Category: Transit

The next steps on Blatchford

When we closed the downtown airport in 2009, we made a deal with Edmontonians to do something special with these lands located in the heart of our city. That promise was Blatchford. Today, City Council made a decision to further advance an important part of this development: how best to provide heat and hot water… Read More

Delivering an open and effective local government

A few weeks back, while City Council was in the throes of its discussions over Uber and how best to regulate our vehicle-for-hire industry, a quiet but transformational series of structural changes was unfolding within city administration. The news was overshadowed by our Vehicle-for-Hire decision, so I wanted to highlight the changes – and how… Read More

How to build, and properly finance, more affordable housing

It’s been almost three weeks since the City passed its 3-year operating budget and now that the dust has settled, some people have asked: if affordable housing is such a priority for City Council, why did we leave affordable housing projects unfunded? While the main thrust of these budget deliberations was restraint on spending, a related… Read More

Our Evolving Infill Story

In a lot of ways, widespread infill development across our established neighbourhoods is a new concept to Edmonton. While traditionally we’ve seen small scale infill occur (i.e. replacing one older house with an enormous new house), the changes that City Council has recently endorsed (including subdividing lots 50’ and larger) enables more opportunities for diverse… Read More

Ending poverty in a generation

Last Friday, the EndPovertyEdmonton Task Force released a 28-recommendation made-in-Edmonton strategy to eliminate poverty in our city within a generation. Almost 200 Edmontonians filled the gymnasium of the Intercultural Child and Family Centre in McCauley to hear about the 22-member task force’s work. I was touched and humbled by the turnout which, in turn, demonstrated interest… Read More