Genuinely curious on others opinions. Not sure what the exact context is other than suspect fleeing arrest. Spotted July 12th, 2024: 109st and Jasper Ave

People say it’s parking or it’s construction or it’s safety, but the real problem with downtown is Edmontonians.

I work downtown. I live close to downtown. I workout downtown. I go to dinner downtown. I go out downtown. I go to movies downtown. I go to shows downtown.

But to hear people talk about the core, you’d think that none of this is possible. You’d think that it’s physically impossible to get to, that there’s literally nowhere to park, and that you won’t make it out alive. And that’s the problem. We keep telling ourselves these untruths and making the real problems worse.

Like, Greta didn’t close because of “construction” or “city council”. I’m sorry, but it didn’t. It closed because people stopped going. It closed because we kept saying “there’s nowhere to park” or some other lame excuse.

And then we complain that there’s nothing to do in the core. That it’s failing. That someone else isn’t doing enough to keep it alive.

And we do go downtown. 18,000 of us, forty-one nights a year, plus playoffs. Rogers Place proves every single one of these excuses is a lie. When there’s a game on, we somehow make it work. We somehow make it there and back.

So the excuses aren’t real. They’re a habit. We’ve decided downtown is a hassle, and now we say it out loud so often that it’s become the reason we don’t go, which is the reason there’s less to go to, which is the reason we say it.

If we want downtown to be better, we have to go downtown. That’s it. Not a plan, not a task force, not a report. Go. Eat there. Shop there. Bring your friends there. Complain about it while you’re standing in it.

Because the version of downtown we keep saying we want is the version we stopped showing up for.

This section of the river valley N of the University of Alberta is beautiful, some of my favourite in the whole city. Imagine if we expanded that. Or did literally ANYTHING ELSE with at least a PART of the land used by golf courses. Maybe made the Mayfair public at minimum? Thoughts?

Seems imbalanced, the amount of space the actual river valley and university take up compared to these courses. Just an observation. Edge of downtown, the university, hospitals, and some of the little old growth we have next to these courses.

I made this album with more zoomed out images since some folks wanted that: https://imgur.com/a/a3dq289

Adding u/dustinbajer link here because it's a good one: https://ualberta.scholaris.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/856c1c2f-f2e2-41a0-80ae-81eee4e0dde7/content

One last thing I'll add before I head to sleep (~midnight) is that while 65% of comments have been negative about changing the use of this land compared to 20% positive about such changes to 15% being neutral/analytical only... 71% of votes have been upvotes at this point in time. Take from that what you will. To me it seem the majority agrees with me but the most reactive/vocal/willing to make a comment are the golfers.  ¯_(ツ)_/¯ 

I am, and I was just wondering if I am alone or if my fellow EdmontonIan’s are joining me? I don’t buy everything Canadian, but I do boycott the USA.

I have switched over to only made in Canada…

-razors (hensons safety razors)

-face cream (Rocky Mountain soap company, attitude makes some too)

-water filter (santevia)

-plastic cling wrap (I use abeego now)

- facial tissue (Kleenex) ( royale)

-deodorant ( jack 59, attitud, Rocky Mountain Soap Company)

-chapstick (the real bomb, Rocky Mountain soap compan.)

- toilet bowl cleaner ( Nature clean,)

-sunscreen (attitude, Rocky mountsin soap company, Matter company)

-soap ( nature bee, caprina, etc)

-toothbrush (nada)

- canned air (enzone)

-shampoo/conditioner (jack 59, attitude)

-body wash ( nature clean, attitude)

- dish soap (nature’s, nature clean)

-laundry detergent (Nellie’s)

- stain remover (buncha farmers)

- all purpose cleaner (Myni, nature clean)

- phone case (pela)

-chocolate (Purdys)

-dishwasher detergent (Nellie’s, nature clean)

-waffle cones ( I just buy them at the local ice cream shop where they make them homemad.)

-granola bars (made good)

- leafy greens (I have switched to micro greens.)

- menstrual products (diva cup)

I want to switch to Canadian made toothpaste, and dental floss. * talking to some lovely Americans on here who said they don’t appreciate my business anyways made me bite the bullett and order Canadian toothpaste. You don’t want my business? That’s fine. I’ll give it to someone who does. Win win.

*edit people keep asking me for brands. These are the ones I use, but there are so many more.)

i stopped buying Oreos, popsicles, orange juice, pringles, hersheys chocolate bars/chocolate chips, any pillsbury, breakfast cereals, campbells soups, (only Canadian chips), freezer bags or glad bags (I reuse the ones I have, or I reuse the resealable unavoidable bags i get at the grocery store, disposable toothbrushes, anything from Gillette, shower curtain liners (I use 2 heavy duty cloth ones online) fake syrup, a lot of pop, canned Parmesan, American chain restaurants, lot of American candy, processed foods, and I don’t buy from Amazon.

i don’t buy much American produce anymore, I get it from Mexico (and honestly it’s better.)

I have alway bought Canadian meat, oats, sugar, flour, hemp hearts, maple syrup, bread, eggs, dairy products, honey, alcohol pet treats, winter boots, toilet paper, paper towels, quilts , pillows, sheets, and my winter coat.

i would get pet food made here but I don’t have pets. If I had kids I would get cloth diapers made here and use those. If I did need disposables some of the time, I would buy royale.

i buy most of my clothes used, but on the rare occasion I buy new, I want to shop Canadian. I have used dishes, kitchen knives, pots and pans, utensils, towels, most of my furniture, all of my smaller kitchen appliances, some electronics, most of my clothes.

Honestly I probably save money because I buy less, and I’m healthier too.

stuff I can’t seem to not stop buying from there lemon juice, canned pumpkin, lemons, limes, lime juice, onions, soup stalk, shoes, bell peppers, leeks, appliances, streaming services (I should cancel my Netflix. Yikes.)

The urban and rural divide is going to be epic.

I'm usually pretty comfortable swearing, but I'll spare you. Anyone who reads this title can imagine the things going through my head right now.

It is repugnant that there is no rent increase cap in this province. If you're economically right wing, uh, I don't know, let's meet in the middle. How about a 10% increase cap? That would still be over four times higher than the one in BC this year. It would at least let me make a value judgment about whether or not I'm leaving. This is just a thinly veiled eviction notice.

Searching for a new apartment in and around Strathcona... starting right now. Any tips would be great.

Um, what the hell? Where did this come from?

October 19th was referendum day in Alberta! Use this megathread for general discussion, result anticipation, speculation, and reactions as results come in.

What belongs in this megathread?
- "I voted!" posts and general voting-day chatter.
- Result speculation and anticipation.
- Preliminary results and updates, with sources where possible.
- Reactions and general discussion about the results and their implications.

This is in effect from 10pm, October 19, 2026, until all results from all questions asked are reported at, or near, 100%.

Standalone posts may be permitted subject to the discretion of the moderators.

Tw : SA, rape

On December 16th at about 1am or so, I (25y male if you need to know) was raped by three men on Rowland Road. I was walking home from a party to celebrate entering the last year of university with my peers, when someone got my attention from the bushes at the corner of Alex Taylor Road. The person seemed frantic, and asked for help, because their friend was not breathing and they didn’t have a cell phone. Being months away from becoming a registered nurse and having many encounters with overdoses in the downtown communities, I figured it was going to be another one of the countless times I would be helping someone out of a bad situation.

From there, I was grabbed on either side by two other men, and held down to my knees. Who I assume was the first man, took his genitals out and tried to sexually assault my mouth. I then threatened to bite it off, and he punched me in the nose. After being punched, he left the front and proceeded to try to… gain entry to the back, for lack of better words. It was that moment that I was able to shake the two holding me off. I don’t know if one of them lessened up for a second or if it was some divine burst of energy, but I was able to bunch the individual to my left well, and ran off. This was all within a few hundred meters of home.

In hindsight, I’m very fortunate for this to not have affected the way I see things as a whole. At the end of the day, I would go back into those bushes, but I would be safer about it without a doubt. Being alone, I would in the future secure a line with emergency services, but I can honestly say that this hasn’t changed my outlook on the city around me.

This situation has been further exacerbated by what has already been a very turbulent topic in the city. In giving my testimony, I felt it was important for details sake and expressing the entirety of the story, to include that I had previously walked passed the (old) homeless encampment at the top of Rowland Road/95st.

The media took that and went wild, focusing primarily on the proximity to the encampment.

One of the things I frequently read on Reddit, X, TikTok, and Facebook, was about how there hadn’t been any description of the attackers. If that was you, I strongly suggest you do a little bit of research regarding the reliability of eye witness accounts. I do have some memory of the people who attacked me, but being incredibly low light, in the bushes, late at night, I have very minimal recall of any sort of facial features. The thing I have such a clear memory on from is their jackets. North face, Canada goose. Nice, almost new even. I honestly do not believe in my heart for a moment that I was attacked by homeless people.

One of the worst parts of the fallout from this experience has been the publicity, specifically regarding our premier. In a recent article, she somewhat revealed that I was “a young nurse,” and it was a situation of gang initiation. Without going much further into this rant, I would like to include my communications with the office of the premier - of which I have not heard a response.

“Hello,

I am the “young nurse” referenced recently among many other times by the premier in recent months after a traumatic rape in the river valley of Edmonton. I would like to respectfully ask that the premier immediately cease using my own story - of which she does not know - to continue spreading her own narrative surrounding the homeless population she has a duty to protect, along with the rest of the province.

The continued trauma of having this brought up by an elected official, is horrifying. I cannot for a moment believe that Danielle Smith thought it would be appropriate to share details - no matter how small, such as my occupation, in ways to further her own interest.

In a time where I have already been subject to extreme stress, I have to continuously see the premier lie and create the narratives she sees fit.

I can respect political differences, but I cannot begin to explain how violated this situation - worsened by the premier - has began to make me feel. This is among MANY reasons why rape continues to go unreported. Can you imagine such a horrifying act happening to you, and then having your elected official go on and talk about why SHE thinks it happened?

Danielle Smith, my rape is NOT for you to push your own disgusting views of what’s happening in our streets. I’d love to try to keep coping and managing through the pain of the situation, but you keep deciding to open your mouth about something you have no business talking about.

I ask that you respect my already violated privacy immediately, and keep my case out of and away from your politics.

The young nurse,

Name redacted”

At the end of the day, as I try to move forward, all I can really do is take control of my own story. Danielle Smith will not be doing so. I don’t know where she’s been getting information about my case, but if she wants to, she can reach out to me like a respectable adult. But, we’ll see about that.

I thank all the support I’ve indirectly received on here and all other platforms. I’ve read every single comment. To the trolls, I forgive you, and I sincerely wish you better than you’ve given me.

Rape of any gender is horrifying and inexcusable in every manner. If making “dirty Randy and the boys” jokes makes you feel better, the person you’re joking about could very likely be reading it and directly affected.

Mental health support of all kinds in hard to come by in this city. If this resonates with you in any way and you need to talk, please feel free to to reach out. I’m incredibly busy, but I’ll take all the time I can to help out another fellow human who’s struggling. It doesn’t have to be related to my situation either.

Edit: Focus on the good and find peace beyond all unknowing - unknown ❤️

Edit 2: please know that I appreciate every ounce of support. I’m kind of replying to comments as I see them pop up at work (at a restaurant, not the hospital 😂) and at this point it’s honestly hard to keep up. I’m so incredibly moved and feel loved, respected and heard by all of the support and compassion in this crowd ❤️

Edit 3: there’s suddenly a strange amount of people claiming I was not in fact raped due to some confusion in my writing. “rape, unlawful sexual activity, most often involving sexual intercourse, against the will of the victim through force or the threat of force” I believe a penis forcefully penetrating a rectum without consent fits that’s definition well. It does not have to be an act which lasts a certain amount or time or something. This is what happened. The attacker literally forced entry inside, briefly, and I was able to get away. Just because it didn’t happen for an hour or there wasn’t completion, doesn’t mean it was not a rape.

Road tax for cyclists? Sure, why not? Here's how we'd do it to make sure cyclists pay their fair share:

1. First, you'd have to establish a "road tax". As it stands, we all pay for roads through property tax, income tax, business tax, resource royalties, etc., so we could take that tax burden away from those sources and apply it to vehicles and bicycles at the point of annual registration. For this thought exercise, let's use the City of Edmonton’s $1.8 billion (2023-2026) road construction budget, that works out to $450,000,000 per year. Add to that the Government of Alberta's $2.0 billion Edmonton region 2025-2028 new road infrastructure budget which gets you another $500,000,000 per year. Here, the combined annual road building cost would be $950,000,000 annually.
2. Once you've created the tax, it would only be fair for cyclists and motorists to pay their fair share so let's use arterial roads since they're in the most need of cycling infrastructure and they're always congested with traffic. The width of an arterial road for motor vehicles is 3.7m/lane as set in the Highway Geometric Design Guide published by Alberta Transportation. Interestingly, that's also the width of the typical bike lane, so we can easily set up a ratio to compare road space requirements. 3.7m/lane x6 car lanes = 22.2m of road space for motor vehicles, and one bike lane (3.7m) for bicycles. That's a ratio of 6:1 (car lanes : cycle lanes), or for costing purposes, bicycles require 1/7 of the road space, and motor vehicles require the remaining 6/7 of the road space.
3. Now you'd have to factor in wear and tear on the roads. Lucky for us, this has actually been studied by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and it turns out that the average car does ~17,000 times as much damage to the road as one heavy man on a pedal bike. If you're interested in the study, its an easy find and a great read.
4. Bringing it all together: Edmonton's annual road building budget ($950,000,000 in our example), multiplied by road space allotted to the bicycle lane (1/7), multiplied by the road damage factor due to bicycles (1/17,000) = $7,983 in road construction costs that should rightly be born by the cycling community, annually. So what does that work out to per cyclist? The City of Edmonton reports its cycling usage counts and publishes the data, I found this easier to interpret than Calgary's data and I calculated that Edmonton counted a monthly average (across all 12 months in the past year) of 235,873 bicycles using the bike lanes; let’s assume these are mostly commuters and divide that number by 2 (a morning commute and an evening commute) and we get 117,937 bicycle trips per month. Dividing by 30 days/month suggests there is an average of 3,931 cyclists in Edmonton. So, $7,983 annual road building costs divided by 3,931 cyclists in Edmonton works out to a road fee of $2.03 per bicycle, payable during annual registration. That's a bargain in my books and I'd happily register a couple bikes to "pay my fair share" and keep the drivers happy. Heck, I'll register for 10 years in one go at that price!
5. Now, since we all want to pay our fair share, we should also figure out how much we should pay in road tax when registering a motor vehicle (it would only be fair right?). Again, Edmonton’s annual road construction budget is $950,000,000; if we subtract the cycling share ($7,983) from that budget, we'd get $949,992,017 in road cost that should fairly be shouldered by motorists. Alberta transportation reported that there were 1,008,812 motor vehicles registering in the Edmonton area in 2024. Therefore, the annual road construction costs imparted by motor vehicles, divided by the number of registered vehicles works out to $941.69 per car / truck.

Conclusion: sure, as a cyclist, I'll chip in my $2.03 annually for road building as long as I never have to hear about it from another driver again :)

I am not questioning the quality of the products and other services but if your go to Costco is the one on 91st street I doubt if it is of any value considering the wait times for everything from parking, billing, returns, even washrooms (!) and the general rush everywhere.

Not sure if it is the same at other Costcos. Perhaps I should do only online shopping and delivery option.

Given the time of year, we are about to see a large influx of posts about winter tires.
Some will ask for reviews, others will ask if all seasons are good enough. Below are some extremely important things to understand when it comes to winter driving:
1. You absolutely need winter tires.
2. As a general rule, the more expensive the better. Michelin x ice, Bridgestone Blizzak, Nokian Hakkapelitta. They aren’t cheap - but they are significantly cheaper than totalling your vehicle.
3. It’s 4 wheel drive not 4 wheel stop. The type of drivetrain in your vehicle does nothing with regard to how it stops on snow and ice. The only thing that makes a difference is the material making contact with the ground.
4. Studded tires are legal here and you should use them. They make an incredible difference.
5. Drive the conditions not the speed limit. That slippery white stuff on the ground means you need to slow down, give more space, and drive with the assumption that you can slide at any time. It only takes one bad slide to end your life or the life of others.
6. It’s incredibly helpful to YouTube how to counter steer when sliding.

If you’re planning on driving this winter, you have a duty to do everything you can to ensure your vehicle is not a liability to the welfare of others on the road. This starts with ensuring you have the appropriate tires on.

Also, the first snowfall of the season is often the worst time to be on the road as many drivers have not yet switched over their tires. Be extra diligent out there.

I'm sure you've seen countless posts about this, but these three things happen so often that I wanted to see if anyone else has noticed an increase over the last 10 years.

1. Slow drivers in the left lane. Holy smokes, have people forgotten how to move over and let faster traffic pass? Hogging the passing lane isn't just entitled, it's dangerous.

2. Merging onto the Henday at 60–70 km/h. Again, really dangerous, and it kills the flow of traffic.

3. Constant brake-tapping with no one in front of them. New drivers? Hopefully not impaired. Distracted driving is a big one too. Almost saw a guy drive off the Henday last night.

People love to talk about speeders and how many tickets they get, but it's a shame police don't crack down on this stuff as well.

Given how snow white everything is during the year, Edmonton would be a happier place if we added more colours like Iceland.

I was walking to the Stadium train station this morning when I came across a guy doubled over on the ground crying. Turns out he had been mugged and bear maced and had been trying to get help for over an hour. His phone had been stolen and he wanted someone to call him an ambulance/police.

Anytime he asked someone, he'd be ignored or told to f*ck off. Seriously!?!?!? I'd like you to think of yourself being the victim--how would you feel being unable to get help and told to f*ck off for daring to bother someone for help? Do better,

Edmonton's monthly average precipitation for June is 87mm. We are getting 50-75mm of rain in a single day tomorrow, and an additional 15mm on Sunday.

We are also going to be receiving gusts of 50km/hr winds with ~30-35 km sustained wind speeds throughout the day.

Driving tomorrow will be absolute hell so I would advise doing whatever errands you need to do tonight.

CHECK YO' SUMP PUMPS.

Getting sick of seeing local businesses using AI Generated Posters to advertise their products, menu, business etc. It’s so blatantly obvious when they use AI because they literally all look the same. Have stopped going to some of my favourite places due to this. It takes 5 mins on canva to make a better looking advertisement, business owners getting lazy with marketing using AI slop. (and yes I know everyone right now is using ai it is the future la la la)

What impact down the road might we expect from Meta's AI data centre north of Edmonton?

--
Screenshot from majorprojects.alberta.ca - 'Location on map is not exact'.
Development permit is for 56111 Rge Rd 223 (east of Gibbons).
Sturgeon County residents sound off on data centre

I was driving down White Avenue this morning and to be honest, the place looks like crap. Abandoned, boarded up buildings, empty store fronts and the streets are dirty and full of pot holes. This part of Edmonton looks like hell and has really gone downhill. Cool and funky it is not. Does anybody else notice the same thing?

TL;DR: 12.64 kW rooftop array, installed Feb 2020, net $18,500 after rebate. As of May 2026 the cumulative savings crossed what it cost. Everything below is measured hourly at my own panel and valued at the actual electricity rates I was on, not an installer's projection.

• Paid off in May 2026 (about 6.2 years after switch-on)
• Saved to date: ~$19,400, roughly $900 in the black and climbing
• Lifetime production: 73 MWh over 6+ years
• At today's rates it now throws off around $3,000/yr in surplus (more on that rate below)

The system

• 12.64 kW DC, 32 x Hanwha 395 W panels
• APSystems QS1/QS1A microinverters (one per ~4 panels)
• No battery. It's grid-tied, so the grid is my battery. Surplus kWh sell back at the same energy rate I pay, with no delivery fees skimmed off.
• Installed Feb 2020 by a local installer
• Cost: ~$22,500 installed, minus ~$4,000 City of Edmonton rebate, = $18,500 out of pocket, about $1.46/W net (~$1.78/W installed). Payback is measured against that $18,500.

How the money actually works

Two ways solar pays here, and they're not equal:

• Power I use as it's generated avoids the full delivered price: energy, delivery/T&D fees, and GST. That's the most valuable kWh.
• Surplus I export earns the energy rate back (no fees deducted, but no delivery savings either).

That's why we run the big loads in daylight. The EVs charge on excess solar whenever possible, and the dishwasher and laundry run midday instead of overnight. Sunshine is the cheapest power in the house.

Skipping delivery fees and GST on the power we use ourselves (about 28 MWh over the years) has added roughly $2,200 to the total on its own, separate from the energy savings.

"But Edmonton winters?"

Winter production is nearly nothing, and it barely matters. About 80% of the year's energy lands April through September, and December through February combined are only ~4% of annual production. So even if snow took every winter kWh, the summer surplus wouldn't notice.

Maintenance over 6+ years?

Basically zero. One microinverter failed in year 6 and took 4 of 32 panels offline. Monitoring flagged it, and it was replaced under warranty (these units carry a 10-year warranty, so year 6 was well inside it). That's the whole list.

Degradation / what's left in the tank?

The panels are performing exactly as warranted. They carry a 25-year performance warranty (at least 86% of rated output at year 25, no worse than 0.5%/yr degradation), and six years in, measured degradation is about 0.5%/yr, right on that curve (11.6 MWh in 2020, 11.3 MWh in 2025; weather swings are bigger than the trend). That's roughly 19 years of covered life still ahead, and even far down the road a panel at half output is still half a system's worth of free power every year.

"Isn't your 'saving' just the power bill you'd have paid anyway?"

No. That would be true under plain net metering, where you sell and buy at the same price. But on a Solar Club plan I sell summer surplus at the summer rate (currently ~35¢/kWh, though it's varied over the years) and buy winter power much cheaper. I'm playing the spread, not just erasing a bill. Making about as much power as I use over a year ("net-zero energy") is not the same as breaking even on money. On top of that, the power I use the moment it's made never crosses the meter, so it skips delivery fees and GST too. Between the export income and that fee-free power, I come out ahead of my old bill, not just even with it.

"A house without solar pays less per kWh, so your saving is overstated"

Most of what I make is export income, which is just cash the utility deposits at my contracted rate, no assumptions. The rest is power I use as it's made, valued at the rate I actually pay to buy power, nothing marked up. The payback itself comes straight from my real bills. Someone on a different rate plan might pencil it a little differently, but nothing here is inflated past the rates I'm actually on.

"You'd have made more investing the $18,500"

Two things swing it back toward solar. The savings are basically tax-free (a dollar I don't spend on power beats a taxable dollar of investment gains), and they go up as power prices go up, so it hedges inflation too. And it's not either/or: I've got the full $18,500 back and I still own the panels, which keep paying for about 19 more years. Not many index funds hand you your money back and keep paying.

"What if the Solar Club rate goes away?"

That ~$3,000/yr leans on the Solar Club plan, the seasonal rate that lets me sell summer power high and buy winter power cheap. It's locked into my contract only through 2028, and after that it could change or disappear. But the important part holds either way: the panels are already paid off, so future rates only change how far ahead I am, not whether it was worth doing. And even with no Solar Club, they still offset power at whatever the going rate is. The yearly figure would shrink, not vanish.

How I know these numbers are real

A Sense energy monitor has logged flows hourly at my panel since install. Savings are valued at the actual contracted rates off every utility invoice, cross-checked against the meter. Where the monitor and the meter disagree, the monitor reads about 6% low, so if anything these figures are conservative. The only modelled bits: the 2026 delivery rate (carried forward from 2025) and the exact payback day (interpolated within May). Neither moves the result meaningfully.

Happy to answer questions. It's a good feeling watching the line finally cross zero.

Edit: a couple of sharp commenters raised a fair valuation point worth adding. I value the power I use myself at my actual plan rate. If you instead value it at what a no-solar household would pay (a cheaper "normal" rate), while keeping export credits at the real rate the utility pays, payback comes out around 8 years rather than 6.2 — so by that stricter measure it's still a year or so out. I went with my actual rates, but that's a legit way to look at it.