The Pulse: July 19, 2022

Leopard, a new restaurant in Glenora's West Block tower that aims to provide quality pizza and soft serve to the neighbourhood, is the result of conversations that began before the pandemic and a menu perfected during the lockdown.

Cantiro, the developer of West Block, approached Andrew Borley of Woodwork and Bar Clementine about developing something in one of the commercial spots at the base of the high-rise condo, which was built on the corner of 142 Street and Stony Plain Road in 2019.

"It was the builder who wooed us here," said Rachael Borley, Andrew's wife and operations manager across all three restaurants. "They loved what we were doing at Woodwork and Clementine, and they were looking for a bar like Clementine to duplicate over in Glenora."

Andrew was not interested in replicating an existing property, but he was interested in the idea of developing something new at West Block. By the time they officially signed on to the project in May 2021, the concept of pizza and ice cream had crystallized, which opened things up for them to cater to a new population.

"We are fully aware that this is the first time we have a change table in the bathroom," Rachael told Taproot. "It is a different demographic, it's pizza and ice cream, it's meant for everybody. A place where the adults can have a cocktail and enjoy themselves and the kids can have a good time."

Given their experience at Woodwork and Bar Clementine over the past couple of years, the pandemic also forced the Borleys to consider the longer-term viability of any new endeavour.

"We are so lucky and blessed to be on the other side with two restaurants still functioning," she said. "I had no idea how hard it was to do takeout. It was hard to translate our experience into a little box. So it felt safer to go down a pizza avenue with food that is more sustainable and common for takeout."

• New data from Alberta Health Services shows a sharp increase in code reds — when there are no ambulance crews available to respond to 911 calls — in Edmonton since the start of the pandemic. In January 2022, there were 1,233 code reds over nearly 40 hours in total. Health Sciences Association of Alberta president Mike Parker said the five new ambulances announced last month may not be enough to reduce the number of code reds. "We can hire all the ambulances we want, but we run four or five empty shifts a week without paramedics in them," he said.
• Edmonton festivals are being challenged to keep things affordable in the face of rising costs. Edmonton Folk Music Festival producer Terry Wickham told Global News that wholesale food prices have increased 30%, while Jocelyn Anselmo with the recently wrapped-up Grindstone Comedy Festival said inflation caused nearly all the non-profit's expenses to increase. "I can't see anyone not being impacted by this," she said.
• Bent Arrow is offering a new self-defence program for Indigenous women and girls called Project Kotawe. "I think it's super, super important, especially for the Indigenous population, to be taught how to defend themselves," youth councillor Janelle Huhtala told CBC Edmonton's Radio Active. "Our whole ideology is that we want to start a fire of empowerment, choice, safety and community." According to Statistics Canada, more than three in five Indigenous people in Alberta report having been physically or sexually assaulted since the age of 15. The new program is entirely volunteer-run and is offered in partnership with the Chimo Youth Retreat Centre and the Ludas Martial Arts Academy.
• The Eastwood area had the highest concentration of opioid-related deaths in Alberta in 2021, with a total of 224, according to limited provincial data obtained by the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association and Postmedia.
• Mayor Amarjeet Sohi wrote in an op-ed that while the city is making progress on helping Edmonton businesses to build and grow, more work is still to be done. "I want to build a city where business owners view the city as a competitive location, and the city government as a reliable collaborator and a fair regulator," he wrote. Additional changes are being worked on to reduce time-consuming requests for more information, Sohi said.
• The final block of public tickets to mass with Pope Francis at Commonwealth Stadium will be released on July 22, rather than July 18 as planned, to give Indigenous partner groups time to organize their attendance. Indigenous people and residential school survivors can register for events in Maskwacis, Lac Ste. Anne, and Edmonton on behalf of themselves or a group by contacting email addresses found on the papal website.
• Matthew McKnight, a former nightclub club employee who was found guilty on five charges of sexual assault in 2020, was denied an appeal of conviction. Prosecutors have filed to appeal his eight-year sentence. McKnight was accused of sexually assaulting 13 women between 2010 and 2016.
• Alberta Health Services has rescinded its vaccine mandate for employees, effective July 18. AHS said the decision is the result of "emerging evidence" that a single or two-dose vaccine has "become less protective against infection" due to the evolution of the virus.

The C-Tribe Festival is returning for the first time since 2019, showcasing tech, culture, music, fashion, and gaming over five days starting July 20.

"The fashion and music shows are the event's biggest draw," said C-Tribe founder and chairperson Sahr Saffa. "However, the talks, workshops, and networking are the most valuable for local entrepreneurs. But the festival is so vast, there is something for everyone — there is no lack of things to do."

C-Tribe x Tech, running July 20-21, aims to help "underestimated founders," as the conference puts it, learn how to start and scale companies and connect with investors and business leaders.

"Diversity is a driving factor for C-Tribe because when I started, I was in rooms where people didn't look or think like me; it wasn't until I moved to New York that I realized the importance of inclusion," said Saffa. "And wanted to bring that back to Edmonton."

Among the startup founders pitching at the event are Brandon Wu of powerHouse Research, Adetoun Abby Aiyeleye of Clavis Studio, and Godfrey Obum Okeke of Awele. Investors include Dr. Shante Williams of Black Pearl Global Investments, Rebecca Johnson of BKR Capital, Mark Mitchell of Red Thread Ventures, and Arden Tse of Yaletown Partners. Taproot's own Mack Male will moderate a discussion about inclusive innovation on July 21 at the Art Gallery of Alberta.

Saffa himself has been involved in building, scaling, selling, and failing in the startup space. "I've had to come back from fundraising in New York and lay off the engineers and designers we were working with at the time, and that was a troubling and humbling time," he said. He is the product marketing manager for Sauce Labs, which bought AutonomiIQ, an AI-enabled, low-code software testing company in which he had a leadership role.

Photo: Sahr Saffa started C-Tribe in 2017. "Celebrate culture. Celebrate diversity," reads the festival's manifesto. "Help innovation and creative people achieve their dreams."