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Gronk! said:
edmontonjournal.com

Edmonton business group urges bridge construction pause fearing Downtown backslide from snarled traffic

The Downtown Revitalization Coalition wants Edmonton to pause bridge repairs as traffic delays from construction may harm Downtown.
edmontonjournal.com edmontonjournal.com
Click to expand...
From Troy Pavlek of Taproot:

"If you're wondering why this communication strategy seems really conveniently timed with Tim Cartmell's campaign... it's because it's the same campaign.

The former chair of the DRC, Alex Hryciw was tapped to run Tim Cartmell's campaign. She also, conveniently ran the current DRC chairwoman's (Cheryll Watson) mayoral campaign in 2021.

I've seen emails going through the DRC mailing list encouraging their membership to vote and support UCP candidates in Edmonton centre so they'd have a voice in government. The tone of those emails assumed that the UCP support was a given.

And, just as an aside, this is not the first time Cheryll Watson has put up last-minute massive infrastructure development changes at great cost to taxpayers and great expense to the communities that the infrastructure would serve. Her Big Mayoral Idea was to simply cancel, outright, LRT to west edmonton. After construction had started. Her big plan was to pay the contract cancellation fees and simply not build it, because she didn't want it.

Sure, lets skip bridges too.

These are not serious people. They are pushing agenda to help pump up Cartmell. It's transparent."
 
I still remember we all were intrigued on this forum by Watson's mayoral run and then she dropped the stupid idea of cancelling the Valley Line and we all went "lol NOPE never mind"

The N-S bridge connections are the one that cause gridlock, even now, and it's faster and less stressful to take the Capital or Valley Line to get over the river. We'll probably get an increase in usage of those if the delays (perceived or real) pan out.
 
I'll try to give what insight I can about DRC since I'm at those meetings.

Troy has a lot of conspiracy theories for anyone he doesn't agree with. Most of what he's saying is pure conjecture, other than what is true of Cheryl's campaign.

Alex Hryciw, former chair of DRC, stepped down be involved in Cartmell's campaign, yes. She did that so there wasn't a conflict moving forward with DRC. Yes, there are people at that table that support Cartmell's bid I'm sure. Everyone there just wants to help improve Downtown, DRC itself tries to stay out of any direct support of any candidate. I would hope that most people who want to be involved in any election process would do it.

The DRC has pretty much EVERY major Downtown private or institutional stakeholder on it. Currently at 37 members. Many of these members have way better ties to the provincial government than our Council does, which is why they can get things done, like police officers to Downtown. Whether or not you like the UCP, constantly blaming them for things like our mayor does is not a way to get what you want imo.

Closing all 5 bridges to Downtown at once will have an effect, everyone that cares about Downtown should be concerned.
 
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The James MacDonald bridge will still be open to get into downtown, Walterdale will be converted to 2 way traffic once the HLB rehab starts. Is this really as doom and gloom a situation as it's being made out to be? Downtown will still be accessible enough IMO.
 
They also plan to reconfigure 97 ave/103 Street (Rossdale Network) which will have an effect on James McDonald.

They don't have to do all the bridges at once imo. Anything that makes it harder to get in and out of Downtown, while Downtown already struggles, is negative.
 
Lest we forget, since we did the last rehab on the High Level, we now have a well used LRT line that goes south to Century Park and another more recently to Mill Woods.

So, it will really not be that impossible to get downtown from the south.
 
Greenspace said:
They also plan to reconfigure 97 ave/103 Street (Rossdale Network) which will have an effect on James McDonald.

They don't have to do all the bridges at once imo. Anything that makes it harder to get in and out of Downtown, while Downtown already struggles, is negative.
Click to expand...

Maybe this will lead to more people taking the lrt from the south via capital or valley line - many people do it already.
 
Kosy123 said:
I still remember we all were intrigued on this forum by Watson's mayoral run and then she dropped the stupid idea of cancelling the Valley Line and we all went "lol NOPE never mind"

The N-S bridge connections are the one that cause gridlock, even now, and it's faster and less stressful to take the Capital or Valley Line to get over the river. We'll probably get an increase in usage of those if the delays (perceived or real) pan out.
Click to expand...

I liked several of the things Watson advocated for during her campaign. Disagreed with her on the LRT, which was a big one.

People having differences of opinion and perspectives sparks good debate and helps with decision making, or should.
She was always respectful. And she is clearly still engaged in Edmonton (I would say the most of the losing mayoralty contenders from last time) in terms of her involvement on current city issues. She speaks at council and is involved in various initiatives.
Overall, I'm glad she's still advocating for Edmonton.
 
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TAS said:
Maybe this will lead to more people taking the lrt from the south via capital or valley line - many people do it already.
Click to expand...
I really hope so but the data doesn't point to that. There would have to be a huge shift, and LRT safety would have to improve.
 
Greenspace said:
They also plan to reconfigure 97 ave/103 Street (Rossdale Network) which will have an effect on James McDonald.

They don't have to do all the bridges at once imo. Anything that makes it harder to get in and out of Downtown, while Downtown already struggles, is negative.
Click to expand...

Bingo.

Perception as much as practical disruption and that is NOT going to help a Downtown that is very much struggling to stay alive.
 
Greenspace said:
I'll try to give what insight I can about DRC since I'm at those meetings.

Troy has a lot of conspiracy theories for anyone he doesn't agree with. Most of what he's saying is pure conjecture, other than what is true of Cheryl's campaign.

Alex Hryciw, former chair of DRC, stepped down be involved in Cartmell's campaign, yes. She did that so there wasn't a conflict moving forward with DRC. Yes, there are people at that table that support Cartmell's bid I'm sure. Everyone there just wants to help improve Downtown, DRC itself tries to stay out of any direct support of any candidate. I would hope that most people who want to be involved in any election process would do it.

The DRC has pretty much EVERY major Downtown private or institutional stakeholder on it. Currently at 37 members. Many of these members have way better ties to the provincial government than our Council does, which is why they can get things done, like police officers to Downtown. Whether or not you like the UCP, constantly blaming them for things like our mayor does is not a way to get what you want imo.

Closing all 5 bridges to Downtown at once will have an effect, everyone that cares about Downtown should be concerned.
Click to expand...
It is not unreasonable to ask about the consequences of so much infrastructure work happening at the same time, but this issue is being framed as poor planning by the city, which I'm not sure I agree with.

I am a resident of a core neighbourhood and I want our infrastructure renewed. Why should my neighbourhood be scarified to save drive time for people in the suburbs? I spend my money in the core almost exclusively and it frustrates me that some are arguing that needed work should be delayed.

I don't know if the current plans are the best option, but this group doesn't have a monopoly on caring about downtown.
 
^nope, but it has A LOT of reasons to care, to advocate on behalf of and to uplift.
 
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