The Pulse: Jan. 22, 2024

This week at committee meetings, councillors will discuss a potential increase to fees for paper bags, the city's emergency response plan, travel costs, and EPCOR's flood mitigation efforts.

A utility committee meeting is scheduled for Jan. 22. An emergency advisory committee meeting is scheduled for 9:30am on Jan. 23 and a committee meeting on city-auditor recruitment is scheduled for 1:30pm on Jan. 23. On Jan. 24, a council services committee meeting is scheduled for 9:30am and a special performance-evaluation committee meeting for the city manager and city auditor is scheduled at 3:30pm.

Here are some key items on the agenda:

• Administration developed four options for the future of bag fees under the single-use item reduction bylaw. The fees are meant to increase to 25 cents from 15 cents per paper bag and to $2 from $1 per reusable bag on July 1, 2024, but council directed city staff to explore options. The options that will be presented to councillors at a utility committee meeting on Jan. 22 include delaying the fee increase by a year, keeping the current fees, and creating different fees for retail and food service businesses. Under this option, bags at retail stores would be 25 cents while food service bags would remain at 15 cents, as the bag fee is more "controversial" in food service settings, the city said. The report includes public feedback about the bylaw. It is mixed. Three-quarters of business owners who responded to the survey said they did not support the proposed increase to fees. Any change to bag fees will need to be voted on at a future city council meeting.
• The major projects in EPCOR's 2024 plan fall within six specific areas: drainage integration updates, advanced metering infrastructure, situational awareness, standards modernization, wastewater treatment, and flood resiliency. EPCOR introduced a new flood mitigation plan in the summer of 2023. The utility committee is set to hear more about EPCOR's plans at a meeting on Jan. 22.
• At the first council services committee meeting of 2024, councillors will start to plan which councillors will attend which conferences and events, and how much it will cost. Ten out of 12 councillors submitted travel requests to attend events such as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities annual conference, board meetings for Alberta's Industrial Heartland Association, and the Calgary Stampede. The councillors get a shared budget of $73,000 for the year. Requested trips add up to nearly $96,000. The committee will also discuss council's collective budget for furniture. The estimated amounts for travel and furniture will need to be approved by city council at a future meeting.

• The Edmonton Downtown Farmers' Market, facing a "critical financial situation" and a loss of foot traffic since the pandemic, is preparing to end operations and leave its building at 97 Street and 103 Avenue. Its board of directors is scheduled to meet on Jan. 27 to make a decision, with Jan. 28 the market's potential final day. There are currently just 60 vendors at the market, a significant drop from the 250 it had in 2019. While a group of volunteers has been working towards a return to an outdoor space on 104 Street downtown, where it previously operated, the market said in a release it isn't able to proceed with those plans because of its financial position. In response to the news, a group of vendors that work out of the market's commercial kitchen have joined together to find a new downtown kitchen space to continue their operations.
• Since Jan. 19, about 30 people have accessed support services at a new reception centre for displaced encampment residents, the province said. City crews and the Edmonton Police Service have continued to dismantle encampments, including sites near Gateway Boulevard, 71 Avenue, the Bissell Centre, and Hope Mission. The removals follow Chief Dale McFee's announcement last week that police would take a zero-tolerance approach to encampments and dismantle them at an accelerated pace. The latest approach is a "new assault on campers," Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness chair Nadine Chalifoux said in a release. "We have seen millions of dollars spent on these actions over the past years with no positive results," she said.
• The City of Edmonton is proposing a new Public Spaces Bylaw, which would ban panhandling at intersections, unauthorized use of loudspeakers, and visible drug use. It would also require people to wear life jackets while using vessels on the North Saskatchewan River, though the Edmonton Riverboat would be exempt. Several of the new regulations carry fines of $250, with a $500 fine proposed for skating on the river. The bylaw is scheduled to be presented to city council on Feb. 2 and could come into effect by May 13 if passed.
• Alberta's Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program is not enough to keep people above the poverty line in Edmonton, experts say. AISH provides a maximum living allowance of $22,356 annually, which is $5,529.50 less than the poverty line for a single-family household. Strict requirements also make the program difficult to access, noted Lindsay Tedds, a professor at the University of Calgary. "We're talking about the most disabled of the disabled and that you gotta jump through hoops, it's very stigmatizing to get on to," Tedds said. Despite annual indexing for inflation, the benefit has not kept up with cost of living, increasing from $950 in 2005 to $1,863 in 2024. The program was created in 1979 and currently serves 75,554 Albertans.
• A 72-million-year-old sturgeon fossil was discovered near Capilano Park in the river valley by hikers last February and later identified by experts at the University of Alberta. The discovery, named Boreiosturion labyrinthicus, provides insights into the species' distribution before the mass extinction event that ended the Cretaceous Period, and is the first fish material found from that era in the area. The fossil will be housed at the university's Laboratory for Vertebrate Paleontology.
• Kensington Elementary School in Edmonton is getting its first-ever playground in the fall of 2024, thanks to a $50,000 grant from Alberta Blue Cross, government funding, and fundraising by the school's parent council. The new playground will cater to children with various disabilities, making it the first fully inclusive playground in the area.
• A University of Alberta study co-authored by Sandeep Agrawal, has found buildings in Edmonton are bigger polluters than personal vehicles, producing about 45% more greenhouse gas emissions than personal transportation. The research also found that single-family detached homes, especially larger ones in the suburbs, are major contributors to emissions because of their higher energy needs for heating and cooling. Constructing homes with smaller footprints, retrofitting less efficient buildings, and using green energy sources can help reduce emissions, Agrawal said.
• The Edmonton Oilers achieved a historic 13 straight wins with a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Jan. 20, setting a new record for most consecutive wins by a Canadian NHL team. The previous record was set by the 1967-68 Montréal Canadiens. The Oilers will try for their 14th consecutive win on Jan. 23 when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets. Meanwhile, multiple media outlets reported that the Oilers have signed veteran forward Corey Perry to a one-year contract that includes performance bonuses and will be prorated to the league minimum salary.
• A malfunctioning sprinkler at Simons in West Edmonton Mall led to a partial roof collapse in one of the mall's parkades on Jan. 20. No injuries were reported. Edmonton Fire Rescue Services responded to the incident around 9:30pm and the situation was resolved just after 10pm.

Here are some events happening today in the Edmonton area.

• Intellectual Property Legal Strategies for Business Startups starting at 12pm online by Alberta Women Entrepreneurs
• The Amici dell'Enotria's Flavourful Filipino Feast starting at 6pm at FILISTIX Downtown
• Mega Meetup Monday starting at 6pm at Edmonton Unlimited

And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:

• Jan. 26-28: Global Game Jam at NAIT
• Feb. 3: Joyful Noise starting at 7pm at the Winspear Centre
• Feb. 8: Startup TNT Top 20 Pitch for Agri-Food, Cleantech, and Life Sciences starting at 5pm online
• Feb. 21: Our Edmonton of the Future starting at 6pm at the TELUS World of Science

Visit the beta version of the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.