The Queen of Nexopia

Speaking Municipally

Summer is here, and it comes with the sale of a riverboat, scooters, and summer streets. Plus, council writes a very sternly worded letter to the province. It'll work this time, they promise!

Here are the relevant links for this episode:

Tim Querengesser

• Tim's work
• LinkedIn profile
• @TimQuerengesser

Edmonton Riverboat

• Meet the new owners of the Edmonton Riverboat

Summer streets and scooters

• PSA: Summer Streets gives Edmontonians safer spaces for outdoor fun
• Where are Edmonton's e-scooters?

Bill 18/20

• Bill 20 offers power to accelerate housing through property tax breaks
• Edmonton city council asks Alberta to scrap Bill 18 and Bill 20 for consultation
• Changes to city charters, Municipal Government Act meant to bolster housing, cut costs: McIver
• Edmonton mayor, Alberta government meet to talk about Sohi's 6-page funding letter
• Sohi sends 6-page letter to Smith detailing ways Alberta can help Edmonton
• Federal government and Boyle Street Community Services invest in vital community building in downtown Edmonton
• Calgary's single-use items bylaw repealed, businesses no longer required to charge bag fee

Edge Fund

• Edmonton grants $4.7M to 17 organizations through Edge Fund
• Edmonton's biggest rec centres face name change in new sponsorship deal

Rapid fire

• The City of Edmonton finally has a 'Nathan Fillion Civilian Pavilion' & it's here to stay (for now)
• Premier Danielle Smith's tweet
• Edmonton fire chief Joe Zatylny resigns effective May 10

See us in person!

• May 21: Don't let the pink slime get you: AI's role in a healthy media ecosystem at Work Nicer Beaver House. Taproot CEO Mack Male and Ethically Aligned AI founder Katrina Ingram will discuss the uses and abuses of AI in media. Generative AI is flooding the world with "pink slime journalism," but it's also helping responsible companies like Taproot carry out our work more deeply and efficiently. We'll explore those realities at this community event associated with Upper Bound, Edmonton's annual AI conference. Tickets to our event are free.
• May 25: Edmonton International Cat Festival at the Robbins Health Learning Centre at MacEwan. We're thrilled to be a media sponsor for this 10th annual celebration of all things feline. We've asked our friends at Zoe's Animal Rescue to share our booth, so come by to meet some members of the Taproot team, and give a kitty a skritch while you're there. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, and kids get in free.
• May 30: Speaking Municipally Live: Untangling the housing knot at the Foundry Room. Our civic affairs podcast is recording live during the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative's summer institute, and you're invited. Hosts Troy Pavlek and Mack Male will discuss how the City of Edmonton can help alleviate the housing crisis; their guests are Joshua Evans of the Affordable Housing Solutions Lab and writer/researcher Eric Rice, who is working on a project with Taproot to help us better understand the housing system. Tickets are free.

This episode was brought to you by Inventures, the breakthrough innovation event from Alberta Innovates that is happening in Calgary from May 29 to 31. Inventures will bring more than 4,000 entrepreneurs, startups, scale-ups, academics, investors, and industry leaders together to cultivate relationships, showcase emerging technologies, and capitalize on Alberta's innovation advantage.

Speaking Municipally is produced by Taproot Edmonton, a source of curiosity-driven original stories, curated newsletters on various topics, and locally focused podcasts, all in the service of informing Edmontonians about what is going on in their community. Sign up to get The Pulse, our weekday news briefing. It's free!

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