Hola! Okay, it’s the Friday before the long weekend and the weather in Edmonton is not looking so hot (oh I’m funny…it’s about 5 degrees right now, which is weird because it was 30 degrees on Monday). So I’ll keep this short and sweet and hope the weather where you are is better!
Competition to Redevelop City Centre Airport
Redeveloping the City Centre Airport located just off downtown Edmonton is controversial but the City of Edmonton has decided to move forward with redeveloping the lands the airport sits on by opening a competition up for ideas on what to do with the land. Their goal seems to be turning it into a massive environmentally sustainable community, which is beyond cool. The City appears to be actively developing this area of Edmonton to capitalize on this unique opportunity to do something worthwhile with the land.
Now this seems to be a long-term development because the Airport is still in use but I, for one, am terribly excited that this is happening at all. Edmonton has some pretty terrible urban planning (errr…the urban sprawl, anyone?) and a lot of people oppose closing the airport for various reasons. But the reasons for closing the airport are even more compelling for the simple reason that good urban design transforms a city. That’s it. The City Centre Airport, for those who use it, is convenient but it’s impractical (to be fair, the Airport is used for helicopter ambulances particularly as a gateway to the North but this is logistics rather than practicality). Moreover, the long-term value of this initiative is apparent, even now.
Great urban design and planning impacts social policy on so many levels that it’s impossible to outline them all here but Alex Abboud had a great post about this on his website. Go read his thoughts on this. It will be worth your while, I promise.
GotGinch Brings “fresh start” to Mustard Seed
Two Calgary businessmen have made it their goal to donate 30,000 pairs of tighty-whities to different social service agencies across Canada. There is probably no greater example of how taking action can be both simple and effective. Each agency in the various Canadian cities get 3000 pairs of men’s underwear in various sizes, based on the premise that while lots of social service agencies get used clothing, used underwear is not donated for obvious reasons. So…30,000 pairs of undies it is.
If you’d like to know more about GotGinch or how to donate much needed items to service organizations, please visit DeliverGood, which is the website launched by one of the founders of GotGinch.
That’s it for this week, a short little update. Have a great long weekend everyone; don’t drink and drive and enjoy!
