"Your roads are in much better shape!" are words I didn't expect to hear from a Calgary friend, but I did. This week, Michael, I wanted to share some of the "Bread and Butter updates: Snow Removal, Potholes, Landscaping and of course, the housing crisis.
"Your roads are in much better shape!" are words I didn't expect to hear from a Calgary friend, but I did. This week, Michael, I wanted to share some of the "Bread and Butter updates: Snow Removal, Potholes, Landscaping and of course, the housing crisis.
I've said this before but if you are not subscribed to Taproot Edmonton's FREE morning newsletter THE PULSE, you are really missing out. It is the first thing I read and the number one item I recommend to newcomers to our city. As social media circles the drain, we risk further disconnection. Support local, especially local media.
Please subscribe to THE PULSE here: https://t.co/SIlpj9VgFP
Over the next two months, City Council's focus will be the next city budget. Front of mind for me? Balancing affordability while protecting and investing in the services we need to run a functional city facing enormous growth. I wrote about this at michaeljanz.ca/threepillars2024
Local Podcast, Speaking Municipally, had a deep dive with two senior city leaders and it was really interesting. Winter is certainly changing and I'm excited to see new funding being applied responsibly to one of our most important core services. Here's a great summary article AND a link to the podcast (it's not that boring, I promise!)... https://edmonton.taproot.news/news/2024/10/29/whats-new-for-snow-and-ice-control-in-edmonton
A new type of salt, greater transparency, and maximized use of labour are all pieces in the complex puzzle of snow and ice control, say two of the City of Edmonton’s leaders on that front.
Mark Beare, the director of infrastructure operations for parks and roads services, and Valerie Dacyk, the general supervisor of the field operations group, spoke to Episode 282 of Speaking Municipally about how the city navigates winter weather in response to residents’ expectations and the rising challenges of climate change.
Shout out to CTV for this explainer on MASTIC..... https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/have-you-noticed-fewer-potholes-in-edmonton-if-so-you-re-not-alone-1.7087486
There’s a reason why you might be seeing some square shaped repairs on the roads in Edmonton. Three years ago the city started a pilot project to a new way to repair potholes in the city called mastic repairs patches. “They look square, almost like a goop type material, but they’re really intended to fill the holes or the cracks that are in the roadway to prevent water getting in,” said Caitlin Zerebeski, acting branch manager for Parks and Road services with the city.
The city does pothole repairs all year around with 10 dedicated crews in the summer. The city says it's been using mastic repair patches more often as they’re seeing less potholes around the city. In 2021, the city had more than 17,000 notifications for potholes. In 2023, there were just over 6,500.
The city says it prioritizes fixing potholes based on its size, location and severity. If you see a pothole that needs attention, you can report it to 311. With files from CTV Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson
Climate action isn't just important for clean air and water. It's important for energy cost savings and making our homes more affordable. Like a more fuel-efficient vehicle, there are enormous savings to be had over the life cycle of the home. We approved 15 new priority actions for buildings... via: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/solar-power-electric-vehicle-chargers-included-in-edmonton-s-new-15-part-climate-resilience-plan-1.7367459
The plan's 15 priority actions will set standards for how buildings are designed and constructed, create requirements for electric vehicle chargers and solar technology, outline options for landscaping and preserving natural areas and make new regulations for wildfire risk areas.
The 15 priority actions included in the plan:
Building new homes is critical, but so is affordable housing. I'm excited to share more in upcoming newsletters about some of the "deep affordability" work we are doing, but for today, check out Taproot's new series: https://edmonton.taproot.news/news/2024/10/30/would-building-more-supply-slow-edmontons-rising-home-prices
Would building more supply in Edmonton slow the growth in these prices? Collins said it depends.
“The more detailed answer is, more supply is generally a good thing, but we need to build the right kinds of supply in the right kinds of places,” Collins said.
Even though new housing units can be eye-wateringly expensive, studies suggest that when these types of units are built, higher-income people will move into them and thereby free up wherever they were living to those with lower incomes.
A study in Finland, for example, used population-wide register data to see where people of different incomes moved around Helsinki, a city with roughly the same population as Edmonton, after new, more expensive units in the centre of the city were built. Researchers tracked movements to this new housing and to the housing that was thereby freed up (scored as rounds one and two, respectively) across six rounds to test whether lower-income renters actually did move into units that were left by people moving to newer, more expensive housing.
The study found that “new housing built in expensive areas of the city does indeed primarily house the better-off. However, the moving chains triggered by these new units reach middle- and low-income neighbourhoods.”
By the fourth round, 50% of movers were ranked in the bottom half of Finland’s national income distribution. “This is direct revealed-preference evidence that low-income individuals in the city area also benefit from new expensive housing, even when the new units are allocated to individuals higher up in the income distribution,” the study said. Additionally, the study found that for every 100 new central market-rate units, about 31 units are “created” in the bottom half of neighbourhood income distribution through vacancies. A study conducted in the United States using a similar method found that 100 units of new market-rate units “create” between 45 and 70 units that people making below-median income can afford. This effect should be felt within two to five years, the study said.
Collins, though, said the private market will essentially never be able to provide housing for the lowest-income Edmontonians.
“The private, for-profit sector cannot build housing that is affordable for people on very low incomes, and nor do they really seek to do so,” he said. “The lowest 20% of income earners in Edmonton — that’s people who earn $38,000 a year or less for their household — there is essentially no way the market can provide housing that is affordable to people in that group, and it just doesn’t.”
HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all those who celebrate! Subscribe to THE PULSE here: https://t.co/SIlpj9VgFP
Policing is the largest item in the city budget and on your property tax bill. No one spends more on policing than Edmonton. But where is the new funding going?
Did you know that an inmate released from the Federal Bowden Institution would be resettled 184 km away in Edmonton, not much closer in Calgary, or Red Deer?
Maclean's Magazine reports that as a group, the ten richest Canadians combined net worth has ballooned over the last two decades to $261 Billion compared to a paltry $60 billion in 2004. Collectively enabling this opulence and stark inequality for the top ten while thousands die is one hell of a policy choice, Canada. According to the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, we could end homelessnes across canada for $4.4 billion a year for the next decade-- a bargain when we consider homelessness costs the Canadian economy $7 billion each year. Ending homelessness would yield a 2;1 return on investment, let alone the moral imperative.
