Late Headlines
Good day, Edmonton. As Sally mentioned earlier, I was out and about and got hung up. But, fear not, I still love me some Headlines.
Hundreds of Edmonton teaching jobs could be cut, as the Edmonton Public School Board tries to balance a budget that’s not getting any extra love from the Alberta government. The same Alberta government that’s going to be asked to put in up to $100-million for our city’s new downtown arena.
I guess education and teaching degrees do make one qualified to work an arena concession stand.
Speaking of provincial education dollars, Beaumont is getting a pair of new schools.
Meanwhile…the closed-door, after-hours vote to approve the arena deal isn’t getting a whole lotta love.
Starting with the arena again…you’d think that was some kind of big deal or something. (more…)
Women’s Headlines
Good morning to you, Edmonton. I hope you weren’t too adversely affected by the power outage in southwest Edmonton or the gas leak downtown Monday afternoon.
We are headed for single digits below zero, and, maybe, even above the freezing mark. Bring. It. On.
Edmonton’s motorcycle noise bylaw isn’t going anywhere. Police will be back out in the spring, testing the loudest motorcycles and handing out tickets to those that exceed the noise rules. A ticket had been thrown out of court, but the City says it will tweak how things are done and everything should be just fine (and legal).
The Edmonton International Airport is speeding things up.
The Villa Caritas has been under scrutiny for some time, but the mental health-facility for seniors is now open.
If you’re a student at the University of Alberta, you’ve got an election to vote in tomorrow or Thursday. The Gateway has broken down some of the election jargon for you.
Looks like Edmonton has the lowest gas prices in Canada (the provinces, anyway). We may not be so lucky with the price of beer.
*****
The Health Quality Council of Alberta wants to investigate why emergency rooms were so bad, why people had to wait so long for care in the Alberta health system. But the group has to be asked to investigate. The Alberta Conservative government isn’t asking. So, the Council is thinking about asking for changes to regulations that would allow it to investigate whenever it wants.
That comes as some hospital wait times are said to have improved.
Four men had to be brought into Edmonton by for medical treatment, one flown by STARS (the air ambulance) after a well explosion and fire near Edson that injured twelve.
*****
Global’s Trouble Shooter is being recognized for her, umm, trouble-shooting.
It’s International Women’s Day. So, show some respect.
And, I, for one, welcome our new(est) media overlords.
March 4 Edmonton Headlines
I am going to climb you.
Good morning, Edmonton. Let’s start things off with some good news. The 10-year plan to end homelessness may be working.
Project KARE has paid out reward money, but won’t say how much of a promised $100,000 has been handed out or for which cases. And I think there are still plenty of unsolved murders of women in high-risk lifestyles.
Lawyers for an Edmonton man accused in a terrorist bombing want the judge currently on the case to give them a chance to see evidence seized by the RCMP.
More than just motorcycles may soon be targeted by Edmonton’s noise bylaw.
There are anti-arena billboards (at least anti-City money funding the project) and now there’s a pro-arena billboard. I do want to say, to the mysterious billboard purchaser, that Winnipeg is just fine. Heck, they even have a downtown arena so…wait…is this a pro-arena billboard?
A new Edmonton police station is among the projects landing money through a provincial fund for municipalities.
Speaking of Edmonton police…officers are getting better winter gear.
EPCOR’s stepping up its water main replacement this year, while it deals with a biggie over on 109 Street, north of the river.
There weren’t any major increases in passenger traffic through the Edmonton International Airport last year, so maybe the “Calgary habit” continues…
I don’t know, Canada Post, the sidewalk pictured in this story looks pretty good to me.
And there’s more! (more…)
Ghost Mayors …on transportation
A historical satire by actors who did little research, from the EdmontonPolitics.com team.
We’ve got a mayor and council ready to create new LRT lines in Edmonton. We’re looking at some of the largest transit expansions in our history, and there are calls for more bicycle lanes. Clearly, we need to hear from a mayor that helped get us our LRT line and one that loves private automobiles.
In this forum:
Mayor Ivor Dent – The Commonwealth Games and our LRT system can be linked back to Dent
Mayor Matthew (Mat) “Warden” McCauley – Edmonton’s first mayor
Mayor William Short – One of the City of Edmonton’s first-ever car owners
After the jump you’ll find out what they think about all this hippy-dippy light rail transit… (more…)
Pipe down, loudmouth
Our resident cranky lady, Janine Edwards, is back, and wants you to quiet down.
Darling Edmontonians, we have a problem. And that problem is noise. You see, our delicate ears cannot handle the terrifying noise that motorcycles make.
Shut-up, ambulance!
Living where I do, it makes sense. All too often, they rip through my neighbourhood, startling myself and my little old lady neighbour next door. They are ridiculously loud, and I was more than happy to hear that the city is telling them to quiet down.
But then, I saw that people are now complaining the sirens on emergency vehicles are too loud. Where do we live? Communist Russia?
The sound of emergency sirens are too loud? You would have hated bomb raid sirens during WW2. The common theme here: sirens save lives.
I live near a fire station, and I’ll admit… Occasionally the fire trucks will awaken me in the night. But rather than get angry at them I consider this: that emergency vehicle is potentially SAVING SOMEONE’S LIFE.
So maybe it jolts you out of your light sleep, but that emergency vehicle is on its way to put out a fire, stop crime, or give much needed medical attention to someone. Are you really that selfish that you’ll whine about the siren sound?
Other people on the road need to know the good guys are on their way, so that they can make way for them. Those precious seconds mean something in situations which can be life or death. So when I hear someone whining about the decibel levels of sirens, I want to push the mute button on them.
Rather than complain about the heroes, let’s stop a real noise menace! I’m talking about drunks and “woo girls.” I’m sick of trying to go to bed and hearing drunk people having their loud conversations on street corners. Of girls ‘wooooing’, and of overly loud laughter. I’m tired of waking up to the party crowd, honking horns, and arguments. Where’s the noise crackdown on them?
I want the loud mouth partiers to shut-up. Is that too much to ask? Go home! It’s a Wednesday night!
Is it too much to ask that instead of punishing the police and emergency vehicles – we give emergency responders duct tape for the jerks who wake me up, while they describe some rad thing that just happened at the club? Or they can taze them. I don’t care, I just want some sleep.
Feel free to use your sirens on the way over to taze the loud drunks.
