Edmonton Minute: Victoria Day, Developer Subsidies, and an Illegal Scooter Crackdown

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

This Week In Edmonton:

• With today being the Victoria Day holiday, City Hall starts on Tuesday with an Agenda Review Committee meeting at 9:00 am, followed by an Urban Planning Committee meeting at 9:30 am to consider a proposed tree protection bylaw and neighbourhood entrance signs. There will also be a Special Council Meeting at 1:30 pm, primarily to discuss (in secret) the ongoing City Auditor Recruitment process.
  
  
• On Thursday at 9:30 am there will be an Executive Committee meeting which will consider expropriations needed to complete the 50th Street rail overpass project, the tri-party funding agreement to replace a footbridge connecting West Edmonton Mall to other properties (notably AHS), and the Affordable Housing Grant program grant recommendations for this year, amongst other items.
  
  
• Finally, on Friday at 9:30 am there will be a meeting of the Community and Public Services Committee to discuss the Community Plan to Prevent Suicide, a reduction in funding to the Weed Control Program, a proposed addition to the as-yet unfunded Lewis Farms Recreation Centre, and finally, an update on the Orange Hub, a City arts and recreation facility whose tenants continue to be on the brink of bankruptcy. The City notes it will lose lease money if the tenants go bankrupt, so it's considering propping up the tenants, so they can use the City's money to pay their leases. So, in other words, the City is paying itself, with your money.

Last Week In Edmonton:

• The federal government has loaned a developer $46.5 million to develop rental apartments in east Edmonton at Abbotsfield Road and 118th Avenue on the Abbotsfield Mall property. The development will have two six-story apartment buildings containing 248 units, aimed at the cheaper end of the rental market.
  
  
• Council announced a plan to crack down on "illegal electric scooter usage" after several years of complaints äbout riders mowing down pedestrians, interfering with vehicle traffic and just causing general mayhem. The City has about 2500 e-scooters from three vendors.
  
  
• Finally, small businesses in and around Edmonton continued to struggle with provincial restrictions on their businesses. The provincial government is supposed to release a new re-opening plan next week, but by our count, this would be their fifth re-opening plan, so the proof is in the pudding.

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