The Pulse: April 5, 2023

Eight Edmonton-area startups have been accepted into the latest cohort of The Alberta Innovates Revenue Accelerator (TAIRA) by GrowthX.

One of them is Team CarePal, an app to support family and friends who are providing care for someone who is ill.

"This is an incredible opportunity for us to accelerate our growth and bring our solution to even more caregivers," founder Cindy Sim posted after her company's participation was announced.

Sim told Women of Influence that her company was born when she saw the impact of the pandemic on people with an informal but vital role in looking after loved ones.

"It highlighted the critical role that caregivers play in our healthcare system and has underscored the need for their increased support, resources, and recognition," she said. "My husband looked at me and said now is the time to help caregivers."

Team CarePal, which was founded in 2020, is a graduate of Edmonton Unlimited's Propel pre-accelerator.

Some other relatively high-profile, women-led startups in the TAIRA cohort include Birdie Break, an app created by Melanie Swerdan and Cressida Raffin to connect parents with vetted sitters and tutors, and Story City, Emily Craven's app that helps people experience a place via local stories. Both companies are past finalists at Startup TNT's investment summits.

• The province announced a series of public safety measures in Edmonton and Calgary in response to crime, particularly in and around public transit. They include developing a plan to add 100 police officers over the next 18 months in both cities, at an estimated cost of $15 million, and a $5-million grant for each city to keep transit areas and stations "clean, safe, and welcoming." The province did not provide details on how the additional officers would be split among the cities or a timeline for when they would be on the streets. In its announcement, the province also encouraged the cities to transfer control of transit peace officers to police services to allow a more coordinated response. "Centring police as leaders within this work shows a key understanding that we cannot have wellbeing if we don't have safety," said Edmonton Police Service Chief Dale McFee, who also praised the province's investment of $8 million over three years to increase the number of police and crisis teams (PACT), which would bring the number in Edmonton from six to 18.
• Mayor Amarjeet Sohi issued a statement following the province's announcement about public safety measures, in which he detailed the city's own actions to improve transit safety and expressed appreciation for the province's promised investments. He added that "even with this additional funding, there are still challenges that need to be dealt with" and called for long-term solutions to root causes such as supportive housing and other resources to address the mental health and substance use crises.
• City staff are exploring plans for a possible landlord registry that would identify landlords who consistently break bylaws or safety codes. The city is also reviewing a potential process for suspending the business licenses of landlords found to be in violation of rules. City administration outlined the options in a report accepted by councillors during an April 4 council meeting. "It's just making sure that folks who rent have greater protection and control about where they might call home," Coun. Andrew Knack told Postmedia.
• City council voted 9-3 to approve a land rezoning application in Windsor Park to accommodate a proposed six-storey apartment building by developer Westrich Pacific near 118 Street and 87 Avenue. The decision followed a public hearing where council heard at length from residents worried about traffic and the pace of densification in the area. Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, who supported the rezoning, said the development is a chance to make the most of nearby bus, transit, and LRT infrastructure, and create more affordable housing compared to the average single-family home in the area. Councillors Michael Janz, Karen Principe, and Jennifer Rice voted against the rezoning. Westrich Pacific plans to break ground on the development by the end of 2023.
• Edmonton Public School Board trustees voted unanimously to commit to cutting the division's greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2035. They have also committed to cutting emissions 5% by 2025. The school board decided in 2021 to take part in the city's Corporate Climate Leaders Program, which requires participants to set emission targets for 2025 and 2035. Trustees received a 29-page report explaining the plan to lower emissions, which starts with small steps and progresses to larger changes that depend on grants and government funding. Ideas include partnering with other educational institutions to buy a pool of power from renewable resources and installing more solar panels.
• The province has recognized 11 organizations and individuals with Alberta Community Justice Awards, which go to Albertans who find ways to prevent crime and promote restorative justice in their communities. Recipients from Edmonton are the Family Violence Prevention Centre, which is a unit in the Edmonton John Howard Society; Zaki Hirabe, co-chair of the Chief's Community Council at the Edmonton Police Service; the Alberta Hate Crimes Committee; and Rupert Arcand, executive director of the Yellowhead Tribal Community Corrections Society.
• Edmonton Fire Rescue Services is accepting applications from Grade 10-12 students to join its Fire Cadet Program. Students can earn up to six high school credits by participating in the 10-month program, which begins September 2023. The deadline to apply is April 30.
• An online bidder paid $7,600 for a six-and-a-half-foot tall Connor McDavid bobblehead. The auction raised money for the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation. The foundation has not provided information about the bidder.
• Chuck Thompson, head of public affairs for CBC, responded to Premier Danielle Smith's threats of legal action against the CBC for its coverage of her alleged contact with Alberta Crown prosecutors regarding pandemic-related prosecutions. "As we've said all along, we stand by our journalism on this story and, if necessary, will defend it in court," Thompson said in an email. On April 4, Smith told reporters the United Conservative Party is funding her potential legal action but did not elaborate.

On this day in 1982, the Arlington Apartments were at risk of being levelled by a bulldozer.

The grand edifice at 10524 100 Avenue NW was built in 1909 to deal with Edmonton's severe growing pains at the start of the 20th century. The still-young city was both popular and prosperous, not to mention newly connected to the rest of the country by railroad.

The problem was there was a severe lack of housing to go around. Some new arrivals lived in tent cities for years before finding permanent shelter. Others wanted more than just a place to lay their heads; with the increasing number of banks and offices, a growing number of professionals were seeking accommodations close to downtown.

As of 2016, just over a quarter of Edmontonians live in apartments. But back in the early 1900s, the mere idea of an apartment building was controversial, due to fears they would turn into hubs for crime. The Arlington was one of the first apartment buildings to go up in the city.

From the start, the Arlington sold itself as a luxury building: it had a marble atrium, maple-wood floors, and built-in oak furniture in its 49 apartments. The building also contained cutting-edge amenities at that time: gas stoves, telephones, and electric lighting. It quickly became an in-demand residence for lawyers, physicians, artists, and other downtown workers (and, for a time, one serial killer).

The Arlington began to decline in prestige starting in the 1970s, partially due to people moving to other parts of the city. Residents of the storied building began petitioning city council for attention, citing concerns about prostitution and crime. At the same time, a lack of critical upkeep led to severe structural problems. This prompted developers in 1982 to propose bulldozing the Arlington to replace it with an office building — a plan that ultimately was dropped.

In 1990, the Arlington survived a basement fire, but it proved to be a grim portent. Recognizing the heritage importance of the structure, the province made it a historic resource in 1995. The city followed with the same designation in 1998, which included $400,000 to renovate the building's brick facade.

Fire struck again in 2005. This time, the blaze — which was deliberately set — gutted the building, leaving little more than the facade standing. This was the beginning of a multi-year battle between the city, which wanted to incorporate the surviving brick into any rebuilt building, and developers, who didn't see that as feasible. Eventually, in 2008, the Arlington was demolished in an act that the Heritage Canada Foundation called "one of the nation's worst heritage site losses this year."

The building was gone, but the ghost of the Arlington remained. It lingered partially in the courthouse, as a lawsuit between the building's owners dragged along for 15 years before being dismissed in 2020. But its memory also remains as one of the many examples of Edmonton's lost heritage resources, many of which were catalogued earlier this year by urban planner Erik Backstrom.

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.