The Pulse: Sept. 14, 2022

Umay has been busy preparing for what co-founder Sharmin Habib hopes is a flood of orders for Rest, a tool to improve sleep and eye health, following her appearance on the Sept. 15 episode of Dragons' Den with her brother and co-founder Ali Habib.

"It's been a whirlwind," she said of the lead-up to the release of their pitch on the long-running CBC show. "We're knee-deep in trying to prepare for that high exposure that we're anticipating ... But we're really excited to have the opportunity to share this story and just see how it resonates across a large audience."

The story begins about 10 years ago when Sharmin, who is an optometrist, diagnosed her brother with a chronic form of dry eye. "Go home and put a warm, wet towel on your eyes," she told him. "You're getting these blocked glands because you're looking at screens all day, and you're not blinking."

He didn't like her solution. "Most of my patients don't come back and complain like he did, but being my brother, he was candid," she told Taproot. "He shared with me that this is really inconvenient, it's messy, I don't know how people are going to do this."

They set about creating a product that would deliver heat, cooling, and vibration, with a better user experience that would be more likely to encourage users to rest their screen-tortured eyes.

Their entrepreneurial journey has included a collaboration with the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute and a chance to be part of Batch 1 of the Alberta Accelerator by 500.

• City council has postponed a public hearing on the proposed bylaw to ban single-use plastic bags and Styrofoam cups until next month. If approved, the bylaw would take effect on July 1, 2023, ahead of the federal ban on the sale of single-use plastics which starts December 2023.
• Sept. 18 will mark the fifth anniversary of the opening of the Walterdale Bridge, which has quickly become a defining feature of the city since replacing the original bridge constructed in 1913. Jim Montgomery, the bridge's lead engineer and designer, said he likes the way it "announces the downtown" and draws people to the river valley. The bridge was originally supposed to be open in 2015 but was delayed due to weather and logistics.
• Manar Rahall, owner of the Alberta Barber Academy in Central McDougall, said the business has had 46 break-ins since it opened in 2015 and that crime has worsened over the past eight years. The latest break-in resulted in $150,000 in damages and a week of cleaning and repairs. When asked about crime in the area on Sept. 12, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi pointed to the city's ongoing work on its Healthy Streets initiative and its approval of funding for the Healthy Streets Operations Centre in Chinatown, which will increase the presence of police and community services in the area.
• The River Valley Outdoor Activity Centre, which is scheduled to open by winter 2023, will rely on heavy-timber construction to help it achieve zero-carbon certification, according to the builder. Funding was provided by the Canadian government's Green and Inclusive Community Buildings (GICB) program. The centre will be run by the Edmonton Ski Club to offer sports and cultural programming.
• Alberta is considering declaring Sept. 19 a public holiday to mourn Queen Elizabeth II on the day of her state funeral at Buckingham Palace. The Canadian government announced that many federal employees will get the day off but left it up to individual provinces to follow suit. The City of Edmonton and local school boards said they are waiting on the province's decision.
• Albertans will be able to access a bivalent COVID-19 booster shot as early as next week, sources told CTV News. The province is expected to make an announcement later this week. Meanwhile, Dr. Deena Hinshaw is encouraging Albertans to update their other vaccinations, such as for polio and measles, which are seeing higher numbers in other parts of the world due to pandemic-related gaps in childhood immunization schedules.

On this day in 1971, a committee was pursuing a last-ditch effort to find funding to build the proposed Omniplex.

Of all the audacious projects of the version of Edmonton that almost was, the Omniplex looms largest. Literally. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the oil boom led to ambitious proposals, supported with arguments that would be very familiar to present-day Edmontonians; the Omniplex was one such "world-class" idea to revitalize downtown and fight "urban blight".

It was pitched as a Swiss-Army knife of a venue that would serve as the city's entertainment and cultural heart. It would be an air-conditioned, 32,000-seat stadium for Edmonton's CFL team. It would be a convention centre with shopping, lecture halls, theatres, and luxury dining. Not to mention an arena that would hopefully draw an NHL team to the city. And it would all be serviced by an underground LRT station (for an LRT system that didn't yet exist).

The designs floated for the building mirror the breathless excitement of its supporters. The plan was to build it on 97th Street on a stretch of land now occupied by the old Remand Centre, the Brownlee building, and police headquarters. There were a handful of proposed designs — one imagined an ice rink covered in removable AstroTurf for football. Another suggested mechanically moved seats that would offer different views based on the sport being played.

But the best-known and most ambitious design was the Marlboro Plan. The outside would have a circular glass wall accompanied by concrete pillars, which would use cables to support a steel dome roof. Inside, the football field would be built to be raised into the air and suspended near the ceiling, revealing the ice rink below.

The idea of the Omniplex was popular — in a 1968 plebiscite, around 70% of voters supported the idea. Less popular, however, was the idea of paying for it. Official estimates put the cost at around $30 million (about $225M in 2022 dollars), not including the need for parking and other costs. Critics warned the actual cost could be much higher, perhaps even closer to $100 million. There were other problems with the proposal. The NHL cautioned that the design might not meet their standards for an arena, which could jeopardize Edmonton's hopes of getting a team.

In the end, the Omniplex dream effectively died in 1970, when a close plebiscite vote rejected the idea of Edmonton spending $26 million on the idea. Some attempts were made to find the money elsewhere, such as the committee mentioned above. But nothing came of it. Eventually, Edmonton would build a new football stadium, an NHL arena, and a convention centre. But they wouldn't be housed under the same steel dome.

The city might have been flush with cash during the oil boom 70 years ago, but the situation is quite different today. The upcoming municipal budget discussion promises to be tough for city council, and the discussion these days is less about pumping cash into ostentatious Omniplexes and more about closing existing recreational centres to save money.

This is based on a clipping found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse — follow @VintageEdmonton for daily ephemera via Twitter.

Edmonton city council voted 10-3 this week to support the Edmonton Metropolitan Transit Service Commission phase one service plan that will see 11 routes across the region launch in the spring.

Though council endorsed the plan, it did not commit any funding at this time. Instead, administration will bring forward a service package for council's consideration during the upcoming budget discussions. The plan is expected to require an investment of at least $7.2 million from the City of Edmonton.

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said he firmly supports regional public transit, but cautioned the commission model could result in Edmonton paying more.

"I want everyone to know that the commission model is going to cost us more and we need to go into that with open eyes and a clear understanding," he said.

Several councillors raised concerns about investing in regional transit ahead of improving local service. But Coun. Andrew Knack suggested council could do both with its support for the plan.

"This actually adds service hours to Edmonton. To me that is clearly better service, right now," he said. "And it's going to help strengthen the region."

St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron told Postmedia the Edmonton vote was positive and said her city is prepared to hand over some of its routes to the commission "to make this vision and dream a reality."

"Yes, there is probably going to be some pain in the years between when the commission starts up and when Edmonton is fully in, but once they are fully in and we have one system in the region, that's when the realization of efficiencies and the economic impact of that will be realized," she said.

Beaumont, Devon, Edmonton, Fort Saskatchewan, Leduc, Spruce Grove, St. Albert, and Stony Plain are the current members of the commission. All would transfer local transit operations to EMTSC except for Edmonton.