Changes to parking, new photo radar rules, and Coun. Karen Principe’s April Fools’ joke are three stories the co-hosts of Episode 302 of Speaking Municipally examined. Here’s a snapshot:
1. EPark changes
On March 28, the City of Edmonton announced it would transition to a mobile-only payment system for the EPark program. Starting in mid-April, the city will begin removing all physical EPark machines and residents will be required to pay for parking using the HotSpot Parking app, a web browser, or a phone call. The city is removing the machines because they require $2.8 million in updates and increased operating expenses. The co-hosts said the app is not user-friendly, can be confusing, and argued it has several extraneous features that don’t apply to Edmonton. “I think this news would be easier to take if the mobile app that we had to do these payments was better — if it didn’t suck,” co-host Mack Male said.
The co-hosts also discussed the urban planning committee’s direction to administration to explore “parking benefit districts” where parking revenues would be invested into the area they were collected for improvements like enhanced sidewalks, secure bicycle parking, benches, and lighting. Male said this bears resemblance to a community revitalization levy, which has been in the news recently as the city and province contemplate contributing public dollars to an event park beside Rogers Place. “When I read this, I thought, ‘Hmm, so we’re drawing a boundary around an area, collecting revenue from that area, and then taking it out of general revenue and directing it to a specific thing. That sounds a lot like what we do with the CRL,’” Male said. “Is this essentially a CRL-like thing that the city can actually do? Because we need the province’s blessing to do most things, but in this case, it seems like the city could do this on their own, which is rather interesting.”
2. ‘Speed-on-green’ cameras turned off
New rules banning 70% of photo radar sites across the province came into effect on April 1. “Speed-on-green” cameras, which used to issue more than 300,000 tickets per year in Edmonton, have now been turned off. The co-hosts said this could make Edmonton’s roads less safe. “We know that (banning speed cameras) increases collisions. We know that this is causing death and serious injury to people within our city, but there’s nothing we can do,” Pavlek said. “That’s just this position that municipalities … all across Alberta have been put in.” The change also means that Edmonton will miss out on the speeding ticket revenue that used to come from the banned photo radar sites.
3. Karen Principe is not running for mayor
On April 1, Ward tastawiyiniwak Coun. Karen Principe, who is currently deputy mayor, posted on social media that she would be running for mayor in the October municipal election. “In my time as deputy mayor, I’ve experienced the impact of dedicated leadership first-hand. Now, I’m inspired to continue that work and proudly announce my candidacy for mayor,” Principe wrote. Later that day, she revealed the post was an April Fools’ joke. Male said the post fooled him momentarily, but Pavlek, a self-professed “Debbie Downer,” said he didn’t think the joke was funny. “What makes this really ill-advised is that she is our mayor at the moment, with Amarjeet Sohi on the campaign trail, and she’s now made a joke of the mayoral office,” Pavlek said. “For a city that is worried about seriousness of leadership, about consistency between transition, making jokes about the mayoral office and like, the seriousness of that role probably actually doesn’t help very much.”
The April 4 episode of Taproot’s civic affairs podcast also covered a new daily mini crossword. Plus, Taproot’s managing editor, Tim Querengesser, provided an update from the Taproot newsroom. Speaking Municipally comes out on Fridays. Listening and subscription options are all right here.
