We have details of just how bad a deal the privatization scheme Stephen Harper forced on Edmonton is. The private contractor is charging us so much that in just two years of running the Valley Line ourselves we can pay the entire 30-year termination fee. The waste is absurd.

Once again, privatizing public services has failed. Edmonton is taking back control of the Valley Line LRT from the private consortium with a 30-year operation contract. Privatization was forced on the city by Harper. Now, nature is healing🤗

If you're paying for parking, the city thinks you're a sucker. More population, more parking zones, more hours and yet fines and enforcement have PLUMMETED in the past decade. We don't need new parking rules. We need to enforce the ones on the books already.

Edmonton is consistently doing REALLY cool stuff behind the scenes. The new EPCOR smart grid tech they're trialing is going to enable so many more cool applications, like vehicle electrification at way mor efficient and economical startup costs. Just so cool.

No, making DST permanent is probably not anti-democratic. The referendum failed by a slim 0.2% margin, but consultations by both NDP and UCP show this is what the MOST Albertans wanted. No consultation or vote shows a preference for standard time.

You're going to hear people talking about experts saying DST hurts circadian rhythm. However, more evening daylight encourages activity, the single best thing we can do to improve public health. Traffic fatalities, especially vs pedestrians are reduced with more evening daylight.

Alberta is moving to permanent daylight time. No more changing the clocks. Long summer evenings. Bits of sun after work in winter. Lloydminster will finally be one time zone. Announced via Rick "Every Paragraph is One Sentence" Bell.

If you perform yard cleanup this (gorgeous) weekend, you're committing pollinator-cide. It's not time yet. The bugs and bees are still sleeping. Leave your leaves and delay yard cleanup until it warms up consistently. Don't kill the bees.

This is the most damaging thing conservatives have done to Canada

I've been thinking about signing up as a canvasser for this and finally did it just now. Thanks Troy!

Edmonton has only one source of water: The North Sask. Danielle Smith will sell us down the river, for coal. Thankfully we have people like @corblund.bsky.social and @waternotcoalab.bsky.social putting in the time, effort and money to keep our headwaters safe, for generations. It's time to sign.

When Andrew Knack won, he was outspent six-to-one. Like a bad birthday magician, Tim Cartmell revealed how his trick was going to work. He made it obvious he wanted to buy the election, and so every additional dollar spent made people less likely to vote for him. $1.5M, gone.

While the rest of us are buying Canadian, Danielle Smith is importing trash from the U.S. She wants to bring in their two tier healthcare, ICE, and now... gerrymandering. This video by @troypavlek.ca was featured in this week's issue of Forward Weekly, Sign up for free at: forwardweekly.ca.

LEAVE YOUR LEAVES Spring is coming, and with that: yard cleanup. But hold off If you rake too early, native bees nesting in the ground might meet an early end Wait until it's consistently above 10 °C before tidying up Learn more and get a lawn sign at leaveyourleaves.ca

Up there with City of Ottawa staff claiming banning right turns on red is … less safe www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...

I spoke with a director at the City of Edmonton about the removal of the Whyte Ave scrambles. It sort of felt like a congressional hearing, where you know the answer, but the person responding refuses to say the words. The city will not admit scrambles are safer.

Edmonton is removing all scramble crosswalks from Whyte Ave. These intersections, where all pedestrians cross at once without vehicles were designed to make our busiest pedestrian streets safer. The city is using transit as an excuse to remove them, and make it faster for cars.

Danielle Smith flailing her arms and bulging her eyes

There's no photo radar ticket in the mail anymore, but you're still paying. Collisions have a huge societal cost. Collisions and fatalities are up. Insurance is up. Taxes are up. The only thing killing the "cash cow" accomplished is making you less safe, and less rich.

Edmonton's water smells like a public pool. It's typical for spring. Mold and decaying plant matter that's been sitting under the snow is running off. Chloramines are created when chlorine cleans biological matter from the water, creating the smell. If it stinks, it's working.

Karen Principe made a motion so bad even she voted against it. She ran for the CPC. She ran for the UCP. Now she's stuck in a city council job she doesn't want, and it shows. Unfortunately for her constituents, it means this is the best representation they've got for a while.

Edmonton Police: OOPS! All Israel! The Chief flew to Israel to meet with police leaders there, a decision panned across the board. Except for noted thin-blue-line enthusiast Councillor Mike Elliott, for whom the thin blue line remains stronger than ever.

Landlord tears 💦: the best evidence that housing is getting more affordable And Edmonton's got lots. 3 years after legalizing a wide variety of housing types city-wide, landlords are nervous about having to compete with each other and offer rental incentives. In short: what we're doing is working

Been a couple years since I've taken an Uber, but this is actually a REALLY nice feature 👍

Farkas says it's an unfair equalization that Calgary pays more education property taxes than Edmonton He didn't do the math. Calgary has $457B of assessment to Edmonton's $220B. The Leg will get $1.2B in YYC prop taxes this year, then return $2.2B in funding YYC school boards.

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas says the city pays equalization "transfer payments" to Edmonton. Not even close. He's intentionally twisting words to misinform and manipulate Calgarians. Calgary's property taxes will contribute 11.7% of the province's education budget this year. Not "equalization".

Right wing Alberta influencers are demanding an Edmonton City Councillor apologize for... condemning the KKK in black history month? The accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers think sharing the message "the KKK is bad" is an attack on Premier Danielle smith. This is where we're at.

British Columbia has now gone with permanent Daylight Saving Time (a correct and perfect choice, no notes). Alberta came close, but the Kenney-era referendum failed on a 50.2% to 49.8% margin. I am still very, very sad about that

The UCP is finally paying their property taxes. Lots of issues with the #abbudget but after Kenney unilaterally slashed the province's property taxes in half in 2020, it is very good news that cities are getting full value again We're not getting the $100M+ in backtaxes though.

Happy #abbudget day everyone #ableg #abpoli

Danielle Smith has personally confirmed her government plans to extend her school book bans to public libraries. The UCP is using "showing pornography to kids" (something that doesn't happen) to manufacture consent for systems of censorship and book-banning.

Danielle Smith is scheming to force all public libraries in Alberta to implement her book ban. Multiple sources have confirmed to me that the UCP is planning to require public libraries like EPL to ban and restrict material at the UCP's direction It's coming.

Edmonton's longest-serving mayor was removed from office TWICE for unethical conduct, one of those removals confirmed by the Supreme Court. And that didn't stop him from winning another election afterwards www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsRI...

The UCP has forced every municipality in Alberta to repeal any bylaw placing limits on election signs on public property. This means signs can be: ✅ in intersections ✅ in public parks ✅ unrestricted in number and frequency I spoke with @apaquette.bsky.social about the impacts

If complaints around infill are sounding mighty familiar, that's because they are. We heard all the same talking points a decade ago, that splitting lots for skinny homes would be the end of our mature neighbourhoods. Thing is, it wasn't. It was fine. We grew, and changed.

Opponents of infill said the quiet part loud today. They don't believe renters should be allowed to live within their neighbourhoods, only on the fringes, by major roads. Their primary, unifying, rallying concern is "homeowner value" and getting what's their's.

#yeg now has $62M/yr of new revenue from mature neighbourhood infill compared to 2016. That's over $330M added to city coffers All using the same roads, pipes, preserving farmland and enabling neighbourhood-level shops. All of this is thanks to Edmonton's pioneering approach to urban redevelopment

Edmonton City Council votes to not learn whether building a neighbourhood will lose the city money. After @edmontonanne.bsky.social moved to have analysis done to see if Kettle Lakes would be profitable, 7 councillors led by a "fiscal conservative" decided they'd simply rather not know.

Local creep Jesse Watson, after losing in the election this fall has doubled down on his pattern of behaviour of stalking, harassment and bullying. Yesterday, he attempted to dox a city councillor in a post about parking bans that WAS FALSE He really, REALLY wants to be a right wing influencer

the first step in any home renovation is: run for public office

@yegwxnerdery.bsky.social is there an answer to the question "how much snowfall/snowpack is required to undo the drought effect of the last couple years?" I don't know enough about weather science to begin quantifying it.

"Should I chain myself to a tree over this?" A resident in Dovercourt is threatening to because an infill development is being built in her cul-de-sac. But when we look at the numbers, the area's population has halved in the last 50 years, plenty of parking. So, probably not

While Calgary contemplates flushing their progress on zoning down their unfluoridated toilets, Edmonton is reaping our rewards. #yeg has the most housing under construction since the 90s, and we've got the second-lowest consumer inflation in the country because of it

Property taxes are confusing, because the UCP prefers it. Last year, Edmonton increased municipal taxes by 5.7%. But then the UCP hiked the Education Tax by 9% and forced cities to collect it for them. The UCP loves systems where others shoulder the blame for their actions.

As City Council debates budget and a potential 6.4% property tax increase, comments sections are FULL of misinformation from people who have absolutely no idea how property taxes work So, I guess I'm spending my saturday making videos about tax policy youtube.com/watch?v=NjYc...

Many people complaining that growth should bring in new revenue, not cause a tax increase. And it does, a bit, but mostly what we're paying for is: - the sprawl pyramid scheme that we lose money on every neighbourhood we build and - being the province's punching bag

The UCP is starting to panic. Demetrios Nicolaides sent an email begging volunteers to fight his recall petition. He warns complacency could "topple our government". Don't threaten me with a good time.

Reed Clarke has left Better Edmonton. The municipal party has made it clear that they plan to engage in american-style constant campaigning for the next four years. For the candidates that won, they just CANNOT bring that to work every day. Nobody asked for or wanted this.

While mayor @andrewknack.bsky.social takes action on houselessness, the UCP calls it a "fake NDP crisis". Council will spend $1M this winter funding day-use shelter spaces. The UCP has declined to partner with them and says they "are not seeing any challenges" with shelter spaces.

On election night, Thu Parmar lost by six votes. But on recount, she was 627 up. No Better Edmonton candidate is ever gonna bring her down (aaa-AAA-AAAHH 🎶)