Edmonton City Council talks transit and downtown safety

Edmonton city councillors debated quicker transit and downtown safety inside the city council chambers Wednesday.

Papastew Councillor Michael Janz said he was ready to see movement on transit priority measures that would move more buses efficiently on Whyte Avenue south of Edmonton’s River Valley.

“We want Whyte Avenue to be a main street,” Janz said. “If you’re trying to go across the city, there’s other options like Argyll, 101, or going down to the Whitemud, we don’t want Whyte Avenue to be that source of pollution and danger.”

Councillors will debate that in depth when they build the City’s next four-year budget later this year.

But this summer, the avenue will see some minor changes with construction to curbs and the removal of zig-zag pedestrian scramble crosswalks.

Something Janz says he wants to revisit saying Whyte Ave. should give pedestrians priority. 

“It shouldn’t feel like you’re having to cross six lanes of traffic on our main street of the city,” Janz said. “The street should be built and centred and focused around people, around patio, around shopping.”

After dedicated bus lanes on 101 Street in Chinatown were implement, it drew outcry from business owners in the area who said the lack of parking was hurting their businesses. 

On Wednesday, councillors voted to return street parking during off-peak hours in the day. A report will be submitted to the councillors after six months on how the change impacts the area. 

“What we are going to be watching very closely though, is if that does negatively impact bus times,” said Anne Stevenson, councillor for O-Day-Min.

“We know transit is incredibly important for our growing city and that’s something I’ll be watching very carefully,” Stevenson said.

The elected representatives also discussed downtown safety after the Edmonton’s Downtown Revitalization Coalition released a number of demands on its website to make the city’s downtown the safest in Canada. 

Among other demands by the group is for provincial and federal investment in housing and treatment. They also want city leaders to have all levels of law enforcement working together. 

“What we’re asking is to have transit officers and peace officer report directly to Edmonton police service,” said Cheryl Watson, chair of the Downtown Revitalization Coalition.

Watson said the coalition was also calling on the City to invest more in crisis diversion for vulnerable Edmontonian.

“You call 211 and what currently happens, you’re put on hold,” Watson said. “And when you finally get a hold of someone, you’re told it’s probably going to be hours until the van can get out to that person.”

Councillor Stevenson said the City’s budget includes investments related to the coalition’s concerns.

“Those budgetary pieces are there,” Stevenson said. “I think a lot of it is around coordination and using those resources to their best effect.”