Excessive Idling Bylaw

So after months of work and public meetings the City of Edmonton finally got together an excessive idling bylaw. The bylaw has plans to limit idling to 3 minutes in temperatures above minus 10 and to use public reports to catch violators. However after some debate the city has decided that it will opt for education over enforcement and shelve the bylaw for the forseeable future. I guess we'll continue to see the parking lots full of empty vehicles all chugging away so that drivers don't have to get into a chilly car.

President Obama

Well I know it's a little late to be noting this, cause seriously you'd have to be living in a cave to not know this. Anyways Obama will become US president January 20th and it looks like Hillary Clinton will be his Secretary of State. It's a good choice for him as having Clinton as Secretary of State will keep disappointed Democrats happyish, and should help to deflect some criticism of Obamas lack of experience with foreign affairs. It will be interesting to see how Obama handles the current economic situation, it's certainly going to be tough to implement some of his plans but if he's sucessful at steering the country out of the recession then he may earn a place along with F.D.R. and other great leaders. However if the economic crisis deepens Obama may be blamed for not fixing something that he didn't break.

US Election.... FINALLY

Well the US election is finally upon us it won't be long before Obama is crowned as the new President of the US. It seems inevetable that he will win, Palin was a gamble for the Republicans that didn't pay off. Though looking at polls from last week anything could happen it will depend alot on who can get the voters out and wether there's any hanging chad or electronic voting booth problems. Fingers crossed that it's all over soon.

Anti Idling Bylaw for the City of Edmonton: After the forum

Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the turn out for the public forum. Most of the people there did seem to be ardent environmentalists who will never, and have never, left their car idle, let alone drove it when they could walk instead. While I understand their points on how the city should go, to a very green future with no idling at all. On the other hand if you try to get an anti idling law passed you need to know that it's important to start somewhere even if it's with a pretty basic bylaw.

The meeting did have an agenda of going through different ideas that a bylaw could contain such as whether it should apply to all vehicles, whether it should apply differently to occupied and unoccupied vehicles, and whether it should apply in all weather conditions. The conversations tended to all flow on the side of having a bylaw and how strict it should be. The majority of people there seemed to be on the much stricter side of the fence, while I was trying to find a more moderate approach. I come down on the idling at a 3 minute restriction (it's long enough without being too long) , no restriction in traffic (it's dangerous to turn your car off in the middle of a road), no idling when the vehicle is unoccupied (you're not in it why is it running) , and no weather restrictions (It's too confusing to run around with a temperature gauge). Though some at the meeting wanted it to be 30 seconds under all conditions even stopped at a traffic light.

The proposed bylaw will be available to the public by the end of the month and a public meeting will follow for people to have their input. I'll post more when it's available.

Anti Idling Bylaw for the City of Edmonton

So the city is considering an anti idling bylaw, agian. Of course with gas prices the way there were a month ago this bylaw wouldn't have really been needed. Now that they're back below a dollar people will be back using their car starters and running the engine while they wait outside. It seems like it would be good to have a bylaw for this issue as I often see cars sitting for 10 or 15 minutes just burning away the fuel. On the other hand how are you really going to enforce a 5 minute or 15 minute limit, so the law starts to sound like a jaywalking prohibition and will only be enforced in extreme situations. Wether the city decides to have the bylaw or not you can have your say in a survey and review some of the documentation that they've complied. You can also attend a public meeting on this issue tomorrow. The location is at the U of A next to the Jubilee Auditorium.

The final public meeting will be held:

Date: Monday, October 27, 2008
Time: 7 – 9 p.m.
Location:
Maple Leaf Room
University of Alberta Conference Centre
Lister Hall (87 Avenue and 116 Street)

West LRT for Edmonton

As the finish line is now in sight for the South LRT the city of Edmonton can turn it's attention to expanding the LRT in a different direction. In this case West. To the West the city could connect the West Edmonton Mall, and many of the communities that have expanded beyond the Henday. Of course this will all depend on wether the city gets around to it. Edmonton has a history of dragging it's feet when it comes to public transit. It spent years planning bus rapid transit before realizing that in the end it's still just a bus. So now that it's set it's sights on a West LRT we can expect the same level speed and agressiveness that took over 30 years to get an LRT to the south of the city. One clear indication of this is the length of time it has taken between open houses and public hearings. Being delayed a number of times the public hearing is now scheduled for June 2nd 2009, more than a year after open houses laid out the planned route. I for one like the idea of an LRT and the route along 87th ave it makes economic sense and it actually goes to places people want to go. Mandel's plan of running it far North and away from his house totally ignores the idea that transit should go somewhere, LIKE THE MALL, and not end up in the middle of nowhere. One way or the other it will likely be 15 years before there's even a chance an LRT train will roll into West Edmonton Mall Transit centre.