Re. “Oilers’ pre-game video has authorities fuming,” Oct. 21
The “End of the World” photo accompanying this story in Friday’s Journal begs the question, who poured that concrete? To have degraded and disintegrated as badly as it has makes me wonder what would have happened if the bridge had been built there.
The city has a bylaw requiring land owners to remove all graffiti or face stiff fines. Does the city take steps to clean up the graffiti at this site?
R.C. Rolf, Edmonton
Where the cool kids hang out
Re. “Oilers’ pre-game video has authorities fuming,” Oct. 21
The cat is out of the bag. There is no way the City of Edmonton can stop the thousands and thousands of people, like myself, who will want to soak in the awesome view of the North Saskatchewan River from the “End of the World” now that Jordan Eberle has made it so popular.
Garth Ukrainetz, Edmonton
Edmonton’s CFL team has chance to lead
The recent Toronto Blue Jays-Cleveland Indians series has once again reignited the conversation around professional sports teams’ use of indigenous peoples’ names and imagery.
While I have heard these concerns before, I had never thought about them in the context of my beloved Eskimos, until now. All the years I have followed the team I have never seen any actions by the organization to insult, caricature or deride the Inuit culture. Truth be told, outside of the team name there appears to be no attempt to link the team to people that they are named after.
While it seems clear that at no time has the team intended to insult or offend anyone with its choice of name that doesn’t mean it hasn’t and doesn’t. The Edmonton Eskimos have the opportunity to be leaders within North American professional sport and quit using an aboriginal slang term as their team’s name, not because they were pressured to, but because it is the right thing to do.
David Zimmel, Daysland
Only Scrooge would object to CPP expansion
Re. “Expansion of CPP risky business,” Andrew Coyne, Oct. 18
Andrew Coyne’s objections appear to be twofold: the proposed expansion of CPP is not necessary; and the CPP Investment Board is too expensive.
I cannot judge his position on the CPP Investment Board, but is Coyne aware that many CPP retirement pensioners qualify for the Guaranteed Income Supplement, implying that they are at or below the poverty line? I think he could benefit from a visit from Marley’s ghost in the approaching holiday season.
John Wodak, Sherwood Park
Curriculum survey deserves failing grade
Re. “NDP seeks curriculum input,” Oct. 19
Your readers should know that this curriculum survey is roughly 200 pages long and takes hours to complete. Part A (the shorter portion) is very politically slanted, mostly about “culture,” “values,” “respect” and “attitudes,” and completely misses the fact that education is about “learning” and “mastering” the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the global community.
The video link provided, with its messages from Education Minister David Eggen and Premier Rachel Notley, which sets the political tone for the survey, would not beam up.
The survey is in multiple-choice format (a highly criticized format) that limits the responses to a pre-determined agenda, unless one chooses to pick the “do not know” option. This alone invalidates the survey’s credibility.
People also justifiably ask how much this online survey and the 300 hand-picked people in the “expert working group examining best practices” is costing taxpayers.
M.R. Leithead, Bawlf
One-size-fits-all bad for mature neighbourhoods
My wife and I bought a house in a mature neighbourhood because we loved its mature trees, nice front yards, central green spaces, few cars parked on the street and the quiet. Let us look at how city initiatives will affect this.
Lot splitting: The split lots must be substantially clear cut to allow for two skinny houses, which also need to be built closer to the street to accommodate their depth. Goodbye to mature trees and nice front yards.
Parking: The city wants to change the number of parking spots required to one per household from two. Goodbye to uncluttered streets.
Suites: The city has recognized skinny houses are not affordable and plans to allow suites in them, so that yes, four families can live where one once did. Goodbye to quiet.
City planners and other “experts” proclaim all of these changes will mean happier residents, more walkable neighbourhoods and will save younger people from long commutes. Guess what? We’re all pretty happy as is.
The city’s top-down, blanket approach to mature neighbourhood infill, along with the neutering of the appeal process, has resulted in a lot of angry residents organizing to fight it. We can do better.
Earl McNeil, Edmonton
Happy for more travel options
Re. “Councillors try to close loopholes for ride-sharing,” Oct. 18
This is an excellent article regarding ride sharing. As a 20 year resident of Edmonton, I appreciate Tapp Car taking the initiative to secure drop off and pickup location from vendors through Edmonton.
They are at least out there making an effort. I have little sympathy for the cab companies. This is a new day and age and competition is fierce. If cab drivers don’t like the way things are going, then maybe they should redirect their careers. The sad truth is a lot of the people capitalizing on being either a Tapp Car or Uber driver are individuals who been affected by this terrible recession.
The cabbies and cab companies don’t want anyone else to have a piece of the pie they’ve owned for 50 years. There’s enough to go around for whoever is willing to get out there and try.
Darren Cella, Edmonton
Party identity is irrelevant
Re. “NDP seeks curriculum input,” Oct. 19
The person who wrote the headline for this story in the Journal’s print edition should be told that it is the Alberta government, not the NDP, which is seeking to revise the school curriculum.
Rachel Notley and the NDP defeated the natural ruling party of Alberta more than a year ago. You might pass this troubling news onto your political columnists as well.
Winston Gereluk, Edmonton
Uniform playground speeds would be better
I think the Edmonton community and public services committee has missed the mark, though I do wholeheartedly agree that a 30 kilometre per hour speed limit is appropriate around all city schools and playgrounds.
The problem is the present school zone policy for 233 elementary schools is confusing. Adding another 44 junior high school zones will only add to that confusion. At least one member of this committee also now wants a city report on limits along roads next to playgrounds and high schools.
Why doesn’t the city simply reduce the speed limit to 30 km/h around all schools and all playgrounds from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. each and every day of the year. Then motorists don’t have to ever again wonder which schools are open and on what days, or what grade levels attend the school they are passing by.
How hard is it to have drivers slow down for safety every day of the year?
E.C. Fowler, Edmonton
Downtown parking problems predictable
Re. “Arena parking to be reviewed,” Oct. 21
So now there is a parking “shemozzle” downtown. Shocking. Who could possibly have seen this coming? Glad I swore off downtown more than 15 years ago.
Roland Schwaldt, Bruderheim
A post-surgery thank you
It has been three months since I had my hip replacement surgery done at the Misericordia Hospital. The service that I received was nothing but excellent.
I would like to thank Dr. Lavoie and his team at the Misericordia and the Alberta Hip and Knee clinic at Northgate Centre for changing my life. I was in severe pain for almost two years but now my life is almost back to normal.
I was able to get the health aids free of charge from the Health Equipment Loan Program (HELP) which is run by the Canadian Red Cross. This is an excellent service mostly run by volunteers. A big “thank you” to everyone.
Amin Murji, Edmonton
Letters welcome
We invite you to write letters to the editor. A maximum of 150 words is preferred. Letters must carry a first and last name, or two initials and a last name, and include an address and daytime telephone number. All letters are subject to editing. We don’t publish letters addressed to others or sent to other publications. Email: letters@edmontonjournal.com .