Edmonton Headlines: Friday, March 31, 2017

We’ve got a few stories from downtown to wind up the week, which give a good idea of the conflicting issues in that neighbourhood as it re-builds itself.

The City is feeling pretty good about the arena and other new buildings going up, even if some of the targets for growth and revenue are a little off. One of the successes downtown has been a team keeping more people out of jail cells. That being said, Edmonton Police are initiating more calls downtown, and not everyone is happy about how it feels in the area.

Downtown is also growing up, up, up! Even if that’s not always pleasing to everyone, including others building in the downtown.

Expansion of the LRT to Edmonton’s southwest means festivals aren’t going to be able to use Churchill Square the next few years.

Oh, and there’s also a lot more peeing downtown.

Infill updates

A new “Infill Squad” is busting bad builders.

Meanwhile… another infill project got held up with reviews and more reviews. Until a dogged reporter started sniffing around the story. Funny how that can gets the wheels of bureaucracy in motion.

Around the city

An Edmonton program to help house homeless youth is hearing from more and more people.

Volunteering helps international students at the U of A feel “Canadian”. Over at NAIT, international students have a different set of feelings after a big tuition hike.

As we come up to the anniversary of the Fort McMurray fire, there will be many stories looking back at one of the worst natural disasters in province’s history. One thing we can probably agree on is that social workers are needed in disaster recovery.

Would you pay a few more dollars a year to protect farmland around Edmonton?