Report on Council’s first 90 days

City Council is taking advantage of a stable market to prepare for the next wave of growth.

And there is no better place to start than within the City itself. By working with administration, we are setting a strategic direction for our corporation that has a greater emphasis on responding to our citizens and setting us up for the incredible amount of work ahead.

I am pleased that we have already seen areas of improvement.

For example, by changing our snow removal practices, our roads this winter have been cleared in a timely manner and our citizens have safer driving conditions. This approach seems to be working and all it took was to think of a different way to do business. By changing focus, examining priorities, and constantly looking for ways to improve, we embraced change when things were not working well and now residents and businesses can continue to thrive during a winter storm.

We have also taken this new attitude forward move with our other 90-day agenda items announced last fall and since that time we’ve:

• approved a private-partnership model on the Southwest recreation centre
• decided to begin construction of the LRT to NAIT this year
• fast-tracked plans for LRT routes in all other directions including Millwoods and ultimately throughout the region

We are also exploring another route across the river with a new downtown bridge, evaluating the advantages of the new downtown arena, revitalizing communities and supporting new urban development projects like the Quarters and the residential links in the northeast to the Region’s petrochemical expansions.

I’m encouraged by the advances we have made so far because only by addressing these tough issues can we build the city’s foundation and be prepared for tomorrow.

For more details about the city’s updated initiatives click here



Ending Homelessness

On January 31 the City launched Edmonton’s Committee to End Homelessness, a volunteer committee of 29 leading private sector and community leaders who will work together to develop an actionable plan to end homelessness in Edmonton over the next 10 years.

Chair Linda Hughes, former Publisher of the Edmonton Journal and Vice-Chair Eric Newell, Chancellor of the University of Alberta and former President and CEO of Syncrude Canada, will provide strategic direction and support to this important initiative.

The committee will use the expertise of other models in the United States which have demonstrated reductions in street and chronic homelessness in over 230 U.S. cities and counties.

For more information click here