Internet Usage Telegrams
We're going old school to regin in our Internet bill.
We got word that our most prolific commenter, Derjis, somehow convinced Shaw that he was a respectable citizen who should be invited to one of their few town hall meetings about usage-based billing (UBB). (Shaw is among the Internet providers considering usage-based billing. Rogers and Bell also want to charge more when you go over your monthly bandwidth cap.)
We said “Hey, let us know what happens at the meeting.” He did. But since he was pretty convinced UBB was still coming we decided to save our bandwidth for watching 80s movies on Netflix.
So we dusted off the edmontonian telegraph and asked Derjis to file his report from the nearest Western Union office. What follows is our first (but perhaps not our last) report by telegram*. (more…)
Mid-week civic engagement
I’m a little late with this post, but there are two ways to engage as a citizen tonight in Edmonton.
The first already started (see, I’m late) at the Four Points by Sheraton on Argyll Road. It’s another LRT open house.
This one is about the Southeast LRT. That’s the leg that will run from downtown, across the river, and to Mill Woods. You can poke around, look at stuff, ask questions, and catch a presentation at 7 o’clock.
Don’t worry if this information finds you late today, there’s a second open house, at the same location on the same LRT path, tomorrow night. It runs 4pm-9:30, with presentations at 4:30 and 7pm.
Also tonight (Tuesday) is an Edmonton Police Service Town Hall, at the TransAlta Arts Barns. It’s going to focus on the southwest (the division Old Strathcona is in), and there will be superintendents and inspectors on hand to answer questions. That runs 7-9pm.
There’s also a Wednesday night town hall, in the Northeast. It also runs 7-9pm and is at Bellevue Community Centre (7308 112 Avenue).
Engage!
Alberta Hospital Town Hall
I haven’t noticed a lot of action on the blogosphere about last night’s Alberta Hospital Town Hall, but did see one video. (above) If you see any blogs talking about it, point them our way in the comments.
That’s from Brent Welch, and gives you some flavour of how many people came out (500 estimated) and some of the speakers.
If you’re not familiar with the story, basically the provincial government was going to put some money into redevelopment, but with a ballooning deficit the decision has been made not to do that. Without that money, the plan is to move 100+ patients to community care (though, what that means is still being debated) so the hospital doesn’t require all that money. Critics of the plan say the patients will end up in shelters, jail or the streets.
The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) sponsored last night’s town hall, and also has a Twitter account about this issue. The Alberta NDP is also asking for people to sign a petition to keep the beds open.
You can also keep track of future events (AUPE-sponsored and otherwise) at this Facebook group.
