Edmonton councillors warm up to the idea of a winter strategy, as cost revealed

EDMONTON – Councillors gave a big, gloved thumbs-up Tuesday to a winter city strategy encouraging Edmonton residents to embrace their coldest season.

“My family is on board,” Coun. Don Iveson told the community services committee, explaining they have skis and are planning an outdoor party in December.

The strategy suggests changes to the way the city and its partners approach the season, including how festivals are supported, how the city is marketed, and how roads and neighbourhoods are designed.

“When we’re building something we would build anyway, we should build it through a different lens. Instead of building a grey building, build an orange building,” Iveson said.

A volunteer think-tank consulted with the public and came up with a long list of recommendations, such as skating through the river valley and allowing jaywalking across neighbourhood streets.

Other ideas include making a city ice-climbing wall, using snow to build wind barriers, providing free skate rentals for the City Hall rink and creating “white-of-ways” where snow is left on sidewalks for skiing and pulling sleds.

Outdoor patios could also help change attitudes, suggests the report, which the committee recommended council endorse next week.

“We don’t have to think of winter as a period of deep doom-and-gloom hibernation … Winter is an authentic aspect of Edmonton,” think-tank member Tammy Pidner said.

She suggested highlighting local expertise in cold-weather construction and fashion, and giving more support to winter festivals.

“Maybe it’s more about attitude than latitude.”

Changes don’t have to involve expensive construction projects, she said later.

“If I gave you the opportunity to go to the Grey Cup or go to an outdoor hockey game, you might think about dressing up and drinking hot chocolate,” Pidner said.

“(People) just need to be given an opportunity to reformat.”

Over time, people will start thinking differently about how to make the cold season more enjoyable, said Coun. Ben Henderson, who helped with the project.

“It’s about engaging with community leagues, it’s about engaging with businesses. This is a major part of who we are as a city,” Henderson said.

“For a pedestrian in wintertime, being able to go the straightest direction and not having to wait at a light for five minutes when it’s cold, those things make all the difference.”

City officials want $362,000 from next year’s budget to set up a winter city advisory council, hire a co-ordinator and continue work on implementing the proposals. 

Councillor Ben Henderson believes the plan doesn’t have to be expensive; that it ultimately comes down to looking at the city through a ‘winter point of view.’  For instance, if a park has to be built, the question that should be asked is what would make it useable every day.

“I think in terms of the way we’re active, and the ways we think, a lot of it is about spending the money we’re spending already slightly differently, using a different lens, as we challenge ourselves to how we build stuff,” says Henderson. “So, it’s not about spending more money, it’s making sure we ask the right questions.”

They’ll come back with a report on how to push the strategy forward in early 2013.
 

With files from Vinesh Pratap, Global News