WEEKLY UPDATE - APR 15

Welcome back to the Weekly Wrap Up! Last week's Committee meetings saw a lot of O-day’min related items.

At Public Services Committee, we heard about the great success we've seen in the Centre City Optimisation pilot. This pilot was focused on improving cleanliness in the downtown and surrounding neighbourhoods. In just six months, City operations responded to 10,612 notices, 92% of them being flagged by our proactive inspectors. This included 3,000 graffiti tags removed, 1,600 litter cleanups, 100 potholes filled, and 150 sidewalk hazards patched. The team also upgraded tree and shrub beds in 28 parks. I know I noticed these improvements around the central neighbourhoods!

Making sure the core is clean and welcoming is a priority for Edmonton City Council. I’m happy we're looking to continue this program and expand it to other Business Improvement Areas too!

At Urban Planning Committee, we reviewed a number of changes to the Business Licence Bylaw. We also heard from community members concerned about the sale of knives at convenience stores. Speakers felt that the City should use Business Licencing to better regulate these weapons. I'm grateful to all the neighbours, EPS officers, and business community members for sharing your experiences and ideas of what we could do differently. I'm glad we'll be looking at how the City can regulate the sale of knives to support safer communities for everyone.

At Executive Committee, we were talking about the importance of the nighttime economy. Especially downtown, our nighttime economy is a huge part of what brings people out on the streets, whether for Oilers games, a rocking concert, or a dinner out. I'm excited to support the implementation of the Nighttime Economy Strategy that will build on the strengths of this sector. It will allow the City to provide focused resources and advocacy for these businesses, creating both a vibrant economy and downtown.

That’s the top three from our committee meetings last week! Next week will be a big one as we debate our spring budget adjustment. I'll be sharing more of my thoughts on budget as we go through that important conversation.

Thanks for tuning in!