The Pulse: Sept. 12, 2022

Proposed changes to the way Edmonton funds community parks are intended to distribute amenities more equitably, but some worry the changes will remove valuable community-building opportunities and put further pressure on the budget.

The Community Parks Framework is under consideration to replace the Neighbourhood Park Development Program (NPDP), which has been in place since 1983. Under the NPDP, a neighbourhood that wants to build a playground or upgrade a park has had to raise tens of thousands of dollars to receive matching funds from the city.

"It's almost 40 years old, it has really relied on resources and funding from communities," Suzanne Young, director of open spaces planning and design for the City of Edmonton, said of the current parks funding program. "And so those communities that have the capacity, and funding capacity, basically have been able to advance park development in their communities, whereas other communities that don't necessarily have the resources or funding haven't."

Some neighbourhoods have accessed NDPD funding four times since 2009, indicates a map included in a presentation on the proposed framework, while others have received no funding during that time, despite having assets in poor condition.

Parks are the only city asset managed and delivered in this way, said Young, and the new parks framework would bring it in line with how other infrastructure across the city is delivered. The city anticipates the changes would cut the time it takes to complete park development from the current two to five years to less than two years.

"Currently, when we're putting in grade, level, seed or base development, we don't put the playground in," Young said. "But if we were doing a new site, we could easily just add the playground in as part of that park development. Rather than waiting for the community, years later, we can do it upfront."

The NPDP has served its purpose, and a more equitable life-cycle management approach to parks and playgrounds is welcome, said Jonathan Lawrence, a community planning adviser with the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues. But he's concerned the new framework would inadvertently remove a "passive community-building tool" by taking responsibility out of the hands of the neighbourhood and putting it with the city.

"As we come together to envision the neighbourhood that we want to live in, we develop those connections. Which in a crisis of loneliness is really important," he said.

Making parks development akin to other city-funded infrastructure would also mean adding another budget item at a time when administration has already warned city council that tax hikes or service cuts will be necessary heading into the next four-year budget cycle.

• Homeward Trust and the city confirmed this week that no one has moved into the 60 available units at two recently completely supportive housing complexes, saying they need more money from the provincial government to operate the facilities. "The need is very high," said Homeward Trust CEO Susan McGee. "The lack of sufficient resources to address it, certainly there's a frustrating element to that." Community and Social Services Minister Jason Luan said the province gives Homeward Trust $29 million to operate more than 400 supportive housing units, and said the government will work with the city to help address the increase in homelessness in Edmonton.
• Following last week's random stabbing attacks in the northside of Edmonton, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi is calling on the province to provide more funding to help address underlying issues. "At the end of the day, these issues are health and related to mental health — addictions crisis and housing crisis — and those are provincial responsibilities," Sohi said.
• Young buyers are still attracted to Edmonton because they can afford a home. "We're seeing a lot of people moving to Edmonton because of the cost of living," says Trisha Zimmerling, an agent with Royal LePage Noralta Real Estate. Canadian Realtors Association data shows the average home in Edmonton was about $452,000 in July compared to more than $1.1 million in Toronto.
• Multiple speakers told city council's community and public services committee on Friday that while exploring the use of drug-checking services is a positive step, police shouldn't be involved. "I do not share the view that police are integral to substance-use care in any form," said Petra Schulz, founding director of Moms Stop The Harm. A decision was put off to the next meeting.
• In just the first two weeks since students moved in, more than 100 new clients have signed up for the Campus Food Bank at the University of Alberta. "The demand is going up significantly, and our budget isn't," said executive director Erin O'Neil.
• The Terra Centre celebrated its 50th anniversary on the weekend with a block party. "We are doing lots of work helping young parents to ensure that their children have all the support they need to have strong, health futures," said Karen Mottershead, executive director. "Whatever the need is, whatever the calling is, we are there."
• Sunday, Sept. 11 was the final day in the 2022 season for Edmonton's 74 spray parks.
• Environment Canada issued special air quality statements for most of the province on Sunday due to smoke drifting into Alberta from the 191 active wildfires in B.C., with the Edmonton area listed at moderate or high risk.

Episode 189 of Speaking Municipally looks ahead to what city council might do about regional transit after executive committee made no recommendation on whether to spend at least $7.2 million annually on the Edmonton Metropolitan Transit Services Commission's service plan.

The launch of regional transit would see 11 routes between Edmonton and participating communities in the metro region starting in the spring or summer of 2023.

"This has become one of those things where everybody thinks this is a good idea," said co-host Mack Male. "Being able to easily get around the region is a positive thing for labour attraction and retention and economic development and a whole bunch of other things. But nobody seems to want to put in the resources required to make it happen, or at least they're reluctant to do so."

It may seem like a hard sell to ask Edmontonians to either spend $7.2 million in cash or put up with an equivalent reduction in city transit services to fund their share of regional transit, but this may be a case where it's in our long-term interests to get regional transit going, however imperfectly, the show concluded.

"To reduce our car dependence in the region, we need to start," said co-host Troy Pavlek. "Every year we don't start doing this is another parking lot built, another highway built, another lane expanded. Those infrastructure costs that we don't bat an eye at are very hard to undo, and once they exist, it's very hard to convince the users of those very high-quality road infrastructures to switch to transit."

Male and Pavlek also discussed the imminent closure of the Scona Pool; the approval of new affordable housing units and the absence of provincial funding for support services; opposition to bringing some density to Glenora; and this council's decision to reverse a previous decision to close the city's aggregate recycling program.

Listen to the Sept. 9 episode. You can also subscribe, so you don't miss any future episodes.

City council meets on Monday this week, with a public hearing on Tuesday. There's a non-regular city council meeting on Wednesday for a private discussion about the operating budget.

Council was due to receive reports on a revised funding formula for the Edmonton Police Service and a jurisdictional scan on police funding, but those have now been rescheduled to Oct. 3.

Key items on the agenda include:

• Bylaw 20117, ready for second and third reading, would reduce the number of single-use items used and discarded in Edmonton by banning plastic shopping bags, making customers request any single-use foodware accessories, banning Styrofoam serviceware, and compelling restaurants to serve dine-in drink orders in reusable cups while also allowing customers to use their own reusable drink cups.
• Council will pick up last week's discussion of the Edmonton Metropolitan Transit Service Commission phase one service plan, which executive committee requisitioned without a recommendation. Slated to begin in April 2023, the plan would require an investment of at least $7.2 million from the City of Edmonton.
• Council will also discuss the plan to sell the naming rights for the Clareview Community Recreation Centre to Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities, which community and public services committee requisitioned without a recommendation.
• A rezoning application would allow for two seven-storey residential buildings in McKernan at 114 Street NW and 78 Avenue NW with up to 142 residential units and an open space plaza connecting residents to the LRT station.

This week offers a wine-and-dumpling pop-up in Hawrelak Park, a chance to celebrate women entrepreneurs, info sessions on business marketing and saving energy, and a lunchtime concert, as well as an opportunity to send condolences on the passing of the Queen.

• Sept. 12-15: Book of condolences for Queen Elizabeth II at City Hall
• Sept. 12, 5:30pm: Garneau Block x Gourmai Dumplings Pop-up Event at Culina To Go at Hawrelak Park
• Sept. 13, 5:30pm: 2022 AWE Awards at the Edmonton Expo Centre
• Sept. 14, 11am: Building Your Marketing Plan: Actionable Strategies to Implement, presented by Business Link
• Sept. 14, 12pm: Save with CEIP: How Edmonton businesses can make energy-saving renovations, presented by the Clean Energy Improvement Program
• Sept. 15, 12pm: Live at Lunch - Dana Wylie and Sam Volhov at Churchill Square

Find even more listings in Taproot's weekly roundups.

Photo: A book of condolences is available for signing at City Hall from 9am to 6pm until Sept. 15. (City of Edmonton/Twitter)