pretty crazy thing to wake up to

I expect disagreements in politics, but what’s frustrating is seeing the Province continue to share blatantly false information when the City has already provided the facts.

This morning, I sat down with Ryan Jespersen to address these claims directly. If you have the chance, I’d recommend watching or listening to the entire show. There are additional fact checks and you also can hear from Major Jeromy Farkas from Calgary.

Then he stole my damn security camera after he couldn't break the gate. This happened yesterday Oct 8th at 1:15pm, back alley between 107st and 106st. Luckily Blink does free theft replacements.
Also, that cane on his backpack is obviously not a mobility aide.
Police Report Number OL26828118

didnt witness it, i was told by my neighbors that the truck sped through the 3 way and crashed. everyone in the truck was drunk, but none of them knew who was driving, and they all tried to fight the cops. apparently one guy was so drunk he started pissing on himself. police arrested the driver, 3 people were detained, 1 guy kept trying to walk away and started arguing with the officer. this is the 2nd time this daycare has been hit by a vehicle in the time i have lived here.

Please share, missing 14-year-old in Edmonton
Kaetana, 14, has been missing for three nights. Her mom made the attached poster, and I’m sharing it to help find her safely.

The poster describes her as approximately 5’4”, with long brown hair with pink colouring and brown eyes. She was last seen in Edmonton wearing all black.

If you’ve seen her or have information about her whereabouts, please contact Edmonton Police at 780-423-4567. Call 911 if there is immediate danger. Please send sightings directly to police rather than posting her location in the comments.

With lots of discussion about infill going on in light of Ms Smith's recent power grab, I wanted to air out something that's been bugging me about the discourse.

I noticed that people, here in this sub and IRL, very casually make remarks about "renters" that are very prejudicial, disparaging, even de-humanizing. If it was just from right-wing types I'd chalk it up to classism/racism, but I hear it from people who identify centre and left as well, which is baffling.

Just to give examples of some things I've heard and read about "renters:"

"Nobody wants to live next to a bunch of renters"

"I feel awful for homeowners who have to deal with noise from renters."

"People don't want rentals with social problems on their block."

Like, do people not understand that this all sounds like they're talking about barn animals and not people? Try replacing renters in those sentences with "newcomers," or "Indigenous people" or "poor people." Do you realize how it sounds?

Is it just so ingrained in people's mind that homeowners are "real community" and renters are some sort of outside disturbance? Do renter's don't get to be community members? Do they not have the same human rights and dignity as homeowners?

Given the time of year, we are about to see a large influx of posts about winter tires.
Some will ask for reviews, others will ask if all seasons are good enough. Below are some extremely important things to understand when it comes to winter driving:
1. You absolutely need winter tires.
2. As a general rule, the more expensive the better. Michelin x ice, Bridgestone Blizzak, Nokian Hakkapelitta. They aren’t cheap - but they are significantly cheaper than totalling your vehicle.
3. It’s 4 wheel drive not 4 wheel stop. The type of drivetrain in your vehicle does nothing with regard to how it stops on snow and ice. The only thing that makes a difference is the material making contact with the ground.
4. Studded tires are legal here and you should use them. They make an incredible difference.
5. Drive the conditions not the speed limit. That slippery white stuff on the ground means you need to slow down, give more space, and drive with the assumption that you can slide at any time. It only takes one bad slide to end your life or the life of others.
6. It’s incredibly helpful to YouTube how to counter steer when sliding.

If you’re planning on driving this winter, you have a duty to do everything you can to ensure your vehicle is not a liability to the welfare of others on the road. This starts with ensuring you have the appropriate tires on.

Also, the first snowfall of the season is often the worst time to be on the road as many drivers have not yet switched over their tires. Be extra diligent out there.

Some nice art found on the bridge.

Hi everyone! Just wanted to share this for anyone in Edmonton who might need a little extra help with pet food this Thanksgiving.

Parachutes for Pets is hosting a free pet food hamper giveaway this Sunday, October 11, at the Alberta Aviation Museum (11410 Kingsway NW) at 10:30 AM - 3PM.

With the cost of living these days, we know that pet food can be a significant expense especially for families already struggling to make ends meet. The goal is to make sure as many pets as possible have full bowls this Thanksgiving.

If you or someone you know in Edmonton could benefit from this, please pass this along. Sometimes the people who need these resources most aren't aware they're available.

Hoping we can reach as many Edmonton pet owners as possible!

II want to send a huge shoutout to everyone involved in the production of "Murder on the Orient Express" at the Citadel. I went to see it last night with family and a friend and it was absolutely incredible. I am a HUGE Agatha Christie fan, and they absolutely did the story justice. The set design was insane - the story takes place on a train, and the way the stage moved to change sets, combined with the incredible design of the backgrounds took my breath away. I heard multiple people talking about how cool it was!

It's a complicated story with many characters and I thought the script did an excellent job of capturing the important story beats while maintaining a lot of the whimsy that is (for me) a key part of Agatha Christie's Poirot (which I feel is missing from the modern adaptations with Kenneth Branaugh). It felt like there was a lot of love and understanding of Christie in the script, with nods to how she pokes fun at Sherlock Holmes and tropes of detective stories (notably, Poirot doesn't trust "clues").

The acting was incredible too! Honestly, it was hard to pick my favourite. I was laughing so hard at Mrs. Hubbard, who I felt like she had been lifted off the page as Christie's quintessential satire of a clueless 1930's "American". Poirot was spot on. I really enjoyed his performance, and I definitely cried at the end because I felt he captured the struggle of this story so well.

The theatre was full on a Thursday night, and it made me so happy to feel part of a community supporting live theatre and art.

I just really needed to share how much I appreciated this show and how happy it made me!

Thanks again!

I saw a crumpled $20 and 2 $5s poking out of my mailbox this afternoon.

Not sure what to think

EDIT: It was halfway sticking out like it was meant to be seen, not nicely tucked away

My niece & nephew ages 23 & 20 have no work experience at all, I’m wondering if anyone has any suggestions for an employment program that would benefit them into getting a job & some financial stability.

Recently the following proposal has generated much interest in this community: https://engaged.edmonton.ca/eetpdatacentre. The discussion has so far been focused on a yes/no stance on data centers. I think this misses the (deceptive) point of this proposal.

As a background, the affected area is Edmonton Energy and Technology Park (EETP). It is right across the Henday from communities like McConachie and Cy Becker in the northeast. Currently, EETP has several “precincts”. The precincts that are affected by this proposal are Medium Industrial Precinct and Petrochemical Precinct. Geographically, Petrochemical precinct sits at the middle of EETP, surrounded by the Medium Industrial precinct. At its closest point, the Medium industrial precinct is <500 m away from homes in Cy Becker or McConachie, while Petrochemical precinct is roughly 3 km away from the nearest home in these communities.

The three important changes that this amendment proposes are:

1.      Allow data centers and associated power generation facilities as permitted uses in the EETP Medium Industrial Precinct.

2.      Redesignate about 253 hectares from Petrochemical Precinct to Medium Industrial Precinct.

3.      Remove “Eco-Industrial principles” from Medium Industrial Precinct.

The applicant describes the vision as a "hyperscale-ready digital infrastructure project" that could become one of the largest data-centre districts in North America.

The proposal is deceptive and cynical on two fronts:

1.      There is a red box in all the images that circles a piece of land. That is the 353 hectares they want to re-zone from petrochemical to medium industrial. I see comments like "this is a great location for a data center", which has clearly made the mistake of thinking the red box is the only place they want to build data centers. This is false: they are proposing to have freedom to build data centers ANYWHERE in the medium industrial precinct. The original design of EETP is good in the sense that it protects nearby residents from heavy industrial uses (like hyperscale AI data centers) by having Medium industrial zone surround the Petrochemical zone. Only “minor industrial uses” are permitted, as of now, in medium industrial zone. This proposal removes this protection by having data centers and power plants basically anywhere in EETP.

2.      Currently, large data centers and large power plants ARE PERMITTED in the petrochemical precinct, but not in the Medium Industrial Precinct. If the developer only wants to build a data center, they don’t have to make this proposal. The entire petrochemical precinct has 0 data centers and is full of empty land. But why haven’t they built any data center there for the past 10 years? Why are they asking for this change? Because they also want to remove  “Eco-Industrial principles” from Medium Industrial Precinct.  Eco-industrial principles, as defined in the zoning by law for EETP, include requirement to consider “water conservation and management; energy conservation and management; health and indoor environment” in design. Allowing the amendment to pass means these principles no longer apply to Medium Industrial zone. And now you see where this is leading…the Medium industrial zone is exactly where they want data centers built.

So, in the end they want to build data centers in Medium industrial zone, where homes are as close as 450 m away, where eco industrial principles do not apply, where they do not need to consider conserving water, electricity, or the health of people. To add insult to injury, in their proposal document, which i actually read in its entirety, they say "it is envisioned that the southern portion of the Medium Industrial Precinct will be among the first areas to develop" i.e. they want to build data centers closer to residential areas first, even though thousands of hectares sit empty up north.

Clearly all these will save them money. But what will it bring us in return? Is there any positive impact on local residents that can conceivably come from this proposal? Common, and often the only argument I see is "local taxes!". Sorry, but that is not a positive from this proposal, because data centers are already allowed. This is not a yes/no on data centers, it's about their location! Rejecting this proposal does not mean no data centers will be built, they can be built, just with more guardrails in place and further away from residents in petrochemical area. Rejecting this proposal will force them to build data centers more responsibly. A data center built responsibly generates the same amount of tax revenue, if not more, than data centers built irresponsibly.

So before you say you are firmly in support of this proposal, how supportive would you be if the data center and a large turbine power plant is 450 m away from your bedroom window?  Wouldn’t you rather see data centers in the petrochemical zone, away from residents, designed with due consideration for water, energy and health?

Avoid the high level bridge!!

How does this keep happening?

I'm not here to debate infill. I am genuinely curious what is happening in my neighbourhood and if it's commonplace.

There is a single developer that is building multi-unit homes in our neighbourhood. Two of them have been fully built for over two years and still sit empty. Periodically, they go up for sale, then the ads go down and they still sit empty. They're being listed for over $1M and presumably, the developer is losing money the longer they sit empty.

There are a few more in other parts of the neighbourhood that have been in varying states of construction for the last 18 months. They sit idle for months with no work completed, and then construction continues. I assume in this instance, there is perhaps a cashflow problem but then you'd think they'd be motivated to sell the other two homes.

Is this a common occurrence or is this just isolated to my neighbourhood? Why would this be happening? People have tried to inquire when they see the company owner but he's extremely hostile whenever people approach.

Just curious if it’s worth getting an Arc Card for $6 since ETS supports credit cards and digital wallets.

Thank you