The Pulse: June 17, 2025

We're excited to welcome Technology Alberta as our newest organization member!

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Essentials

  • 22°C: Mainly cloudy with 60% chance of showers early in the morning. Clearing in the morning. Wind becoming northwest 20 km/h gusting to 40 in the morning then light in the afternoon. High 22. UV index 7 or high. (forecast)
  • Orange/Blue: The High Level Bridge will be lit orange and blue for the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final. (details)
  • 6pm: The Edmonton Oilers play the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Panthers lead the series 3-2. (details)

Concrete barriers act to narrow a road in a mature neighbourhood.

Overhaul of street design standards could help Edmonton's finances


By Stephanie Swensrude

Edmonton's newest streets and roads, as well as those being renewed and rehabilitated, could look different starting this fall, as the City of Edmonton is changing its street design standards.

Natalie Lazurko, the city's director of transportation planning and design, told Taproot the changes are to align with city policies or plans that have been approved in recent years, like the City Plan and the Energy Transition and Climate Resiliency Strategy. "Some of the changes that are coming with our new release of the standards coming up this summer or early fall are really centered around making sure that our streets are livable and accessible for everybody," Lazurko said.

This is the first significant change to the standards since 2018, though there have been tweaks, Lazurko said.

The city has not made the new standards viewable to the public yet, but the council report, which is public, notes that the updated standards will require collector roadways (those connecting local streets to arterial roads) to have traffic-calming measures and a shared-use path on one side.

The report also details ways the new street design standards could influence city finances. Costs to build and maintain streets can be categorized into five areas: Initial construction costs, which are borne by a developer or the City of Edmonton; lifecycle costs, which include renewal and rehabilitation; operating costs, which mostly pertains to snow and ice clearing; maintenance costs, which includes pothole and sidewalk repairs; and safety costs to install features that calm traffic or enhance accessibility after the street or road has been constructed. Lazurko said administration struggled to present the financial information because the cost difference depends on what you're comparing it to, and cautioned that the cost comparisons are not apples-to-apples scenarios.

The city installs calming measures like bump outs through its Vision Zero Street Labs project when a neighbourhood requests safety improvements. Lazurko said she hopes the design changes can eventually make that program not needed. "I would love to put them out of business over time by building infrastructure right from the get-go that meets the needs of Edmontonians, without us having to come in after the fact and retrofit these these pieces into into neighborhoods," she said.

The council report said it costs significantly more to install safety features after a street or road is built than to build them during initial construction. For example, a curb extension can cost up to $100,000 to install after a street is constructed, but as low as $9,500 if included in the initial design of the street. More than 60% of Street Labs requests in 2024 came from people living in newer developments, the report said.

Maintaining streets built to the new standard is expected to be up 25% cheaper, based on how roads will be laid out and how utilities will be built under the roads. The report does not offer what changes specifically will make maintenance cheaper.

There are some features in the standards that are expected to be more expensive, the report said. For example, with the new requirement for collector roads to have a shared-use path, which is wider than a regular sidewalk, it will be more expensive to repair and clear snow from it. It will also potentially cost up to 13% more to build a collector road, due to the shared-use path.

However, at the end of the day, the city expects the updated standards to have a net-positive impact. "While some elements of the update to the standards have higher initial costs, these costs are offset by lifecycle benefits or improved quality of life for Edmontonians," the report said.

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Headlines: June 17, 2025


By Mariam Ibrahim

  • Edmonton city council is considering tougher parking enforcement during winter street cleaning, including towing vehicles in addition to a $250 ticket if they are not moved. During the latest spring street cleaning in April and May, Edmonton issued more than 5,800 tickets. Council approved a $100,000 funding package for towing and ticketing, with a final decision expected during fall budget adjustments.
  • Edmonton Transit Service announced that summer service changes will take effect on June 29, including the suspension of school service until fall 2025 and the introduction of On Demand Transit to Riverdale, Lendrum, Malmo, Belgravia, and Windsor Park. Due to low ridership, ETS will replace conventional transit with On Demand Transit in those neighbourhoods, cancelling Routes 131, 725, and 726, and rerouting Route 111. Route 508 will be split into Routes 508 and 527. Several bus bays will be reassigned at transit centres, and holiday service schedules are set for Canada Day, K-Days, and Heritage Day.
  • Edmonton's film and entertainment industry is experiencing growth due to increased collaboration, with industry leaders like Luke Azevedo of Edmonton Screen working to attract more productions to the city. Don Depoe, president of Dept. 9 Studios, aims to secure a TV series for his full-service production facility to provide stable employment for local crews. Both Depoe and Azevedo emphasize that collaboration with vendors, government, producers, and unions is key to attracting projects and fostering further growth in the region.
  • Edmonton is exploring single-staircase apartment buildings as a way to increase housing options and affordability. A new city guide helps developers navigate the building code's "alternative solutions path," which allows for innovations if they meet specific performance objectives. While the City of Edmonton consulted with Edmonton Fire Rescue Services in preparing the guide, the Alberta Professional Fire Fighters and Paramedics Association and the Edmonton Fire Fighters' Union oppose the initiative, citing safety concerns.
  • Edmonton is on alert for the emerald ash borer, a destructive beetle threatening the city's ash tree population. According to the City of Edmonton, the insect is nicknamed the "relentless killer" because it is difficult to detect and eradicate, and it has killed millions of ash trees across North America.
  • In his latest article, Postmedia columnist Keith Gerein writes that the City of Edmonton is struggling to balance the demands of new and old infrastructure, leading to budget challenges and traffic congestion. Despite these challenges, Edmonton Transit Service saw a 15% increase in ridership in 2024, with further growth expected in 2025. The City is also facing a shortfall in funding for renewal of existing infrastructure. The next city council will need to make tough decisions regarding transit expansion and infrastructure maintenance amid rising costs and disruption, Gerein wrote.
  • Facing elimination, Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers prepare to play Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers on June 17, down 3-2 in the series. After a 5-4 overtime victory in Game 4, the Oilers suffered a 5-2 loss at home in Game 5. Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch had not announced the starting goalie for Game 6 as on June 16.
  • Edmonton Oilers players Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl will compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina. McDavid will play for Canada, and Draisaitl for Germany. Both players have extensive experience in international competition, representing their respective countries in various world championships and junior tournaments.
  • Alberta has recorded 53 new measles cases over the weekend, bringing the province's total to 932 since March 2025. This case count marks the highest total Alberta has seen in more than 40 years. Four people are currently hospitalized, including one in intensive care. Shelley Duggan of the Alberta Medical Association believes Canada is at risk of losing its measles-elimination status by October 2025. Health Canada reported measles as eliminated in 1998, after it was ruled no longer endemic.
  • Take Back Alberta is appealing $112,500 in fines from Elections Alberta, which found that the organization violated election finance laws. The fines, issued in February against the organization and its founder David Parker, stem from online and in-person events prior to the May 2023 provincial election. Parker, who was also fined $7,500 for false statements in a financial report, refuses to pay the fines. Elections Alberta has referred the unpaid fines to Crown debt collection and the failure to file financial reports to the Crown Prosecution Service.
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Three people stand for a photo.

Noted: Tom Viinikka on how to build tech's critical mass


By Tim Querengesser

After roughly one year on the job, Tom Viinikka, the CEO of Edmonton Unlimited, joined the co-hosts of Episode 312 of Speaking Municipally to talk about building what he calls a "critical mass" of entrepreneurial horsepower for Edmonton's tech industry. Here's a quick glimpse:

1. Towards tech's critical mass

"There's a couple of ways you can increase the economic activity of Edmonton," Viinikka told co-hosts Mack Male and Troy Pavlek. "You can either bring it in or you can build it here. We're all about the building it here."

Viinikka said a good analogy for his critical mass point is Alberta's oil and gas industry. At some point, undefined as it may be, the industry attained a status where big things were possible due to Alberta's latent talent, resources, and expertise, he said. So, rather than measure the critical mass that Edmonton Unlimited is trying to build in the city's tech industry by, say, the number of people, he said it should instead be a measure of the confidence level of those people.

"That they feel confident that they can get the thing started and go," Viinikka said.

2. Understanding entrepreneurs

Upon taking the role a year ago, Viinikka embarked on a listening tour, speaking to members of Edmonton's tech community to understand where the organization needed to make changes. He told Male and Pavlek that he expected more variety in what the community wanted, but instead heard consistent messages about its wants and needs.

Male interjected: "What are those logical and sensible things ... are there three things that stood out, that you kept hearing over and over?"

Viinikka said the feedback was the organization needed to understand the nature of an entrepreneur, and to listen more. "Hopefully are feeling that more now," he said.

3. Storytelling needed

Before his time at Edmonton Unlimited, Viinikka — born and raised in Edmonton — was CEO at Edmonton Screen. His time there included participating in work on The Last of Us, which shot in Edmonton between 2021 and 2022. He said the buzz drove other projects in film and TV here, and this taught him something about tech in Edmonton.

"I think that's really applicable to technology," he said. "If we're better storytellers about what's going on in our city, people will be more interested and try it out and try to be part of it."

The June 13 episode of Taproot's civic affairs podcast delved further into tech with Viinikka, and included an update from our newsroom. Speaking Municipally is released on Fridays. Listening and subscription options are all right here.

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A title card that reads Taproot Edmonton Calendar: edmonton.taproot.events

Happenings: June 17, 2025


By Debbi Serafinchon

Here are some events happening today in the Edmonton area.

And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:

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

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