The Pulse: Oct. 12, 2021

The E.L. Smith Solar Farm does not have a lot of support from those running for Edmonton's next city council — but it's already under construction.

The Epcor project was approved by city council in October 2020, with the aim to build a roughly 51-acre solar farm adjacent to the E.L. Smith Water Treatment Plant.

Fifty-four candidates who answered the Taproot Survey question on the solar farm say they support solar power but don't like the location, which is in the river valley. Among those supporting the decision are four incumbents (Moe Banga, Tony Caterina, Sarah Hamilton, and Bev Esslinger), sticking by how they voted last year, along with a handful of others, including mayoral candidate Cheryll Watson.

The Edmonton River Valley Conservation Coalition (ERVCC) filed a legal challenge against council's decision, arguing that "this development should not happen at the expense of the river valley." The court date is on Nov. 19, where it will be determined if city council erred in not deeming the river valley location essential as per the North Saskatchewan River Valley area redevelopment plan.

"If we are successful in our judicial review in November, this issue could go back before the new mayor and city council in a new public hearing. If this happens, (they) have an opportunity to protect our river valley and vote that the project is not essential (there) and so cannot be approved for that location," ERVCC chair Kristine Kowalchuk told Taproot. "In other words, they would be requiring Epcor to put the solar farm somewhere else."

Despite the impending judicial review of council's rezoning decision, Epcor began construction in summer 2021 because it received all necessary city and provincial approvals to proceed. It expects the project to be finished in spring 2022.

• Some school board candidates are expressing concern over the upcoming election results, after voters were given the wrong ballot during advance polling last week. Edmonton Elections has updated its ballot verification process after receiving calls from 40 people concerned about receiving incorrect ballots.
• A Court of Queens Bench Justice has ruled that the city's decision not to light up the High Level Bridge for March for Life, an anti-abortion rally, two years ago didn't breach the group's charter rights.
• An Edmonton police officer was charged with assault in the violent arrest of a truck thief. The incident, which occurred two years ago, was investigated by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team. The officer was captured on video repeatedly kicking and then throwing the suspect head first into a brick wall.
• A harm reduction group wants previously shut supervised consumption sites re-opened before the province expands services into the south of Edmonton. Mom's Stop the Harm co-founding director Petra Schulz says it will take too long to set up new services and that the need is right now.
• Already struggling with the effects of the pandemic, downtown businesses are being crippled by seemingly endless construction projects, says Downtown Business Association executive director Puneeta McBryan. There are currently 273 construction projects underway across the city, in addition to road maintenance.
• Edmonton businesses are underwhelmed by the province's newly announced supports for those opting into the restriction exemption program. On Thursday, Premier Jason Kenney announced a one-time, $2,000 grant to help small and medium businesses offset the cost of adopting the system.
• New safety measures are being added to Stantec Tower after several glass windowpanes fell from the structure over the summer. The skyscraper is being treated with a special safety film to help keep the windowpanes in place.
• Outgoing mayor Don Iveson reflected on his time as mayor, as well as his relationship with the UCP government in an interview with CBC News. He said the last time he was in contact with Premier Jason Kenney was in August.

The eighth annual Edmonton Startup Week is days away from kicking off, with more than 50 events scheduled between Oct. 18-22. The five-day event brings together entrepreneurs, business leaders, community champions, and those interested in startup culture to learn, discuss, network, and build momentum in the community.

This is the second year the event is happening virtually due to COVID-19. While gathering online is a departure from the usual in-person networking, the head of Startup Edmonton said the goal is to build on last year's success.

"COVID has challenged all of us. It's changed how we live our lives, how we collaborate, network, and innovate. But it's our community — and how we come together — that amazes me," said Christian Tokarski. "We keep going, looking out for one another, collaborating, pivoting, and hustling every day. This year's event is virtual again, but that means we're extending Edmonton's innovators and innovations to viewers from across Alberta and beyond."

Startup Week begins with a treasure hunt of downtown Edmonton to win startup freebies and launch party swag. Follow Startup Edmonton on Twitter and Instagram closer to Oct. 18 for clues and more information.

Addicting Games plans to continue building in Edmonton, even after being acquired last month by Toronto-based Enthusiast Gaming for about $35 million US.

"We're pretty excited, it's a big milestone for us," Bill Karamouzis, Addicting Games CEO and co-founder, told Taproot. "The future is very promising."

Addicting Games is based in Los Angeles but its roots are in Edmonton, where Karamouzis was born and raised. He moved to L.A. about five years ago.

When it came time to build the new Addicting Games, Karamouzis made Edmonton part of the foundation. The company spent about six years at Startup Edmonton before leaving to establish its own space in the city.

Enthusiast will retain all of Addicting Games' roughly 30 employees, including the six to eight who are based in Edmonton. "A move out of Edmonton wasn't even part of the conversation," Karamouzis said.

It was a very different conversation in 2011 when he sold a previous company, Hallpass Media, to L.A.-based Jam City. Karamouzis attributes the positive change to more stories coming out of Edmonton since then, an area where there's still room for opportunity, he said.

What's missing is that no one wants to look "boastful or arrogant" when there's a success story, he said. "But then people don't hear about the success and having a good outcome, which makes it harder for the people that come after."

Accountability was the word of the day in Episode 150 of Speaking Municipally, Taproot's civic affairs podcast.

Co-host Troy Pavlek dug deeper into the answers to this Taproot Survey question: Should candidates disclose their donors? He noted that the majority indicated they believed that candidates should disclose their donors before the election, even though legislation passed by the UCP government in 2020 does not require such disclosures until after the election. And yet, when Pavlek went looking, only a few candidates had posted their donors.

"The Taproot Survey has been a gamechanger for this type of coverage," he said. "It's an accountability mechanism that we have not had in any municipal election before without a significant amount of work."

After he tweeted his findings, more candidates came forward with their donor lists. Taproot is compiling these disclosures and intends to display them in a future version of the Election Guide.

In his conversation with co-host Mack Male, Pavlek noted that it is possible for a candidate to believe that everyone running should disclose their donors before the election, but also feel they would be at a disadvantage to do so if their competitors don't have to do the same.

"When there's a legislated rule that by 'this date,' everyone has to disclose, that's an even playing field," he said.

Drift Food Truck, which was among the handful of businesses that helped usher in the golden age of food trucks in Edmonton, just celebrated a decade in business.

Run by the husband and wife team of Nevin and Kara Fenske, Drift has built up a fan base ravenous for its sandwiches and seasoned fries over the years. It has been a fixture on the streets and at farmers' markets since 2011, and though the Fenske's once had a brick and mortar of their own (Dovetail Delicatessen was open for about a year in 2015-16 on 124 Street), since 2017, they've made Shamrock Curling Club their home in the winter months.

Kara Fenske shared that this 10-year milestone was reached with many ups and downs.

"The high was definitely with the first five years, being at the forefront of our industry in Edmonton, helping other mobile entrepreneurs, and creating an awareness for the food truck industry," said Fenske. "Losing our restaurant on 124 Street was a low, but not for long as it allowed us to analyze our vision for our company once again, and create a new path."

After the truck is retried in the fall (lovingly referred to as "Drifty"), Drift offers a modified menu at the Shamrock in addition to continuing with catering engagements.

"It has allowed us to have an affordable home base year-round, as well as reaching a winter customer base, which we didn't have the first 5-6 years," said Fenske (this season, their Shamrock operation begins on Oct. 12).

Despite the complementary success in the cooler months at Shamrock, every spring, Drift has had to find ways to stay current. "Since we aren't open year-round in the truck, we do lose momentum," said Fenske. "It can be tricky to try and predict the next season during the off-season."

• FC Edmonton faces Atlético Ottawa in Canadian Premier League action at Clarke Stadium on Oct. 12.
• ADHD Edmonton marks ADHD Awareness Month with Listen, Learn & Support, an online fundraiser featuring talks from Dr. Paul Soper, Dr. Marnie MacKay, and Dr. Karthikeyan Ganapathy on Oct. 13.
• The next session in the Centre for Race and Culture's Challenging Discrimination series of community conversations is Intersectionality and Social Inclusion on Oct. 13. The online event features Sam Singh of Shift Lab and Sogand Zakerhaghighi of SZ Wellness.
• LitFest, Canada's first and only nonfiction festival, kicks off on Oct. 14 at Metro Cinema with LitFest Presents: Praying to the West & The Last Baron. It is the Edmonton launch of Omar Mouallem's book about how Muslims shaped America, followed by a screening of his documentary on Burger Baron.
• An Evening with Gary Vaynerchuk will be live at the Edmonton Expo Centre on Oct. 14, featuring "a no holds barred discussion around topics that every young entrepreneur or seasoned professional should hear." It's part of Trixstar's GRIT speakers series.

Photo: Yeg Captures