Week in Review - August 28/2015
August 28, 2015
On Monday, the Audit Committee had the opportunity to discuss the City Auditor’s report on the management of the Metro LRT Line project with the City Auditor, City Manager and General Manager of the Transportation Department. Mayor Iveson expressed his disappointment with how the project has been managed. “The most troubling aspect of this report is the internal breakdown in reporting in this organization… I think it’s fair to suggest that culture (of reporting) needs to be assessed actively across the whole organization for consistency. In light of the findings in this report...further work is needed.” In closing comments before the report’s formal receipt, City Council reiterated its commitment to holding the City Manager and the General Manager of the Transportation Department accountable to following up on the recommendations in the City Auditor’s report to ensure these mistakes do not happen again.
On a lighter note, Mayor Iveson sat down to do an interview with Ryan Gilliland from SONiC 102.9 FM. The Mayor talked about everything from his favourite place in Edmonton to get donairs and pizza to the new found confidence that has taken hold in Edmonton. It was a fun and interesting interview.
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting there was positive movement on several key initiatives that aim to make Edmonton a more uplifting, resilient place. The first initiative approved was a funding proposal to support Habitat for Humanity so that they can purchase land in the Laurel neighbourhood and construct 25 affordable housing units in our city. The second initiative to see major traction was the approval of the Energy Transition Policy. As mentioned last week, this is a major step towards establishing a model that will govern how we achieve an energy sustainable Edmonton. The report covers three main topics: presents a draft policy on reaching energy sustainability, recommends a governance framework the City can use to reach this goal, and lays out the potential barriers the City may face in implementing this strategy.
LRT users with limited mobility and those who appreciate accessibility to our transit system will be happy to know that City Council was updated with good news on the effectiveness of new strategies to improve the reliability of escalators in our LRT stations. Several strategies to maintain and renew LRT escalators have been implemented, from reducing the amount of sand tracked on escalators to increasing escalator inspections, and have helped the City reach an annual overall reliability rate of 89.3 percent as of June 30, 2015. This means that the we are on track to reach our target of 90 percent reliability by 2016.
On Thursday, it was announced that ETS now has 300 buses outfitted with Smart Bus technology, giving Edmontonians access to fast, up-to-the-minute data on where their bus is and when it will arrive. This partnership with Google Transit is part of the City’s commitment to open data and making Edmonton an “Open City”, as the information collected on these Smart Buses will be available to anyone looking to use the data for new apps, collaborative systems, and improving transparency. ETS aims to have another 500 buses (or 90 percent of the fleet) outfitted with this technology by March 2016. Be on the lookout for when your bus route is included in this exciting new innovative project that hopes to make our public transit system more reliable, safer and open.
That wraps of this week of goings on in our great City. The Mayor’s Office thanks you for reading and wishes you a wonderful weekend!
For More Information
Mayor Don Iveson
2nd Floor, City Hall
1 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, AB
T5J 2R7
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