The Pulse: June 15, 2021

The Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) has been working alongside MDA, a Canadian space technology company, to provide artificial intelligence expertise for the launch of the collision avoidance dataset for the Gateway Exploration Robotics System — also known as Canadarm3.

"The AI solutions sought for Canadarm3's vision by MDA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) largely relate to obstacle avoidance to prevent the arm from bumping into other structures on the lunar outpost and how to work with issues like prolonged communications blackouts and less-than-optimal lighting conditions," wrote NASASpaceFlight.com in a recent article. Canadarm3 is Canada's contribution to the Lunar Gateway, a U.S.-led lunar outpost that will aim to enable "sustainable human exploration of the moon."

Amii has been working with MDA on the project since last June, and so far has reviewed and vetted the first dataset released by MDA's Training AI Laboratory (TRAIL) for AI-use and has helped to promote and raise awareness of the dataset.

Amii is also helping to identify and prioritize key in-orbit uses of AI for the Canadarm3 and Lunar Gateway and assisting the MDA team with scoping out specific projects related to the systems, explained Cam Linke, CEO at Amii.

• The assault charge in a hate-motivated attack against a Muslim woman at Southgate LRT station in December was withdrawn. The case was one of seven racially motivated assaults against Black Muslim women and Muslim women of colour in Edmonton in recent months.
• Mayor Don Iveson says he can "virtually guarantee" that the city will lift the mask bylaw by the end of the year. City councillor and mayoral candidate Mike Nickel says the city should follow the province's lead and drop the bylaw when Alberta enters Stage 3 of the re-opening plan.
• Edmonton is considering charging developers for fire stations in new communities. The levy would cover between 40% and 45% of construction costs.
• Fees have been reinstated at outdoor pools for the first time since 2016. Council decided to start charging again to achieve a property tax freeze in 2021.
• Edmonton's business associations want to see cleaner, staffed public washrooms, as the city begins to re-open. Puneeta McBryan, executive director of the Downtown Business Association, told executive committee that a lack of washrooms was "one of the most immediately harmful impacts of the pandemic on downtown."
• All Edmonton Public Library branches opened their doors to in-person browsing on Monday.
• Students at the University of Alberta's Campus Saint-Jean continue to lobby the federal government for funding that doesn't require a matching provincial contribution. Students worry the French-language facility could lose out on millions.
• The province released further details about its Open for Summer Lottery. There will be three $1-million prizes available. The first dose lottery will occur on the day Alberta enters Stage 3 of its re-opening plan.

River Valley Adventure Co. now offers Edmontonians a place to enjoy alcoholic beverages in the river valley.

The company, which has been offering Segway rentals for nearly a decade in Louise McKinney Park, has acquired a liquor license for its patio.

Chad Murphy, a hospitality consultant working with River Valley Adventure Co., is hopeful that more people will take advantage of what he calls, "the only riverfront patio in Edmonton offering craft Alberta beer, wine and seltzers."

He is particularly proud of the company's choice to source drinks locally. "[You] will see a rotation in our craft beer, but it will always be Alberta produced craft brews only," he told Taproot.

At present, current offerings include cans from Medicine Hat Brewing Co., Bent Stick Brewing Co., Last Best Brewing & Distilling, Blindman Brewing, and Sea Change Brewing Co. In addition to alcoholic drinks, River Valley Adventure Co. also brews Sherwood Park-based Roasti Coffee.

Food-wise, they have partnered with The Greenhouse to serve prepared meat and vegetarian sandwiches. The Greenhouse, led by owner Paul Shufelt, operates restaurants at three city-owned golf courses.

Since spiking in early May, COVID-19 cases have been declining in the Edmonton zone as more people get vaccinated.

Although there are plenty of factors that could lead to the decline in active cases, such as the provincial government reintroducing a ban on dining in and other restrictions on May 4, a recent report from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization notes there is evidence that COVID-19 vaccines do reduce transmission of the virus. However, the report also notes that the pool of evidence is too small to be conclusive. Another report from an Alberta Health Services (AHS) scientific advisory group also notes limited evidence of reduced transmission among people who have been vaccinated.

This chart demonstrates the correlation between the number of vaccine doses administered and the number of active cases in the Edmonton zone, using AHS data compiled by the City of Edmonton. The city began compiling vaccination data for each zone on April 26, coinciding with the start of a friendly competition between the mayors of Calgary and Edmonton to see which city's residents would get immunized the fastest.

On April 26, the Edmonton zone had 5,672 active cases. Residents of the zone had received 521,631 doses of the vaccine, including both first and second doses. As of June 12, the latest day of data available, residents had received 1.15 million doses, and there were only 800 active cases.

Vaccination rates also impact Alberta's public health restrictions, since the provincial government has tied the stages of its reopening plan to the percentage of the province that has received at least one dose of the vaccine. As of June 12, 66.7% of the Edmonton zone had received one dose, leaving trailing behind the province as a whole, which is at 68.7%.

Two weeks after 70% of the province has received at least one dose, Stage 3 of the reopening plan will take effect, which will see the majority of public health restrictions lifted.

The Downtown Vibrancy Strategy is "a call for action" to support the recovery of Edmonton's downtown from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since 2015, more than $4.4 billion has been invested in downtown development, according to the strategy. But the pandemic has had "an acute impact on downtown vibrancy because there are fewer people downtown on a daily basis, which strikes at the heart of what makes downtown vibrant."

The strategy outlines 20 actions that can be taken over the next two years to help support downtown as a home, as an economic hub, as a destination, and as a safe, welcoming place.

Why is the strategy needed?

The strategy argues that downtown has "faced unique challenges" due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• In its accompanying report, administration said that up to 60,000 office workers are working from home while thousands of post-secondary students have transitioned to online learning.
• Downtown's residential vacancy rate is 9.1%, according to the strategy, compared to 8.0% city-wide. The office vacancy rate is around 20% while the retail vacancy rate is around 16%.
• The pandemic has been "pronounced for people from marginalized communities, including those experiencing homelessness," the strategy notes.

What's in the strategy?

Expanding public spaces and facilitating the use of underutilized spaces such as vacant land and parking lots would "position vibrancy as an ongoing goal," the strategy says. Here are some other highlights from the 20 actions in the strategy:

• Several actions relate to making downtown safer, but there is no mention of the ongoing opioid crisis that has hit downtown particularly hard. Puneeta McBryan, executive director of the Downtown Business Association, said on June 3 that "there are 2+ overdose deaths happening on average in downtown Edmonton every single day right now."
• At least two actions deal with short-term improvements to public spaces, such as painting worn streetlights and fences, and better coordinating street cleaning and litter collection. One action also calls for public education campaigns to encourage reporting of concerns through 311. But there's no mention of how those concerns will be addressed, given that existing issues reported via 311 remain outstanding nearly a month later.
• Action 3, "make it easier to live downtown," suggests exploring with school boards opportunities to expand grade school offerings downtown.
• To support innovation and entrepreneurship, Action 5 suggests expanding free wifi on downtown streets and piloting a "downtown civic accelerator program."
• Some of the least expensive actions include creating a welcome package for new residents, students, and businesses moving to downtown, creating a downtown loyalty card, and sending "thank you for choosing downtown" letters to recently opened businesses.

What's next?

While many of the actions included in the strategy are already underway, full implementation costs range from $7 million to more than $28 million, "depending on the scope and scale of each action as well as their prioritization."

• Administration intends to spend $5 million from cost-savings realized within the 2021 operating budget to help leverage contributions from partners.
• No new funding is being requested, though administration noted that allocating $5 million to the strategy "will reduce the financial flexibility available to address 2022 COVID-19 related costs."
• Administration said it will continue to work with downtown partners "to prioritize actions, refine implementation leads and supports, and refine funding requirements and funding advocacy to other orders of government."

Photo: Root 107 is an example of the kind of pop-up event the strategy aims to facilitate more of. (Mack Male/Flickr)