Valley Line LRT | TransEd/Marigold | City of Edmonton

BASE said:
Such a sad state of affairs. I never see police around.
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The western half of the dead mall desperately needs to go to make the area around this station feel like less of a black hole for vibrancy. My girlfriend and I were boarding the train here and she said she’d love to see it razed and converted to a new park (that should be fenced off for private access to prevent encampments) because there needs to be more green space downtown.

Side note: I mentioned O’Daymin park, which she’s never seen but really wants to check it out. So I guess it’s a picnic date once the weather warms up.
 
God, the Valley line DT is such a mess.

'Take transit' City Hall says.

I say, 'You first, Mayor and Councillors' - daily, with no entourage. Let's see what would happen then.

The truth is, nothing is going to change. The city will blame the province, the province will sit on its hands and the city, under the constant pressure of social justice warriors (and many on council sit in that category) will continue to enable the situation. No tough love, no telling other northern communities to take on some responsibility etc etc. No zero tolerance because of 'feelings' or whatever other BS. And the great circle of nothing changes continues.

(And please spare me your holier-than-thouness. I have suffered and continue to deal with trauma in my own personal life, setback after setback. But I do my best each day to be a productive member of society. In fact, I would argue that seeing our city turn into one big homeless shelter with open-air drug use is 'triggering' for people like me!!)

The reality is, the drugs out there are brutal. Compelled treatment is the only course of action here.

As for the cleanliness, that is all on City Hall. Since Donny boy's days, there's been this constant talk of the urban realm etc etc. But, they sure don't know how to follow through; and always default to the need to raise taxes to get 'er done.

No: reallocate resources. How many programs and services does the city provide that's NOT part of the core responsibility of a municipal government? Start there. But being 'progressives', there is no way this council will make the necessary cuts.

What this city needs is a Mark Carney type mayor; someone to cut through the platitudes and take action.

I am sad what Edmonton has become.
 
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whattheheck said:
God, the Valley line DT is such a mess.

'Take transit' City Hall says.

I say, 'You first, Mayor and Councillors' - daily, with no entourage. Let's see what would happen then.

The truth is, nothing is going to change. The city will blame the province, the province will sit on its hands and the city, under the constant pressure of social justice warriors (and many on council sit in that category) will continue to enable the situation. No tough love, no telling other northern communities to take on some responsibility etc etc. No zero tolerance because of 'feelings' or whatever other BS. And the great circle of nothing changes continues.

(And please spare me your holier-than-thouness. I have suffered and continue to deal with trauma in my own personal life, setback after setback. But I do my best each day to be a productive member of society. In fact, I would argue that seeing our city turn into one big homeless shelter with open-air drug use is 'triggering' for people like me!!)

The reality is, the drugs out there are brutal. Compelled treatment is the only course of action here.

As for the cleanliness, that is all on City Hall. Since Donny boy's days, there's been this constant talk of the urban realm etc etc. But, they sure don't know how to follow through; and always default to the need to raise taxes to get 'er done.

No: reallocate resources. How many programs and services does the city provide that's NOT part of the core responsibility of a municipal government? Start there. But being 'progressives', there is no way this council will make the necessary cuts.

What this city needs is a Mark Carney type mayor; someone to cut through the platitudes and take action.

I am sad what Edmonton has become.
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What action is the city supposed to take? Homelessness, addiction, and social services are a provincial responsibility. The judicial system is a provincial responsibility. Housing is a provincial responsibility. Every time the city tries to do anything about any of that, the province tells it to stay in its lane. So what could a "Mark Carney-type mayor" do in reality? Why don't we need a "Mark Carney-type premier"? The province has the fiscal capacity, the resources, and most importantly, the actual mandate. How about they stay in their lane and spend more time addressing judicial backlogs, shelter gaps and overcrowding, and addictions issues, and spend less time policing where cities build bike lanes and where public libraries put books?

Also, multiple councilors use transit. Sheesh, one of them literally quit his job with ETS to run for council and posts regular pictures of his commute on transit.
 
What action is the city supposed to take?
How about a zero-tolerance approach. This is not about 'targeting' the vulnerable. There are plenty who are living rough who are not bothering anyone. But why, for gods sake, are we as a society allowing open air drug use? How about calling out the communities outside Edmonton who are quietly sending their vulnerable to the city, so they don't have to deal with it?

As for the cleanliness and grime, yes, the city can and should do more. I don't have to explain that.

As for the province, yes, you're 100% right. They are terrible. But it should be noted that in B.C. at one time, they had a left-leaning council, an NDP provincial government and Trudeau in Ottawa. That was all three levels of government going ALL IN on the academia perspective to deal with drug use etc. And - last I checked - it didn't work at all.

Something is very broken here. The city, with its bleeding heart, can't and does not have the ability to solve it. City Halls responsibility here is to its citizens to ensure the streets are safe and clean. That means, yes, making some difficult choices. Which they are not capable of.

And to bring this back to the Valley Line. The city has/ is spending$4billion plus tax dollars to criss-cross this line through Edmonton. We have heard for years about how 'transformative' this line will be etc etc.

Well, all of that will be for nothing, if the Valley line turns into a mobile homeless shelter with open air drug use. The same goes for the stations/ stops and pedway connections.

What an utter travesty that would be. Next stop: Homeless station, Homeless. Change here for the 'Let's do drugs' and 'Piss and Feces' lines, with connections to 'Meth Central'
 
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whattheheck said:
How about a zero-tolerance approach. This is not about 'targeting' the vulnerable. There are plenty who are living rough who are not bothering anyone. But why, for gods sake, are we as a society allowing open air drug use? How about calling out the communities outside Edmonton who are quietly sending their vulnerable to the city, so they don't have to deal with it?
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Because there's no room in the jails to hold all of them, so after their initial processing they get released until a judge can finally hear their case. That's a provincial thing. As for calling out other communities, Edmonton has been but that doesn't mean they'll listen. And again, that's just talk and not the action you want to see.

whattheheck said:
As for the cleanliness and grime, yes, the city can and should do more. I don't have to explain that.
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Sure, I'd love to see more cleaning. But we also need to acknowledge that it's a glorified game of whack-a-mole so long as there's no place for those people to go - be it shelters or jails. Again, that's a provincial thing. All the city can do is hire enough janitors to follow every homeless person with a broom and mop.

whattheheck said:
As for the province, yes, you're 100% right. They are terrible. But it should be noted that in B.C. at one time, they had a left-leaning council, an NDP provincial government and Trudeau in Ottawa. That was all three levels of government going ALL IN on the academia perspective to deal with drug use etc. And - last I checked - it didn't work at all.
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Well, let's focus on Alberta. Where is our promised "compassionate intervention centre" to treat addicts who don't want to be treated? Where's our recovery community for those who do want treatment? Why don't we have enough shelter or jail space for those who need them? Why are we getting so mad at the city for not mopping up the water fast enough while giving the province a pass for leaving the floodgates open?

whattheheck said:
Well, all of that will be for nothing, if the Valley line turns into a mobile homeless shelter with open air drug use. The same goes for the stations/ stops and pedway connections.
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If we don't want mobile shelters, we need more permanent shelters. That is a provincial responsibility. They love preaching about staying in one's lane, and it is well past time that they practice what they preach.
 
^and the circle of inaction continues. You're making excuses. I'm calling for action from city hall under the reality of the current variables the city faces. That requires bold leadership; perhaps some controversial-to-some actions.

Until that happens - the suburbs, outside the Henday, look better and better each day. And, so too, does my private automobile.
 
^^I don't know what that means. If you're trying to belittle me, just be straight-forward about it.

And to all who are shaking their heads and wanting to down vote my comments, then what - aside from blaming the province - is your solution?

Because - for worse - the UCP is what is in charge. And according to the recent polling, it seems they will remain in charge after the next election.

So, what is your solution to the problems plaguing the Edmonton? Keep on blaming the province? Thoughts and prayers? A sharing circle?
No one is offering an actual solution here. And giving a thumbs up to posts that blast the province might make you feel good, but it doesn't actually solve anything.
 
Yeah kinda hate when people go "oh councillors should take transit to know about the conditions!!!" but if you're a regular DT transit user, you actually see them taking it with no entourage instead of making inaccurate general statements. Like ffs, I've seen Stevenson bring her kid around in Churchill multiple times. It's such a shit argument ngl.

It's my pet peeve for complaints.
 
^ I then, respectfully, retract my statement related to that.

But, will add, knowing now that (some) councillors take transit and still are not coming up with something more to deal with ALL the woes that still exist is truly appalling.

For councillors to take transit and see the disgusting, littered, smelly, drug-filled, winter sand riddled (until june) 102nd ave corridor of the Valley line all this time and not demand something better makes me shake my head in embarrassment. This is the best we can do as a city?

And especially from an urban-focused council which is trying, desperately, to get people to buy into the idea of main streets and transit use etc.

My god, demand better of your politicians; of city hall.
 
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