A huge thank you to everyone who supported me during the 2010 election. While the result was disappointing, the experience gained and friends made are not. I will be continuing my volunteer work, and you can visit my new personal blog which touches upon the issues encountered as a community volunteer, at JamiePost.com. While parts of the old campaign site have been disabled, I will continue to host the bulk of the content and articles as an online archive.
Thank you for visiting the website and blog for my campaign for the Ward 1 seat on City Council. Above, you’ll find links to my platform, my experience with civic government and community advocacy, links to surveys regarding the issues and concerns of residents and business owners, and ways to get involved with, and contribute to, my campaign.
Why am I running for Ward One? Quite simply, this is where my involvement in my community, and civic policy, has led me. I’ve seen the good and the bad of the way our city functions – the dedication, ingenuity, and frustrations of those passionate about the place they call home, and the unfortunate policies of the past that have pushed us to grow outward at an unsustainable rate while neglecting our very core. I realize the importance of local representation and giving attention to all the factors that affect life in this city, from amendments to the Municipal Development Plan, to something as basic as the safety of neighborhood crosswalks. My platform sums up the direction which I feel our city needs to take in order to move forward, it highlights the importance I feel must be placed on growing our city brick by brick, one vibrant community and business district at a time. It also highlights the importance of open dialog and cooperation with the province and our Capital Region partners in growing the vitality and economic development of our region.
Ward 1 contains no shortage of diversity. A population mixed between urban, and suburban neighborhoods, diverse business districts, and industrial centres. It contains thriving neighborhoods, and communities in need of reinvestment and revitalization. Running through it are direct routes to three of our largest neighboring municipalities in St. Albert, Spruce Grove and Stony Plain, and some of the busiest corridors into our downtown core. The upcoming election term will also feature major design work and accompanying public consultation for the much talked about West LRT Expansion, requiring a councillor with a firm grasp of the issues involved, and a strong connection to the communities it touches.
Please, explore the site, take a moment to complete the community and business surveys, contact my campaign if you have any questions, inquiries, or would like to get involved, and regardless of which candidate you support, talk to your friends, family, and neighbors about voting in October, and let’s beat the 27% voter turnout of 2007.
Jamie Post
jpost@jamiepost.com
Ward Strategy – My Commitment to Community Engagement and Neighborhood Planning
The EFCL, Community Leagues and Local Involvement
August 19th, Speaking Engagement
My guest column at Connect2Edmonton (off-site link)
Ward 1 – A look at the issues and concerns in the communities of Ward 1
Ward 1, Part 1 – A look at the community of Canora
Ward 1, Part 3 – The long overdue need for parks and amenity space in some of our Ward 1 communities
____
An Accessible Edmonton – Accessibility issues in our public building and infrastructure
____
Links
Edmonton Sun Candidate Profile
____
Advertisements
You can find my campaign advertised in the following publications:
The SPURR (Stony Plain Road Urban Revitalization Report)
The Meadowlark Chirp
The Parkview Community Newsletter
It’s been three months now since I started door knocking almost daily in preparation for the election. I made the decision to run for Council, and entered the campaign as a community advocate. I knew the issues important to me, the kind of future I wanted for our city and its communities, and the kind of civic leader I wanted to be.
Three months of door knocking has changed my perspective on many things. It’s expanded my platform, and pushed my determination. I can’t drive down a street without thinking of the conversations I’ve had with the residents living along it. It’s changed how I view civic planning and representation.
Ward 1 is a huge place – urban, suburban, and industrial. Its issues, communities, and future are diverse and at times divisive. They do have concerns in common, from WLRT expansion to a needed neighborhood park, you have to knock on doors to appreciate these concerns and their impact on the residents of Ward 1. If elected on October 18th, this is where I’m going to start. Ward 1′s representation is going to be more than just me. It’s going to involve people that have been with me through the communities we’ve visited. Ward 1 is going to be the first to have a constituency office, and whether it’s me as your Councillor or a member of my team, the first point of contact for residents of Ward 1 is going to be a resident of the Ward, and someone actively engaged with its communities.
In Ward 1, Part 3, I talked about Lewis Estates, and how something as overlooked and under appreciated as park and amenity space in those communities is going to have a massive impact on the lives of the children growing up there. It’s an issue which became emotional to us by meeting the residents of these communities face to face. We’re going to start the term by planning for each community. We’re going to meet with all of Ward 1′s community leaders, together, in one place, to map out the issues, from WLRT and crime prevention, to urban decay and preserving our neighborhood schools, and to start developing a framework for public involvement plan reform which my office can take to Council.
Our voter turnout has dropped along with the number of volunteers getting involved in their communities. These efforts are pointless if individuals are kept at arms reach, on the outside of civic planning and decision making, limited to a handful of shallow public involvement events. We will meet monthly with Ward 1 communities, whether at League meetings, or special events we put on in their absence. As well, we will seek out the active involvement of the provincial representatives whose constituencies overlap our Ward.
It’s a strategy developed while going door-to-door, and one that will be unique in the city. Three years from now, it’s one I believe we’ll all be able to stand behind as one that changed our Ward and level of representation for the better.
Lewis Estates is situated on the western boundary of Ward 1. Planning for its communities began as far back as 1990, with much of its development taking place in the last decade. The community was developed based on several neighborhood structure plans, and has grown to become home to a large under 20 population.
The pictures below are of the structure plan for the communities of Suder and Potter Greens. Identified with them are crucial amenities for lives of the next generation which will call Lewis Estates home during their developmental years. Sadly, today, the park space identified remains undeveloped, and school site in the community of Potter Greens remains vacant. The NSP for Suder Greens identifies the need for a community centre and mixed use district as a “central focus for community activities” within the area.
The initiative to provide these crucial amenities has largely been left in the lap of the local Community League, and I’ve written previously about the limited resources available to our Leagues. It’s been a number of years since these plans were adopted by Council, and it’s time for the elected representative for Ward 1 to ensure that they are completed.
There is a generation being raised in these communities that needs to be provided for. They need activities, and amenity space within their communities, and it’s something my campaign is committed to. I’ve made cooperation with School Trustees a significant commitment in my platform, and regards to the vacant school site in the community of Potter Greens, I’m committed to working with EPSB representatives towards the construction of a Junior High facility for the area. For the undeveloped park space in Suder Greens designated as Suder Greens Park, I’m committed to fulfilling the need for both park and recreational space. The park space is bordered by two major roadways, and I see the space along Suder Greens Dr. as being ideal for a facility to both shelter park space from vehicle traffic, and to provide for the recreational needs of the community. I’m proposing that the city acquire a section of vacant land to the west, expand the available amenity space and in cooperation with the community, develop a conceptual plan which includes a facility which can serve as a gathering point for the local Community League, and recreational centre for the surrounding community. As well, I am committed to ensuring that the vacant space in the northern section of the community, designated as a local park, is finally transformed into a usable amenity for area residents.
I’ve written previously about the importance I believe needs to be placed on handicap accessibility in our city. It’s an issue I’ve dealt with at a personal level, and as a stubborn community advocate.
This is Stony Plain Road, facing west from 156st. In an area with few building setbacks, a narrow right-of-way, and sidewalks which fail to meet accessibility needs, this is a common sight. The goal for the Stony Plain Road commercial district and Business Revitalization Zone is to create a vibrant district for its surrounding communities. Accessibility issues were defined early on in the development of the local revitalization strategy. Long-term planning, streetscape, and area redevelopment have taken a backseat in many respects since West LRT expansion entered the picture for Stony Plain Road. The revitalization is a limited opportunity which I intend to see moved forward over the next three years, whether as the Ward 1 Councillor, or simply a volunteer from the Glenwood Community. Regardless of what happens, as the area and commercial strip inevitably change, there is an obligation to provide for greater accessibility in the area. Over the long-term, this needs to be accomplished by ensuring that area redevelopment plans include a future setback that should,at a minimum, provide adequate space for pedestrians to safely and comfortably navigate the area without worrying about narrow sidewalks and obstacles permanently placed in their way. It should begin, however, by doing whatever we can do now to remove obstacles like you see above.
Another issue which has been brought to my attention while door knocking over the past three months, is that of handicap parking in residential areas. From LRT corridors, to commercial districts, there are many instances where “parasitic parking” can become an issue for neighborhood residents. While a number of neighborhoods have turned to parking programs to combat the problem, at a personal level, the issue can be an added burden to a person with a disability. We provide handi-cap parking options across our city, and I believe it’s time we do the same in our neighborhoods. A person with a disability, who for example chooses to drive their own vehicle, or use our city’s DATS service, shouldn’t have to worry about having an available parking space in front of their home. I’m proposing that we provide enforced, handicap parking in residential areas. To an extent, this is provided to facilities such as group homes in our communities, and it’s an accessibility option I want to see provided to private individuals who need space for on-street parking reserved in front of their homes.
Since the founding of the first community league (Crestwood) in 1917, local volunteers, community leagues, and their parent organization the EFCL, have had a major and often unheralded hand in helping to guide the growth of our city. In my platform, I’ve mentioned the importance to me of building Edmonton “brick by brick”, by way of vibrant communities and business districts. We strive to learn from history, and the longevity of the community league movement, its influence in forming strong communities through the past 9 decades is living proof that the concept is tried and true, and as we begin to shift our focus to building up, instead of out, it’s one that I feel will prove invaluable again.
My introduction to the EFCL came through my work as the Glenwood Community League’s City Liaison Director. As a community that is home to a major transit hub for West-Edmonton, I joined an EFCL sub-committee providing feedback on the draft version of the Transit and Land Use Guidelines (which will be Council’s agenda for the 2010.2013 term). From this I became involved with the parent Planning and Development Committee for the EFCL. Tasked with developing policy statements for the EFCL’s Board of Directors, and watching over planning and development matters with a city-wide perspective, the committee has taken on a wide-body of work over the past year – Neighborhood school vitality, family friendly neighborhood redevelopment, social housing distribution, residential infill guidelines, smarter residential lighting, and zoning bylaw amendments are some of the P&D committee’s current priorities. It’s an important body of work in providing input as a community stakeholder, and I think you’d be hard pressed to ask the dedicated individuals involved to take on a greater load. In particular, the leadership role the EFCL has taken on in regards to family-friendly neighborhood redevelopment, and preserving our community schools as vibrant community hubs, I believe will be invaluable in the coming years as we work to revitalize many established communities and attract families back to the core of our city, and as such the federation should be given a greater opportunity to provide a voice as a crucial key stakeholder in our city’s future.
The EFCL’s work is the end result of local volunteers, representatives from individual leagues across the city, and it’s at the local level where we have much work to do. The picture above is of one of our Ward 1 community halls, one of many within the Ward and across the city which are increasingly in need of reinvestment. While we often refer to the staples of local infrastructure – roads & sidewalks when we refer to neighborhood renewal and reinvestment, neighborhood schools, community halls, and neighborhood green spaces and parks are crucial local amenities in need of reinvestment at the municipal and provincial level. Many parks in Edmonton exist simply because of the dedication and drive of local volunteers who have tirelessly organized, and fund raised on behalf of their communities. Community league funding will be on Council’s agenda in the upcoming term, and it’s crucial that we provide for the modern realities of aging infrastructure and the costs our volunteer organizations face in providing services and activities for, and on behalf of, their neighborhoods.
The Glenwood Community Hall. The league is vibrant and active today, thanks to a handful of individuals who jumped in nearly 20 years ago, at a time when it was on the verge of folding, and have remained active on the league executive ever since. Volunteer recruitment is one of the most difficult tasks many community groups face, and for those involved in their neighborhoods, there are no researchers and executive assistants to rely on when dealing with the city and higher levels of government. It’s whatever free time that can be found between family and work related responsibilities that goes to local volunteer efforts. It’s increasingly difficult to find time to attend council meetings, public hearings, and to meet with members of city’s administration. Working hand in hand with volunteers is mutually beneficial to all. Councillors can work to ensure a public hearing process that is open and fair to all, they can support and endorse open data initiatives that provide volunteers and communities with open access to information, rather than forcing community groups to rely on costly, and time consuming freedom of information requests, and they can keep citizens and community groups informed of up coming issues, and provide mechanisms to allow all effected stakeholders to provide input on important issues and concerns. The end result is helping to build the local involvement needed to create vibrant communities, and active individuals and community leagues which can rally together to pursue and lobby for local improvements and amenities.
Parkview Elementary / Junior High School – 14313-92 Avenue
Crestwood Elementary / Junior High School – 9735-144 Street
Jasper Park Community Hall – 8751-153 Street
Sherwood Elementary School – 9550-152 Street
Brightview Elementary School – 15425-106 Avenue
Our Lady of Peace Catholic Elementary School – 15911-110 Avenue
Britannia Junior High School – 16018-104 Avenue
St. Thomas More Catholic Junior High School – 9610-165 Street
Meadowlark Elementary School – 9150-160 Street
Annunciation Catholic Elementary School – 9325-165 Street
St. Benedict Catholic Elementary School – 18015-93 Avenue
Beulah Alliance Church – 17504-98A Avenue
West Edmonton Baptist Church – 17821-98 Avenue
LaPerle Elementary School – 18715-97A Avenue
Belmead Elementary School – 9011-182 Street
Aldergrove Elementary School – 8525-182 Street
West Meadows Baptist Church – 9333-199 Street
Winterburn Elementary / Junior High School – 9527 Winterburn Road
Westview Village Mobile Park Community Hall – 10770 Winterburn Road
If you are not able to vote on October 18th, the City will be holding an Advance Vote for Ward 1 on October 9 and October 16, 9am-4pm at the West Meadowlark Park Community League (9311-165st).
Regardless of which Ward you live in, you can vote at City Hall from October 4 to October 16 (closed Sunday, October 10 and Thanksgiving Day, Monday, October 11). Voting stations will be open in the Heritage Room, Monday – Friday from 11:30am -5pm and on Saturdays 9am-4pm.
You can also follow this link to order a Special Ballot from the City of Edmonton website.
A short talk I gave at a great Q&A event with a wonderful group of Ward 1 residents this afternoon.
Hello everyone, thank you for attending today. My name is Jamie Post, and I was born here in Edmonton 28 years ago. My grandparents were proud Edmontonians, residing in our city until their passing. My maternal grandmother worked for the Great West Garment company during the second world war, while my grandfather served with the Calgary Tanks overseas from 1939-45.
My professional background is in Information Technology, working with a variety of platforms, however it is because of my volunteer activities that I am here today. I live in the neighboring community of Glenwood, one of several neighborhoods which joined the city from the Town of Jasper Place. Some time ago, concerned over the health and long term future of my community, I joined the Glenwood Community League as it’s City Liaison Director. Glenwood along with three of it’s neighboring communities are currently in the midst of two revitalization efforts, focused on both residential and business revitalization. Through my efforts on behalf of Glenwood, I was invited to join the Jasper Place Revitalization Steering Committee as a representative for my community by the previous committee chair, and this past spring I became the editor of the Stony Plain Road Urban Revitalization Report, a community and business newspaper covering the Jasper Place Revitalization area with a distribution of over 15,000.
Part of my work as a Community League civics director has included commenting on City wide development policy and long-term planning guidelines. This past year I became a working member of the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues Planning and Development committee, providing West-Edmonton perspective on city-wide planning and development issues. My time with the EFCL has included detailed work on several issues of concern – Balanced Social Housing Distribution, Preserving our Neighborhood Schools and creating vibrant community hubs, Family Friendly Mature Neighborhood Redevelopment, and working as stakeholder providing input on the Transit Oriented Development framework, a long-term planning document which will help our city guide land-use around what will be the largest expansion of light-rail transit in our city’s history over the next several years.
The City of Edmonton is sponsoring a Ward 1 candidates forum in my home community of Glenwood – Monday, September 27, at Westlawn Jr High School (9520-165st). Time to be announced.
This is a major medical centre in our city, serving thousands of individuals and families each year. Having a family member, unable to walk long distances, who requires a wheelchair to travel, has given me a first hand look at the difficulties a person with disabilities can have navigating our city and its facilities. This past winter, following recent construction at the above centre, this family experienced a lack of handicap accessibility first hand during a medical appointment to the new facility. Upon hearing the story, I grabbed a camera, a wheelchair, and with some help, documented the incident.
At the entrance we were met by a door without a functioning automatic opener…..
…and once open, too narrow to fit the wheelchair without folding the chair up.
Inside, you see an example of the gauntlet of inaccessible doorways – protruding handles provided a dangerous obstacle for a person in a wheelchair, while the narrow railings once again made the doorway too narrow for the wheelchair to pass through without being folded up.
Through a determined lobbying effort on our part, and the support of staff and our MLA, many of these obstacles to persons with disabilities have been removed, ensuring others don’t have to endure the same experience.
Please don’t suffer in silence if you or family or friends find obstacles which prevent your access to public facilities in our city. There are options and people to listen and help out. Make phone calls and write letters explaining the problem, all the while remembering that you may be helping someone else in the process.
Inspired by a motion passed by Vancouver City Council directing the city toward the use of open technologies, digital standards and open data, and a growing movement around the world pursuing “open data” initiatives in all levels of government, I penned the above paper in 2009 following the release of Edmonton’s information technology audit. My paper was endorsed by the Glenwood Community League executive and released in time for the successful ChangeCamp event last fall. While the paper does touch upon the value to civic involvement, that releasing more of the information gathered, developed, and utilized by the city can have, it focuses primarily on the use of open technology and standards within the city.
The goals of Open Source, Open Standards, Open Future are threefold. It allows for the utilization of local developer expertise to collaborate and develop open solutions in partnership with municipalities like Vancouver, solving mutual needs while allowing the municipality to modify the end product to precisely suit its individual needs. Secondly, to reduce software licensing costs by taking advantage of the open licensing and development model of open source applications. Third, to ensure the long-term archivability of our digital records through the use of fully documented, open digital standards.
The concept of open data is growing in Edmonton, and it’s an initiative I fully intend to support, for the benefits to encouraging and supporting civic involvement, open collaboration with other municipalities and levels of government, and ensuring long-term access to Edmonton’s digital records.
The second article in a series which will be exploring the issues and concerns in Ward 1
This is West Jasper Place. It’s a community on the eastern boundary of Ward 1, home to just over 3,000 residents, it is part of the Jasper Place Revitalization Strategy, and will be bordered on two sides by the West LRT line. The neighborhood’s boundaries are from 149st to 156st, and 95th Avenue to Stony Plain Road. I’ll write in greater detail about the community over the next few months, but I’d like to use this opportunity to address a single, pressing issue for the community, namely green space.
This small area comprising the West Jasper Sherwood Community Hall and Sherwood Elementary School represents the entire park space of the West Jasper Place Community. I believe it needs to be a priority for the incoming Ward councillor to address the deficiency, both for the current residents, and the overall importance of having excellent local amenities in a revitalizing area.
Below is the Grant MacEwan Campus on 156st and 100th Avenue in the West Jasper Community. With Grant MacEwan’s decision to consolidate their operations at the City Centre Campus, the future of this site is unknown, which I believe presents a wonderful opportunity for both West Jasper and its neighboring communities. While it isn’t a solution to providing more outdoor green space, I believe it should be a priority of the incoming Ward Councillor to push for the acquisition of this facility through the city’s Asset Management Dept., in the interest of converting it to a community and recreation centre for area residents. Easily accessible by foot, transit, vehicle, and the 100th Avenue multi-use trail, this could become a wonderful amenity for area residents and families.
I’d like to thank the Aldergrove Community League for inviting me to their May meeting tonight (May 18, 7pm, 8535-182st) to hear first hand the issues and concerns from the league executive and community residents.
This is the first in a series looking at the issues and concerns in Ward 1
This is Canora, a mature neighborhood within Ward 1. It is included in a volunteer driven revitalization effort, and a section of the neighborhood is part of a Business Revitalization Zone.
As of the 2009 census, 1 out of 4 of its living units is owner occupied (27%). 51% of the population resides in apartments, 26% in duplex/triplex/fourplex developments, and 22% in single-detached homes. From the 2005 census “Length of Residence” results, 24.4% of respondents resided in the neighborhood from 1 year to less than 3 years, 12.9% from 3 years to less than 5 years, and 31.9% 5 years or more.
The most recent assessment by the city’s Transportation Dept of the neighborhood’s pavement, sidewalks, and curbs (road 0-10, 10 meaning new construction) (sidewalk, curb, and gutter 0-5, 5 being new construction) rated the neighborhoods infrastructure as “Roads – 4.0 (D-Poor), Sidewalks 3.6 (C-Fair), and Curb & Gutter 2.9 (D-Poor).
The neighborhood also records one of the highest numbers of yearly incidents of crime in the Ward.
While the residential areas of most Ward 1 communities are zoned as RF1 (Single-Detached Residential), the bulk of this neighborhood is zoned as RF2 (Low Density Infill Zone). A discretionary use of the RF2 zone is semi-detached housing, where most neighborhoods would see a rezoning to RF4 to accommodate a duplex development, such developments can and have occurred on a mass scale in this neighborhood without a zoning change.
An empty lot within the community, which also happens to be within the boundaries of a Business Revitalization Zone
Jasper Place Revitalization - A neighborhood revitalization like the JPRS is a unique opportunity for the communities of Canora, Glenwood, Britannia Youngstown, and West Jasper Place, that cannot be wasted. The Ward council has the privilege of working hand-in-hand with local residents in moving the Revitalization Strategy forward and affecting positive change as a member of the revitalization’s steering committee.
Stony Plain Road Business Revitalization Zone – The BRZ for Stony Plain Road was established several years ago and has worked hard in partnership with the communities in the JP Revitalization, on restoring the vibrancy, accessibility, and walkability of the business district. The chosen Stony Plain Road West LRT route runs through the revitalization zone, and will have significant impacts, requiring local representation from a Ward councillor with hands on local experience with the issues and impacts involved. The Canora portion of the BRZ is included in a designated “Enterprise Area“, making local property owners eligible for financial incentives to invest in new development.
Area Redevelopment Plan - Revitalization doesn’t thrive in uncertainty. Proper planning and long-term vision, rather than sporadic development and land-use decisions are a must. For Canora and its partner communities within the JPRS, that is best served by ensuring land-use and development decisions that further the goals of the neighborhood revitalization strategy.
Community Standards Enforcement – Drug houses, derelict, and disorder property should be dealt with as quickly and effectively as possible. Between bylaw enforcement, the Edmonton Police Service, and Safer Communities and Neighborhoods, the tools are there, but more needs to be done to hold negligent property owners and landlords responsible.
Neighborhood Renewal – A neighborhood renewal project should be a priority for the above community of Canora, and it’s neighboring community of West Jasper Place.
There are a couple items of note on Executive Committees April 21st agenda.
The first is regarding concentrations of non-market housing. You can download the report here. There are also two discussion papers included with it, “Options to Encourage Diverse Inclusive Housing in Neighborhoods Across Edmonton” and “Summary of Research and Best Practices for Addressing Concentrations of Poverty and Non-Market Housing”.
The second is a response to an administrative inquiry made by Councillor Leibovici last fall pertaining to Liquor Stores that are non-compliant with existing bylaws. 630ched covered this briefly back in September. The response can be downloaded here, I’ve stripped the “Alcohol Sales Locations” map from the report, and overlaid a ward map on top of it, you can download it as a PNG.
