As the sun sets in the magnificent Edmonton River Valley, Edmontonians can only hope that their challenges will also be setting with the coming of the new mayor and council.
On October 18, 2021, Edmontonians will pick a new mayor and council. This is what the new politicians need to know to develop the BALLS to leap into Edmonton City Hall?
We can’t build a city of the future with old tired 1960 ideas.
This invokes a futuristic 2050 thinking to be a political leader of our lovely Edmonton. From talking to numerous Edmonton leaders, young and old, entrepreneurial minds, and community builders, drawing from other cities, Edmonton need an injection of new ideas and in some cases raw unadulterated GUTS to tackle some burning issues facing the city; from commercial and residential expansion, attracting investment, growth in tourism, youth exodus, housing and homelessness, to the big ticket items of racism and discrimination, and to supporting local businesses and job creation. This is of course only possible after wrestling to the ground, the COVID-19 pandemic which is very likely to bankrupt the city.
Where do we expand the city to? The neighbouring cities are already breathing down the neck of Edmonton, in other words, expanding the city in any direction hits another city making it challenging to build new residential and commercial development in the city of Edmonton without going out beyond the city boundaries. Annexing or outright buying land maybe short term fix but what about long term?
Transport infrastructure definitely should be on this list. What do you do with increasing traffic problems as a result of the LRT crossing the roads and the new bus routes that lives much to be desired by the poor and vulnerable who need it to move around the city to build their lives and livelihoods? Talking about the vulnerable, the US city of Los Angeles was forced to commit $1 billion to end homelessness by a court order. Indeed, I mean forced! How much is the new council courageous to commit without being forced to take care of our dire housing crisis pushing many into homelessness, and our most vulnerable who most likely have little to no political capital to offer any politician? A Mexican MP took off his clothes in parliament to the embarrassment of his colleagues. He bluntly told them that they were embarrassed seeing him naked but not at all embarrassed seeing their fellow citizens suffering and dying on the streets in desperate conditions that they could help with just a vote. Which category will our next council fall in?
Countless times I have to tell people who were born in Edmonton or have called Edmonton home for decades that a particular photo was taken in their darling Edmonton. How do you sell Edmonton to Edmontonians to fall in love with their own city and become ambassadors of its tourism industry with lots of untapped potential? Next council, how will you know your city well enough to inspire others to fall in love with it as the face and voice of Edmonton?
In the same tourism ecosystem, how do you sell Edmonton to non-Edmontonians to add our beautiful city on their wish-list of places to visit and invest in?
What of the magnificent Edmonton River Valley, the pride of Edmonton with a funicular for those who do not want to burn calories climbing? Many Edmontonians own boats but do not ride it on the North Saskatchewan River flowing in the Edmonton river valley. Like in Kamloops, a river city like Edmonton, it has managed to build a busy beach for visiting summer tourist on its river. How do you make our river more aesthetically appealing, find the shallow areas to develop into a user-friendly beach, spiced it up with many more fun activities in the summer to attract Edmontonians and tourists alike? What is that one thing that Edmonton is known for? Can we work with the respective business associations in Edmonton to block Whyte Avenue and Jasper Avenue in the summer, like in Calgary and Banff, to create a fun car-free street to attract tourists and boost fun activities and consumption of food and drinks during summer months? With the attractive mountains just couple of hours away to complement a booming tourism industry, are they tourism companies the next council can involve to help out?
How do we cap the skyrocketing property taxes in Edmonton and find other creative ways of generating revenue for the City; such as attracting investment, supporting job creation, renewable energy, tech investment, tourism, and supporting local entrepreneurs, especially the untapped multicultural entrepreneurs with little to no support, as well as, other businesses to thrive?
And now, another big deal, the youths, most of whom are going East or to the US to seek better days. I interviewed an Edmonton medical student doing her internship in a US hospital, she said she will like to return to Edmonton but…. I asked “why not”, and she said US is just “to much”. Yes for sure we know US is “too much”. So how do we keep our young bright minds here in Edmonton to help build the city of the future right here? Do we “bribe” them with something like free property taxes for a couple of years to enable them pay back some student loan, if they stay here after graduation? How do we encourage local employers to hire them irrespective of their race and ethnicity? A good number of students, especially those from the multicultural side of Edmonton are leaving as they can’t find jobs? Is it because of racism and discrimination? How do we connect and engage with not just multicultural youths but youths in general to help figure out what they need and how to help them so as to keep them here in Edmonton?
Yes, unfortunately the biggest ticket item of racism and discrimination always pokes its ugly head in our city. With the exception of the George Floyd hearings at Edmonton City Hall, the city has been at best negligent, and at worst failed to deal with issues of racism and discrimination. It’s pathetic to see that so many things happening in the city are designed for one group of people, leaving out about half of the city residents due to poor community engagement, and no City connection to multicultural communities even for little things that matter to them the most like new bus routes. Multicultural communities members working in the City of Edmonton and other agencies say, with few exceptions, it’s easier for a Carmel to pass through the eye of a needle than to be promoted or rise to senior management despite their qualifications and experiences. How do you build a city without involving most of its residents? How can you build a city for 2050 with 1960 approach, systems, and ways of doing things? How will the next council lead by example and make the City of Edmonton and all its agencies reflect the population that it serves for other organizations to follow such a lead?
As you can tell, the world has changed a lot. Old tired 1960 ideas might win an election but will not be able to sustain the victory and instead of moving the city forward, it will get it frozen in time or move it backwards. In an era where futuristic cities are investing in driverless cars, renewables, building a formidable tech sector, artificial intelligence, involving and engaging minorities, our darling Edmonton just cannot afford 1960 ideas to freeze us in real time.
We will be inviting all mayoral and council candidates to share their vision for Edmonton with our audience on all Diversity platforms.
If we missed some other issues, please let us know to update.
Stay tuned!
