Outcries from the Downtown Revitalization Coalition and mayoral hopeful, Coun. Tim Cartmell, about the city's plan to fix several bridges that connect drivers to downtown don't match the facts, the co-hosts of Episode 296 Speaking Municipally said.
Co-host Troy Pavlek wrote a blog that breaks down the disruption timelines and the traffic numbers on the five bridges — the Low Level (which is split into northbound and southbound spans), High Level, Wellington, and Dawson. Pavlek's analysis was prompted by a Feb. 14 op-ed by coalition members Chad Helm, of The Helm, and Puneeta McBryan, of the Downtown Edmonton Business Association, where the two argued that rehabilitating five bridges simultaneously constitute "another devastating blow" to downtown Edmonton.
Pavlek said on the podcast that the devastation argument is a stretch. "You've heard that downtown is going to be crippled by five bridge closures," he said. "Depending on how you count, it's one to one and a half overlapping bridge closures."
Co-host Mack Male said debate is healthy, but only if it's factual.
"It's fine to have a conversation about, 'How do we mitigate the impacts of these things so that businesses are impacted as little as possible?,'" Male said. "But it's helpful if we can have that conversation from a place of truth rather than a place of fear."
Cartmell criticized civic infrastructure planning on Feb. 13 and 20 with posts on Instagram" that suggested Edmonton is facing an "unprecedented infrastructure challenge."
Pavlek said there are at least a dozen instances when Cartmell has opted not to take the opportunity to add input or dissent on city administration's plans for the bridge maintenance that he nonetheless references in the statement.
The Feb. 21 episode of Taproot's civic affairs podcast also covered Lime's winter e-bike pilot, the city's efforts to mitigate wildfires, and Edmonton Transit Service's plans for improvement based on an audit of DATS. Plus, Taproot's managing editor, Tim Querengesser, provided an update from the Taproot newsroom. Speaking Municipally comes out on Fridays. Listening and subscription options are all right here.