Edmonton Minute: Upcoming Events, Bystander Campaign, and Additional Police Officers

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

This Week In Edmonton:

• On Tuesday, at 8:30 am, there will be a meeting of the Agenda Review Committee. Also this morning, at 9:30 am, the Community and Public Services Committee will meet to discuss Edmonton’s Enhanced Encampment and Unsheltered Homeless Response Plan. The plan involves increasing the speed of connecting people to housing and supports as well as working to increase public safety when it comes to encampments.
  
  
• On Wednesday, there will be two committee meetings. At 9:30 am, there will be a meeting of the Urban Planning Committee to discuss a private report - an update on the pre-feasibility phase of the National Urban Park. At 5:30 pm, there will be a City Council Non-Regular meeting to deal with the annual reports of five organizations, including the Edmonton Historical Board and Accessibility Advisory Committee. Finally, on Friday there will be an Executive Committee meeting at 9:30 am to discuss recommended updates to the Land Development Policy, and various public reports.
  
  
• The Alberta Institute and Alberta Proud are holding the second round of events on the “Can’t Stop Alberta Tour” in Edmonton and St. Albert. On Wednesday evening, two expert panels will discuss the economy, affordability, inflation, jobs, and our energy industry, as well as crime, public safety, and the future of our cities. Our own Will Vishloff from Common Sense Edmonton will be on the panel. On Thursday, there will also be an economy panel, but the second topic of the evening will involve education, school choice, curriculum, and the future of learning. Tickets are $10 for each event and can be bought online for Wednesday here and for Thursday here.

Last Week In Edmonton:

• Premier Danielle Smith announced that she will do whatever it takes to put an end to rising crime in Alberta’s cities. Smith pledged 100 new police officers - 50 for Edmonton and 50 for Calgary. She also announced $5 million in funding for each of the two cities to help clean up transit stations and $8 million for Police and Crisis Teams, which pair officers with mental-health therapists to respond to mental health-related 911 calls. The Province encouraged transferring command and control of transit Peace Officers over to the Edmonton Police Service. Thank you to all those who have continued putting the pressure on by signing our petition to declare a transit safety emergency. If you haven’t already done so, please click here to sign it so that we can continue demanding action.
  
  
• The City announced the launch of a bystander awareness campaign intended to help make transit safer. The campaign, called “One Strong Voice”, outlines six actions that bystanders can take in the event they see harassment and feel safe intervening. Some of the tips include distracting the harasser, de-escalating the situation, asking the person being harassed if they are okay, and if the situation seems less safe, documenting the situation or asking for help. Some of these suggestions make sense, but we're not sure it's a good idea for Council to encourage the general public to get involved in some of these situations.
  
  
• Yet another accident occurred on the Valley Line LRT. After five vehicle collisions, this time the train hit a man who was sleeping along the tracks. The man is in critical condition and his family members are calling for additional safety measures. The new Line is designed to integrate with neighbourhoods, meaning there are no crossing arms, gates, or bells at intersections. The new section of the LRT has not yet opened - all of the accidents have taken place in the testing phase.

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