Edmonton Headlines: Wednesday, July 26, 2017

The old Arlington Apartments. Such empty! Much nothing!

As the provincial government continues to work on new regulations for municipal governments, we’re starting to get to the good stuff. (What? Government regulations can have good stuff!)

Among the rules up for review right now (you can comment on them) would be changes to how a city like Edmonton can tax vacant and derelict properties. Finally! There are quite a few that have sat empty, lonely, messy, ugly and just plain taking up prime redevelopment space in our city for too long. I mean, the Arlington Apartments (empty lot pictured above) burned down before I moved to Edmonton, and I moved here before that last, hallowed Oilers’ Stanley Cup run. So, it’s been awhile.

These kinds of rules are long overdue, and probably won’t even go far enough. If the rules only apply to non-residential buildings, for example, would we still be stuck with the Arlington’s ghost for more than a decade? For more than another decade? Gross.

Either way, let’s hope it lights a fire under our new council after October’s election to start wiping these blights off the map. (And get rid of some of those dirt and gravel parking lots, too, while you’re at it.) It should also light a fire under property owners and developers to get moving. Neighbours of these derelict properties deserve better.

Around the city

The City is reviewing safety and signage around all of our stormwater ponds after a girl drowned. Don’t go into any of the stormwater ponds, they are only there to collect rainwater and won’t necessarily be safe.

I wouldn’t want to live in a 6,000 square foot house, and would probably feel weird living next to it, but everybody in the Malmo Plains neighbourhood seems cool with it. And we’ve all learned that there are pretty much no rules against combining lots for one giant house. Go nuts! But it’s so hard to build smaller houses for some reason…

Edmonton MP Kerry Diotte appears to be threatening news outlets now.

ICYMI, late last night @KerryDiotte, Conservative MP for #YEG-Griesbach, threatened us and called us Fake News. #ableg pic.twitter.com/W552xSsRjQ

— Progress Alberta (@ProgressAlberta) July 25, 2017

That’s not cool! We don’t know why he did it (or even if he actually meant to attack Press Progress) because he’s said nothing to nobody since deleting the tweet. Needless to say, it’s not acceptable for anyone to threaten news outlets just because you disagree with their coverage, and it’s certainly disappointing for an elected politician WHO IS A FORMER JOURNALIST to be doing it. The Andrew Scheer Conservatives sure don’t like journalism.

According to a couple of doctors doing the research, Alberta’s assisted death system should be the national standard. In the first year of medically assisted death in our province, 150 people killed themselves this way.

Alberta’s new United Conservative Party will sit as the official opposition when the Alberta Legislature reconvenes. The Wildrose Party had been the previous official opposition to the governing NDP.

The Alberta government is putting some money into attempts to teach and preserve Indigenous languages.