Edmonton is the most dangerous Canadian city to drive in - and the design of our intersections is partly to blame.
Statistics gathered by the City of Toronto show that the Alberta capital has an astronomical number of collisions that leave people injured, nearly double the rate of any other major city and almost four times higher than Calgary.
1108REDR Precision Well Servicing settles into new premises
Precision Well Servicing is settling comfortably into new premises following the completion of its 48,000-square-foot-building north of Red Deer.
The company took possession of the building north of Evraz Inc (formerly Ipsco Inc.) on the west side of Hwy 2A about three weeks ago, said Matt O`Neill, operations manager of Precision`s technical centre. Staff are currently setting up the nine-bay shop, which is expected to be fully operational next week.
1108CALG Homes for sale rise as total sold declines
After a decline that stretched over four months, the inventory of resale homes nudged up in October while sales continued to drift lower, says the Calgary Real Estate Board.
The number of residential properties within the city and surrounding centres totalled 11,737 -- 1,000 more than were available for the same month a year ago, it says.
Meanwhile, there were 1,504 resale properties that changed hands during the month, down from 2,012 during the same month last year.
We have listened to some fine political orators this past week. I admire those with the gift to sell others on their ideas and dreams.
I was thinking of the skill not only while watching the U.S. election coverage, but when I received the latest of Mayor Dave Bronconnier`s video messages via e-mail. He`s certainly at ease in front of a camera and delivers his message in a very persuasive manner, even when he`s talking about transportation and public transit.
The city is stepping in to seal empty construction pits from the public as soaring costs force a number of Calgary real estate developers to pull the plug on projects.
Abandoned condominium sites are becoming a more common sight -- a combination of a slowing economy, falling real estate prices and years of record building during a boom that has left the market with a surplus of units.
But city officials say the closed sites pose a safety risk and, in at least one instance, they have had to take on the responsibility of safeguarding the property on behalf of the owner.
Some 250 residents attended a meeting Friday to denounce the city`s vision of transforming Brentwood shopping centre into an "urban village" of highrises and office buildings.
The redevelopment plan could bring up to 6,000 more residents to the district by the C-Train station in two or three decades, nearly doubling the community`s current population.
The owner of Brentwood Village Mall is closing a portion of it next year to make way for a series of highrises, low-rises and townhouses that could house 1,000 more people in a walkable district with street-level retail shops. Construction is likely to start in 2010.
1108ALTA Western firms looking to Ontario for recruits
Welder Robert England has been out of work since his former employer Dana Canada shut its plant in St. Mary`s last summer.
"Everyone says: `Go West.` These days anything is worth a try," said the 34-year-old father of two, who welded Ford-150 frames at the plant near London for the past seven years.
Armed with a stack of resumés and high hopes, he and wife Melanie visited the Workwest career caravan in Mississauga yesterday with their 4-year-old son and daughter, 2, in tow, looking for work in Alberta`s oil patch.
EDMONTON - The percentage of Edmontonians without jobs dipped to 3.4 per cent in October -- the second lowest among major Canadian cities, according to figures released Friday by Statistics Canada.
That marks a slight dip from September`s 3.5-per-cent rate and a steeper drop from October 2007 when the seasonally adjusted Edmonton unemployment rate was 4.2 per cent, based on three-month moving averages.
Calgary had the nation`s third-lowest unemployment rate at 3.8 per cent. Both cities trailed Victoria.
1108CALG Wake-up call for six city developers with idled projects
As the economy deteriorates, the city is cracking down on an unusually large number of inactive major construction projects.
City officials have served orders on six idled commercial or residential developments, concerned they pose safety hazards. On one of them, Manchester Station at 5320 2 St. S.W., the city will take remedial action to ensure the site is safe and will bill the owner -- who has failed to live up to the order -- for hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs, said Kevin Griffiths, manager of building regulations.
EDMONTON - If Edmontonians stopped reading business news headlines, or worse, their investment fund statements, would they even notice the global economy slowing, credit tightening and stocks plunging?
Not at Sunterra Market downtown.
"Personally, we haven`t seen anything slow down here at all," said Sunterra Market catering manager Irene Jensen. "It hasn`t really affected us. Hopefully, it will stay like this."
EDMONTON - If you thought playing the stock market was tough, consider the plight of the condominium developer.
In Edmonton compared to a year ago, condo resales are down, average resale prices are down, multiple-unit starts have plunged and a wave of condos under construction is poised to hit the market.
The last few weeks have seen condo projects in Calgary, Kelowna and Canmore grind to a halt.
With about $140 million in the city`s rainy-day fund -- and hundreds of millions of dollars more in other municipal reserves -- some are arguing that, with Calgarians facing a compounded 25 per cent tax increase, the weather`s never been worse.
"If a 10 per cent tax hike doesn`t call for re-examination of the reserves -- pull some money out to soften the blow to taxpayers -- my goodness, I don`t know what would," said Dan Kelly, with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
The wealth in Canada`s oilsands, even taking into account the recent plunge in world oil prices, is nearly $1.5 trillion, more than four times the $342 billion officially estimated by Statistics Canada, argues a Canadian think-tank in a report being released today.
That works out to an increase of $34,591 in the wealth of Canadians to $243,950 for every man, woman and child, according to the analysis by the Canadian Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
1108REDR Sylvan Lake council upset at province change to park boundary
Sylvan Lake town council is miffed that it was not consulted when the province began the process to change the boundaries of Sylvan Lake Provincial Park.
The town recently received a letter from Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation Minister Cindy Ady saying the province was planning to remove a small section of the land from the park, including a narrow strip of shoreline in front of Chateau Suites and underwater land between the pier and the water park.
1108CALG City urged to buy up Elbow River properties
Upstream from Calgary on the Elbow River, housing developments tower over the water, all-terrain vehicles slosh through the muddy banks, and cattle do their business on fields close to the river`s edge.
All of these pressures close to the water, says University of Calgary water quality specialist Cathy Ryan, have a much larger impact on the Elbow than they would on a larger watercourse. The Elbow River may supply almost half of the city`s drinking water, but it`s just one-tenth of the size of the Bow.
The owner of the historic Arlington Apartments says he received a permit to demolish the fire-damaged building Monday and wants to begin the job as soon as possible.
Saraswati Singh said he has agreed to let the city remove a brick archway over the entrance but that work hasn`t begun.
"We have a demolition permit ... if we were left on our own, we would like to demolish it tomorrow."
EDMONTON - The number of new homes going up in the Edmonton region in October is about half that started a year ago, say preliminary figures released Monday by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Meanwhile, the price of a new home in the Edmonton area fell 5.8 per cent year-over-year in September, said Statistics Canada which released its new housing price index also on Monday.
Edmonton`s fluctuating housing market will be getting some international exposure.
The U.S.-produced show House Hunters International, which airs in Canada on HGTV, will be coming north to the provincial capital later this month.
The segment being taped will involve a helicopter pilot from High Prairie on the hunt for a condo in downtown Edmonton, worth between $275,000 and $320,000, said city realtor Karen Stanko, who will be featured in the production.
