The Pulse: Feb. 4, 2021

City council's community and public services committee unanimously endorsed a bylaw amendment on Feb. 3 that could allow bylaw officers to fine people for tagging buildings or sidewalks with unwanted graffiti.

If the change to the city’s community standards bylaw is approved by council, perpetrators would face a fine of up to $1,000. David Aitken, the city's manager of community standards and neighbourhoods, said the proposed fine is mainly intended as a deterrent.

"The hope is that we can catch some of these individuals and send a broader message to the community that this is unacceptable," he explained.

Under the current law, perpetrators can be criminally charged, typically with mischief, resulting in fines of up to $5,000 and two years of jail time. The only bylaws in place allow the city to charge property owners for failing to remove the graffiti — $250 for the first offence, and $500 for subsequent offences.

The members of the committee said the recommended changes give city authorities room to crack down on graffiti without having to involve the police or criminal charges.

• City council's executive committee asked administration to create a sales agreement which could allow a private company to repurpose Edmonton's World War II-era Hangar 11.
• Canada’s privacy commissioners "scolded a facial recognition company (called Clearview AI) whose software has been used by the RCMP and Edmonton police," reported the Edmonton Journal.
• Close contacts of COVID-19 variant cases may need to isolate for 24 days, Dr. Deena Hinshaw said on Feb. 2.
• On Feb. 8, Mayor Don Iveson will join Maclean's senior writer, Paul Wells, to discuss "the plethora of challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to cities."
• Canadian Architect profiled the Stanley A. Milner Library renewal.
• A Syrian refugee family spoke to CBC News about their five years of life in Edmonton and what's changed since they arrived.

One of the last festivals to go off without a hitch before the pandemic hit hard was Deep Freeze, the annual multicultural romp along Alberta Avenue.

With its street-level art installations, horse-drawn hayrides, ice sculptures, and music and dance performances, it's always been like a mini-Heritage Days — a frosty fête to Ukrainian, Francophone, African, Indigenous, Métis, Chinese, Latin American, and Acadian cultures. Of course, 2021's Deep Freeze has now been dramatically reimagined for COVID times. 

On this day in 1888, a public notice announced an auction for the exclusive right to operate the ferry at Fort Saskatchewan, about 25 km northeast of downtown Edmonton.

Up for auction was the right to run the ferry for two years, charging 25 cents per vehicle, "drawn by single horse or other animal with driver," and 50 cents per double vehicle, "including two horses or other draught animals and driver." A quarter in 1888 had the purchasing power of about $6.00 today.

The Fort Saskatchewan ferry likely would have been quite busy as settlers poured into the areas now known as the counties of Strathcona, Lamont, and Two Hills.

However, the ferry operator had to deal with a fair amount of risk. In 1886, "the cable snapped and the ferry had to be retrieved from downriver," says the Kalyna Country website, and in 1887, "an errant scow from Edmonton so severely damaged the ferry and its guide wires that both had to be replaced." This might explain why the contract came up for auction in 1888.

The ferry service at Fort Saskatchewan ended in 1905 when the Canadian Northern Railway arrived, along with a bridge.

This clipping was found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse.

• AMPIA is offering a conversation on documentary development with Adam Scorgie on Feb. 5.
• Northern Lights Folk Club hosts Dave Gunning and JP Cormier in a streamed concert on Feb. 6.
• Mitchell Art Gallery is displaying Dress & Escapism: Performance of Identity through Drag and Burlesque Costume, curated by Josée Chartrand and on view, virtually through March 27.  A curator talk will stream on Feb. 9.
• Tim Mikula's surrealist portraiture of provincial politicos from his controversial ABLegGiftShop is now on display at The Paint Spot through Feb. 6.