmonton’s changing water use. Overall, the use per account has declined markedly. Annual water consumption is now equivalent to what it was in the 1970s, while Edmonton contains roughly half a million more people now.

Last Week In Edmonton:

• The first official Conservative Party of Canada leadership debate was held at the Edmonton Convention Centre this past Wednesday. As you might imagine, it was well-attended, with more than 1,000 people showing up to the event. The debate format offered a wide variety of questions, from whether the candidates supported no-fly zones over Ukraine to what type of music they’re listening to these days.
  
  
• City staff put forward a plan to Council with the goal of turning Edmonton into the “safest City in Canada” by 2030. If Council agrees to the plan, it would mean spending $8.4 million to fund 10 new programs, including an integrated dispatch centre for social service-related calls connected to addictions and mental health and extreme weather shelter sites. The money would come from the savings that resulted from Council not increasing the police budget. Benchmarks for measuring safety would include anti-racism, reconciliation, safe and inclusive spaces, pathways in and out of poverty, crime prevention and crime intervention, and more. What do you think? Will this make Edmonton safe?
  
  
• The Criminal Trial Lawyers Association accused the Edmonton Police Association of using disorder on public transit as a way to gain leverage in upcoming budget negotiations. The CLTA said that disorder has not increased on transit while the EPS said it had. Well, they can't both be right... The City will next be debating the budget for the Edmonton Police Service later this year.

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