The Pulse: March 2, 2021

Last week, the family behind King Noodle House Pho Hoang announced that their building has been listed for sale and they are preparing for the closure of the restaurant.

Unfortunately, owners Hoa Sen Dao and Tan Hoang (also known to regulars as the “Moustache Man”) weathered the worst year of business in their 26 years of operation and shared that the pandemic accelerated their retirement plans.

Their noodle soups have been a fixture in the local food scene since 1995, simmered for up to fourteen hours per day. King Noodle’s soup recipe had been passed down for three generations, and though their three children had discussed the possibility of taking over the business one day, the couple had been adamant this wasn’t what they wanted.

“It is bittersweet for the whole family to see the legacy come to an end,” said Linda Hoang, daughter of Hoa Sen and Tan. “Our parents didn’t want any of the kids to take over the restaurant because the last 26 years of business have been so challenging for them in terms of very long work hours, poor work/life balance, and just general restaurant industry stress and hardships—they worked hard in the hopes that their kids wouldn’t need to work as hard.”

• Alberta is moving to Step 2 of the province's phased reopening plan, Premier Jason Kenney announced on March 1. Step 2 will involve easing restrictions on libraries and indoor fitness centres but changes to hotels, conference centres and children's sport and performance will have to wait until the third phase.
• Edmonton’s Metro Line LRT is now operating on a complete signalling system, following work on the system last week.
• "Alberta urban municipalities are concerned provincial cuts to municipal funding will impact their ability to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic," reports CTV News. Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) president Barry Morishita said the funding cuts will impact how municipalities deal with economic development, and how much infrastructure they can build.
• Following a series of attacks on Muslim women in Edmonton, Muslim community groups have organized self-defense classes.
• UCP backbencher Muhammad Yaseen wants to see rodeo declared as Alberta's official sport, and has proposed a bill to make it happen.
• City council's executive committee has approved a request to add a fifth permanent supportive housing site in Westmount to four already approved for development.

Growing Greener Innovations founder Connie Stacey has won The Forum’s Pitch for the Purse prize of $50,000 this year, the largest in the competition's history.

Stacey's clean energy solutions company builds smart batteries and battery energy storage solutions for residential, commercial and industrial customers. It aims to provide a "greener, quieter and affordable alternative to gas-powered generators and biomass burning."

The Pitch for the Purse finale came after a five-month-long program, that started with 466 applicants, the highest number the Canadian charity has ever received.

“I am so thrilled to have been selected as the winner of The Forum’s Pitch for the Purse,” said Stacey. “It is an absolute honour and I’m excited to use this injection of capital to support our mission to end energy poverty globally."

Home sales and prices were unexpectedly strong in Edmonton last year, as in Canada's other major cities, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reports.

The Housing Market Insight released on Feb. 25 shows that while sales declined sharply when the pandemic hit a year ago, they rebounded in the third quarter of 2020, recovering beyond pre-pandemic levels.

Sales were up in Edmonton in the middle ranges between $300,000 and $700,000, but were down for less expensive housing, as was the case elsewhere in the country.

"This reflects pent-up demand from the early months of the pandemic, low mortgage rates and the uneven impacts of the pandemic across income groups," said CMHC's deputy chief economist, Aled ab Iorwerth.

The CMHC noted that it's a little harder to understand the interactions of various economic indicators in oil-producing provinces. It also cautioned that unemployment remains high and government income measures are temporary, so these trends won't necessarily prevail in the long term.