The Pulse: April 22, 2025

This week, council will meet to finalize the 2025 property tax increase, hear from the integrity commissioner, and vote on spending money to improve sidewalks in Overlanders. There is a city council meeting scheduled on April 22 and 23.

Here are key items on this week's agenda:

• Council is scheduled to finalize the 2025 and 2026 tax levy budget and property tax increase that was approved in December. The property tax increase will be about 5.7% in 2025, down from the 6.1% increase that was approved in December. The increase will be 6.4% in 2026, down from 6.8% — due in part to the restoration of provincial grants that are paid in lieu of taxes. Those grants will increase the city's revenue by $8.6 million in 2025 and $8.2 million in 2026. The budget is also affected by an increase in property assessment value, which raises tax revenues, and an increase in projected revenue for development activity. The city is projected to lose about $12.8 million in revenue from automated traffic enforcement after the province significantly reduced the city's ability to use photo radar.
• Edmonton's integrity commissioner investigated 35 complaints in 2024, 32 of which were related to the same incident, according to the integrity officer's annual report that will be presented to council on April 22. The report doesn't detail what the incident was. The commissioner didn't find any code of conduct breaches in any of the reported incidents. Recently, Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver introduced Bill 50, which once passed will repeal all municipal codes of conduct. McIver said some councillors across the province have used the conduct codes to target other members of council.
• The city will proceed with sidewalk improvements in the Overlanders neighbourhood following an unsuccessful petition attempt. City rules allow property owners to petition to stop these programs but require two-thirds of owners as a threshold. Given 11% of property owners in one part of the neighbourhood petitioned for a stop, and 45% in another, the city will require owners to pay half the cost of local improvements to sidewalks and lighting. The total cost of the sidewalk reconstruction is about $2.6 million.
• Council will meet in private to discuss appointments to various advisory boards and committees and for an update on collective bargaining.
• City council will vote on approving the audited consolidated financial statements for 2024.

Meetings stream live on YouTube on the Chamber channel and River Valley Room channel.

Also: What issues do you care about as you consider who to vote for in the 2025 municipal election, and why? The 2025 municipal elections are approaching. Let us know what matters, and read more about what we plan to do with what we gather.

• The City of Edmonton is opening its three municipal golf courses and driving range for the 2025 season. Victoria Golf Course will open April 23, and Riverside Golf Course will open April 24. Rundle Golf Course is already open from 7am to 7:30pm and includes a new restaurant called Shortees. The Victoria Driving Range is open from 9am to 8pm. Tee times and lessons can be booked online.
• Edmonton is experiencing a surge in potholes, with crews already repairing more than 85,000 so far in 2025, a significant increase from the 25,000 filled by this time last year. The City has allocated nearly $11 million for pothole repairs this year, but some residents feel it's not enough. Drivers can file compensation claims within 30 days of pothole incidents, although payouts are rare.
• Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen is calling on Edmonton and Calgary to remove bike lanes from key roadways, blaming them for traffic congestion and obstructing road expansion. Dreeshen specifically requested the cancellation of a plan to build bike lanes on 132 Avenue in Edmonton, which he says will negatively impact the "provincial road network" by removing two lanes of vehicle traffic. Bike Edmonton said the minister needs to "butt out of municipal affairs," while the NDP said the province is overstepping its jurisdiction.
• Edmonton Centre Conservative candidate Sayid Ahmed skipped a candidates forum held on April 16, leading to a showdown between NDP candidate Trisha Estabrooks and Liberal candidate Eleanor Olszewski. The federal election is on April 28. Puneeta McBryan, executive director of the Edmonton Downtown Business Association, highlighted downtown Edmonton's struggles with homelessness, crime, and safety, emphasizing the need for federal attention and investment in mental health, addictions, and public safety.
• Alberta's disability advocate, Greg McMeekin, is urging the provincial government to enact an accessibility law, following a June 2023 report recommending an Accessible Alberta Act and associated regulations. The report, obtained via a freedom of information request and shared by Zachary Weeks of Edmonton, calls for proactive measures to remove barriers for people with disabilities and ensure compliance. Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver said the government is considering the report.
• Postmedia published a profile of Edmonton Northwest, a new riding that will be contested in the upcoming federal election. The riding covers a large portion of Edmonton's northern edge and picked up parts of the St. Albert-Edmonton, Edmonton West, and Edmonton Griesbach ridings. Candidates include Omar Abubakar of the NDP, Lindsey Machona of the Liberal Party, Albert Carson with the People's Party of Canada, Billy Morin of the Conservative Party, and Colleen Rice of the Green Party. The riding is home to nearly 113,000 Edmontonians, representing about 10.4% of the city's population.
• The Edmonton Oilers playoff run is boosting business and community spirit for local establishments. Restaurant and bar managers, including Franco Camminatore of 1st RND and Marko Slaney of On The Rocks, reported increased business and a strong sense of unity.
• As the Edmonton Oilers begin their playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings, head coach Kris Knoblauch says the team is embracing its underdog status, despite having won the first-round matchup for the last three years. The Oilers finished third in the Pacific Division with a 48-29-5 record, while the Kings finished second with a 28-25-9 record.
• The Edmonton Police Service has charged three Alberta sheriffs, Adam Zasada, Brent Roy, and Sgt. Karin Simmons, in connection with the 2023 death of a 43-year-old prisoner who died in the Edmonton courthouse holding area. The sheriffs are scheduled to appear in court on May 30. The government said that two of the accused no longer work for the Alberta government, while one remains on administrative leave.
• Following the death of Pope Francis, Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith recalled the Pope's 2022 visit to Alberta, which brought the issue of residential schools into public focus. Smith noted the Pope's visit to Maskwacis, where he delivered an apology to Indigenous peoples. Adela Arcand of Mother Bear Wellness said her organization received a boost from the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund that arose from the Canadian Indigenous delegation's visit to the Vatican.
• Edmonton's public transit safety is a growing concern for riders who cite frequent incidents and feeling unsafe, especially at night. Despite dramatic expansions to the train service, a recent Edmonton Transit Service plan found that only 61% of riders reported feeling safe throughout their last trip. In February, a 13-year-old died after teens randomly attacked a couple at an LRT station, and weeks later, a 34-year-old man and a woman were stabbed in separate incidents. City council recently approved hiring 30 more peace officers for the transit system.
• As the spring wildfire season begins, fire advisories have been issued across Alberta in the first two weeks of April, with one ban in place near Fairview. Edmonton Fire Rescue Services responded to a grass fire on April 18 near 100 Street and 72 Avenue in the Ritchie neighbourhood.
• An Alberta judge has granted the province's request to question former Alberta Health Services CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos about confidential emails she allegedly kept and shared without authorization. Mentzelopoulos is suing the government and AHS for wrongful dismissal, claiming she was illegally fired in January to halt her investigation into potential sweetheart deals and political interference. The province and AHS deny these claims, asserting she was fired for poor performance and stalling health reform. The emails in question relate to private surgical facilities and freedom of information requests concerning a private medical supplier.
• Postmedia writer Kurt Leavins assessed the performance of Edmonton Oilers players during the 2024-25 regular season, grading them based on whether they exceeded, met, or failed to meet expectations. Leon Draisaitl "exceeded expectations" with a dominant two-way display, while Connor McDavid "met expectations," remaining among the league's highest points-per-game players. Leavins assessed several other Oilers, including Evan Bouchard, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, Jake Walman, Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse, Corey Perry, and Stuart Skinner.

Ward Dene Coun. Aaron Paquette wants to hit the brakes on the city's transition from physical machines to mobile payments for parking in city-owned spots.

On March 28, the city announced that it will transition all EPark to a mobile-only payment system for city-owned spots across Edmonton. Crews started removing physical EPark machines starting on April 14. Drivers must now use the HotSpot parking app, a desktop, or a phone call to pay for parking. The city's rationale for the shift is that the machines require replacement to accept chip and pin payments, and that upgrading them would cost $2.8 million plus annual operating costs.

But Paquette told Taproot he will introduce a motion at the April 22 and 23 council meeting that asks the city to pause its removal of city-owned parking machines.

"It's due to the concerns I've heard out of the community. People feel like they don't really have a good grasp on what this is going to look like and how it's going to roll out," Paquette said, adding that seniors in particular are worried about the adjustment. "If there's a way to increase the communications on this to also encourage (city) administration to maybe fast-track improvements to the app and see if there are alternative options available to accommodate people in the transition, that would be pretty great in my book."

Paquette originally intended to ask city administration to find money in the capital budget to upgrade the machines rather than remove them. However, after discussion with administration, he said that might not be possible due to legal issues. "I made the motion absolutely in good faith, but after talking with city lawyers, there might be a bit of a snag there — but I probably can't talk about that outside of outside of council, because that would be a legal matter," he said.

The motion could be amended during debate at the council meeting when council puts it to a vote.

The co-hosts of Speaking Municipally, Taproot's civic affairs podcast, discussed the changes on the April 4 episode. Co-host Mack Male 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," he said.

Taproot's work on the upcoming municipal elections across the Edmonton region, a push to add boots on the ground at LRT stations, and the curious case of reducing zoning density to increase density were all fodder for the co-hosts of Episode 304 of Speaking Municipally. Here's a quick glimpse:

1. Election partnerships sought

After taking a breath following the April 28 federal vote, voters in the Edmonton region will next start to contemplate the municipal elections in October. Taproot is already structuring its work by asking readers to tell us the issues they care about as they consider who to vote for. This is step one of several Taproot actions, which will include sending the Taproot Survey to municipal candidates and creating a matching engine that will help voters figure out who aligns with their views. That feature was in place for the last election, in 2021, and it's coming back.

Co-host Mack Male discussed how Taproot wants to reach even more people to get a bigger cache of data and engagement in 2025. "We're looking for election partners who want to work with us to make the survey that we build for candidates and the voter matching engine even more desirable and (a) must-complete for everyone," he said. "So, we're looking for organizations that want to work with us to help spread the word about the question, to tap into their networks, and make sure that we collect as broad a cross-section of Edmontonians as we can."

2. Police adjacent people positioned at LRT

Pavlek noted council last week discussed the end of Commissionaires serving at LRT stops. "These are the yellow-pinnied security guards that can't quite do anything at transit stations," he said. The program has been cut and council has decided to proceed by adding 30 more transit peace officers to transit stations after further debate last week.

Male noted council has redirected $5 million to hire the additional peace officers, bringing the city-wide total to 126. The council discussion had some interesting wrinkles, though. Both discussed Coun. Anne Stevenson's motion to split that $5 million between new peace officers and a safety attendant program.

Stevenson's motion failed and council decided to simply go ahead with the peace officers. But Pavlek said the idea nonetheless has merit because attendants can help people navigate connections, clean up stations, and even perform first aid. "I can see as a policy how that is better, (but) politically, I think it's a nonstarter," he said. "Edmontonians want one thing right now … and that is putting more police or police adjacent individuals in transit stations."

3. The tale of down zoning for good?

A long-vacant land parcel at 76 Avenue NW and 97 Street NW has been down-zoned to up its density — a move that sounds counterintuitive on the surface. Pavlek, who lives close to the lot, said a developer wants to add homes on the property but that zoning changes, bankruptcies, and a 100-year-old elm tree have made it complicated.

As Pavlek said, the city once zoned the lot to allow for several options, including duplexes and even more single-family homes, but the lot's former owner and developer went bankrupt. Then the city's recent zoning bylaw renewal work zoned the lot to require essentially an apartment-building style structure, yet complying with that would have required the new owner and developer to saw down the mature tree. Pavlek explained how the developer convinced city officials that the current zoning aimed to get up to 12 housing units, and, if the lot were down-zoned, that they would build roughly half that on a lot that has zero housing at the moment.

"This down zoning isn't actually a down zoning," Pavlek argued. "It's just a flexibility zoning. It's going to give us the ability to actually build." He added that several councillors took issue with the principle, nonetheless, asking "'Why are we down zoning on one of the most up and coming strips, right in Edmonton?'" But Pavlek argued housing that isn't a single-family home in place of an empty pit is progress.

The April 18 episode of Taproot's civic affairs podcast also discussed the Front Yards in Bloom program, transit, elections, and more, and included an update from the Taproot newsroom. Speaking Municipally comes out on Fridays. Listening and subscription options are all right here.

Here are some events happening today in the Edmonton area.

• NABI Networking at Noon starting at 11am at Northern Alberta Business Incubator Society
• Tourism Matters: 2024 Highlights and Insights starting at 11am online
• How to get media attention for your business starting at 12pm online
• Beverly Farmers' Market starting at 2pm at Riverview Crossing Mall
• Chamber on Tap starting at 5pm at OnPar Golf and Lounge
• Federal Election 101 starting at 6:30pm online
• Earth Day Tellaround - Story Sharing Circle with Cheryle Greyeyes starting at 7pm at Edmonton Public Library (Idylwylde)
• ACG Edmonton Corporate Growth Summit 2025 at JW Marriott (Edmonton ICE District) (until April 23)
• Canadian Hydrogen Convention at Edmonton Convention Centre (until April 24)
• Alphabet Line at Westbury Theatre (until May 3)
• Edmonton Music & Speech Arts Festival (until May 4)

And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:

• May 1: Sustainability Social: Expert Panel, Networking, and Activities at The Bell in Scona
• May 3: Climate Chats at Audreys Books
• May 4: Pilgrimage for Reconciliation and Renewal at St. Paul's United Church

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