River City Writer

The following is the letter that I sent to Edmonton City Council (I emailed my councillors directly and CCed the general address):

Dear Councillors,

I am writing to you as a citizen who wishes to see the Edmonton City Centre Airport closed. While the ECCA has served the city well in the past, today it has become little more than a private airfield for a privileged minority and it limits Edmonton’s future growth.

Rather than maintain the status quo, I urge you to vote to close the airport.

Closing the City Centre Airport and redeveloping the airport lands is an incredible opportunity for Edmonton. It will help to revitalize the downtown core by removing height restrictions from the Outer Surface area. It will allow NAIT to expand the existing campus instead of building a new institution elsewhere, which will benefit NAIT students and also help to prevent urban sprawl (a problem that seems to plague our city).

The redevelopment of the airport lands must be well thought out, however. We cannot simply close the ECCA and hope that something wonderful will appear in its place.

Not only must the redevelopment plan honour the historical significance of the City Centre Airport—which can be done by maintaining and possibly even expanding the Alberta Aviation Museum—but it must also focus on building a sustainable and innovative community in our city core. If the airport remains open, the opportunity to build such a community will be lost, and Edmonton’s growth will continue to be defined by unsustainable urban sprawl.

If we truly want Edmonton to be a world class city, we must attract and maintain the type of young, creative professionals who define cities like Vancouver and Toronto. If we continue to grow the city via outward sprawl, rather than infill and urban redevelopment projects, these same young people will continue to ignore Edmonton as a potential home and those who currently live here will continue to view central Canada or the west coast as greener pastures.

With the points I have outlined in mind, I urge you to break from the status quo and vote in favour of closing the Edmonton City Centre Airport.

Sincerely,

Adam Snider

Edmonton City Council will be voting on the issue on July 8 or 10, so please email your City Councillor at councillors@edmonton.ca. For more information, visit notmyairport.ca.

I’m in favour of closing the City Centre Airport. While I haven’t blogged about it until now, I’ve made my opinion fairly well known on Twitter and in discussions around the barroom table with friends and family.

My reasons for wanting to close the airport have been expressed by a number of other people who are more eloquent than I am, so I’ll keep it simple: we need to close the airport because doing so will benefit the majority of Edmontonians.

Leaving the airport open only benefits a very small group of people, many of whom aren’t even Edmontonians (sorry Northerners, but this is our city first; we appreciate your business and all, but Edmonton has to do what’s best for Edmontonians). Essentially, leaving the airport open would leave the majority of city residents subsidizing a convenient landing strip for the private jets of a very small minority of business people. (Yes, I’m over-simplifying, but the point stands.)

Far more people will benefit from the closure of the airport than from leaving it open. It’s as simple as that.

For others who’ve expressed my opinion more eloquently, check out the links below:

• In favour of closing YXD – Adam Rozenhart
• Muni is not ‘my’ airport – Lorne Gunter
• Not My Airport – Mack D. Male

Edmonton is home to at least 3 2 microbreweries: Alley Kat, Amber’s Brewing, and Prairie Boy Brewing. At least 2 of these breweries—Alley Kat and Amber’s—make really good beer.

Prairie Boy’s Fort Garry and Two Rivers lines may well be excellent beers, but I’ve never tried them. I have, however, tried their Ridin’ Dirty Malt Liquor and I have to be honest: it’s fucking awful. There’s really no other way to describe it. It’s just terrible.

Having said that, I will reiterate: Prairie Boy Brewing may make some damn fine beer, but Ridin’ Dirty ain’t it.

My Favourite Local Beers

Before we get to the results of the Twitter poll I ran on Friday afternoon, I figured I would share my favourite Edmonton-brewed beers with you. I didn’t mention them on Twitter, because I didn’t want to bias the results too much (I did mention my least favourite, though), but here they are now:

• Alley Kat Charlie Flint’s Lager is exactly what it sounds like, a simple lager named after the grandfather of Alberta brewing, Charlie Flint. It’s a bit more malty than most Canadian lagers—perhaps borrowing it’s style more from European beer than from the North American industry—but it’s still crisp and clean. Excellent for drinking on a hot day.
• Alley Kat Full Moon Pale Ale is one of the better pale ales I’ve had the pleasure of tasting. It’s not the best I’ve ever had, but it’s definitely the best in Edmonton. That said, it was a close race between Full Moon and Amber’s Pale Ale. Both are brews that are worth picking up.
• Amber’s Australian Mountain Pepper Berry Lager is a unique lager that is quite unassuming at first. However, after a couple of sips the subtle fruit flavours will start to turn up on your palette. Shortly after, the pepper flavour will begin to assert itself and you’ll find yourself pleasantly surprised. I must advise tasting this one while you’re still relatively sober, though. The flavours are quite subtle and it risks tasting like an unremarkable lager if your senses have been dulled by more than 1 or 2 drinks prior to tasting it.

The beers listed above are not the only good brews being crafted in Edmonton these days, they’re just my personal favourites. I’ve tried most of the beers being brewed at both Alley Kat and Amber’s and I enjoy almost all of them. There are, however, a couple that I don’t like.

• Amber’s Sap Vampire Maple Lager is a maple-flavoured beer that is way too sweet for my liking. However, as you’ll see later, one of the people who answered my Twitter poll claimed that it’s a great breakfast beer. While I’ve never tried drinking it with breakfast (I’m not that much of a drunk), I will concede that it probably does go really well with bacon & eggs.
• Alley Kat’s Aprikat is an apricot-flavoured beer cooler. Like the Sap Vampire, I find it too sweet. I’m not opposed to fruit-flavoured beer—I really enjoy a nice raspberry beer on a hot day, for example—but Aprikat is one that I just can’t stand. That said, I know a lot of people who enjoy it, so try it for yourself…you just might like it.

Your Favourite Local Beers

Now that I’ve told you about my favourite locally-brewed beers, let’s get to the results of that Twitter poll, shall we?

The question I asked was: E-town folk: do you drink locally brewed beer? Why/why not? What is your favourite/least favourite local brew? #yeg

I followed that up with: To answer my own question: Yes, I drink local beer. Hard to pick a favourite, but my least favourite is Amber’s Sap Vampire Maple Lager #yeg

With those 2 tweets in mind, you should be able to make sense of the answers that followed:

DougKyle@ink_slinger I really liked Maverick, but I could only find it on tap at the Metro, and they’ve stopped carrying it . Any recommends? #yeg

lsfloyd@ink_slinger Amber’s Sap Vampire Maple Lager… That sounds like a beer I would avoid.

selenized@ink_slinger Other than beer brewed in brewsters I generally don’t drink local beer. Mostly because I haven’t found one I like. #yeg

BrockSky@ink_slinger I agree wholeheartedly with you on the Vampire Maple Lager dislike. It nearly ruined a lovely evening at Ric’s Grill for me.

rafaldyrda@ink_slinger I drink Alley Cat. Love darker beer and for now that’s my favourite. Well, besides Guinness #yeg

mijustin@ink_slinger @BrockSky @lsfloyd No way… Vampire Maple Sap by Amber’s is a great beer… for breakfast!

BrockSky@ink_slinger I really like the Flying Frog lager from Brewsters. I know that is not completely local but it is good.

GregWalker@ink_slinger I do Kokanee. I have since high school cause thats what the older kids drank so I did to fit in. Peer Pressure FTW!!!

DougKyle@ink_slinger cool, have never tried any of the Amber’s. May make a beer run seeing as my afternoon attempt at being productive isn’t working

apotheos@ink_slinger I don’t drink beer regularly enough to support an unpreserved microbrew. Too many calories.

It seems like local beers haven’t developed a very large following, at least among people I follow on Twitter. It’s a shame, really. Some of the best beer I’ve ever tasted is from right here in Edmonton.

For those wondering about Maverick (mentioned by @DougKyle), and why I didn’t mention it at the start of this post, it is unfortunately no longer being brewed.

Maverick Brewing Company was a brewery located in downtown Edmonton. They folded a few years ago (in 2007, I believe) due to financing and distribution issues. It’s a shame, because I really enjoyed their beer. It was a European-style lager that put macro-brewed lagers like Molson and Labatt to shame.

I’d love for someone to buy the recipe and begin brewing Maverick again. I think, with the right marketing, it could succeed in the local market and eventually expand across Alberta (and the rest of Canada). Unfortunately, there is little chance of this actually occurring.

Do you drink local beers? What are your favourites and/or least favourites? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section.

Living in close proximity to multiple murders does something to the psyche. For most people, it causes fear. The desire to move to a new home is often strengthened (assuming it’s a possibility).

Some of us, though, turn to dark humour to get through the tough times.

When a murder occurred just steps from my apartment, I actually thought nothing of it. It was a bit unsettling, but my building feels safe to me, as do most of the surrounding streets and avenues. The Avenue of Nations can be a river of pain, but my building is upstream from the worst of it.

But, eventually, the violence gets to a person. Driving past the scene of another stabbing this morning, I launched into a darkly humourous mode after Sara turned to me and said, “Someone’s in trouble.” (At this point, we were unaware exactly what had occurred, but the police presence was heavy.)

“Someone probably got shot,” I said.

“Well, someone’s still in trouble. Two people, actually,” came Sara’s response.

“Can’t be in trouble if you’re dead,” I said.

Of course, that’s a terrible joke, and not very funny, but that’s how it goes when you start to become accustomed to murder in your neighbourhood.

Drugs, alcoholism, and poverty plague my community. Violent crime follows at the heels of these ills as if by force of nature. Breaking the cycle seems like an uphill battle.

In addition to the poor, the area is home to many of the city’s newest immigrants. Some of these people bring their foreign conflicts with them to their new home, and continue the violence in a land that is supposed to bring them peace and prosperity. Others find themselves overcome by culture shock, and fall into gangs in a misguided effort to find a sense of community.

This problem, perhaps, is more easily remedied than the cycle of poverty and crime that is too often intertwined with it.

The solution is deceptively simple. Make these people a part of the community as quickly as possible. Help them to integrate into Canadian culture. Provide them with support when they find themselves overwhelmed by the differences between their old home and this new one.

Such an effort is, of course, not as simple as it sounds. Numerous people and organizations would need to be involved. Financing needs to be greater than that which is already spent on similar efforts.

People from all walks of life would need to volunteer their time to such a program, but most importantly, immigrants who have successfully navigated the difficulties of moving to a new country would need to offer their guidance to those in need. Those who have been in the situation can offer advice that may never occur to those of us who are native to Canada.

Now, I believe that some organizations already work toward this goal. And families make an effort to help their newly immigrated relatives adapt to their new life. But, surely there is more that can be done.

Unfortunately, I have no idea who to talk to or how to get this sort of effort underway. Perhaps, though, I could donate my time or money to an existing organization. Does anyone know of any groups in the city who are making an effort to improve conditions on 107 Avenue or for immigrants in general?

I’ve long wondered why restaurants and bars insist upon placing TVs in their establishments. Unless the place is a sports bar, it makes very little sense.

TVs naturally draw the eye. It is very hard to resist watching a bright LCD screen in the background. When I’m out with Sara, I want to look at her. I want to talk to her. When I’m out with friends, I want to talk to them.

In neither of these situations do I want to be distracted by a television screen just behind the person I’ve out with.

It was great interest, then, that I read Todd Babiak’s recent column on the subject.

He quotes the assistant general manager of the Hat on Jasper Avenue, a restro-pub that is beautifully designed—except for the damn TVs—as saying, “No politics in a bar.”

That strikes me as absurd. Where else but a bar are people able to meet and discuss politics, or art, or anything that matters in the world?

Unless we are to isolate ourselves to our homes or our Facebook profiles, we must have public spaces like the bar where we can congregate and discuss things both important and trivial, without the distraction of a television screen. (I would argue that, in many places, WiFi access is also a distraction that prevents patrons from actually interacting with one another.)

Such places are rapidly disappearing, especially in North American cities like Edmonton. As Babiak sees it:

The problem is, there are scant public places in the city where we can think. Once, long ago it seems, restaurants and cafes weren’t only for dates and to share the pain of another Oilers game gone terribly wrong. They operated as active meeting places. We argued over coffee, beer and wine. There was plenty of politics in the bar. Revolutions were planned, great poems recited, business schemes hatched.

Here, I agree 100%. Public spaces—third places, that are neither work nor home—are rapidly disappearing. With TVs and WiFi access becoming so popular, public spaces are becoming places where we can remain as isolated from the world as we can in our own living rooms.

That is not the kind of world I want to live in.

While I certainly appreciate that WiFi is becoming more ubiquitous, it strikes me as odd that I can enter an upscale restaurant and see someone surfing the Internet while eating their foie gras. I would much rather focus on enjoying my meal and perhaps chatting with the server if I were eating alone, than on trying to finish this month’s sales report. But, that’s just me.

When I’m out for dinner or drinks, I’m interested in my relationship with the people around me, not in a relationship with the TV screen. What about you?

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

- John McCrae

List of Remembrance Day Events in Edmonton

Numerous Edmontonians on Twitter are reporting that the city centre currently smells of manure. As one commentator put it, “[it] smells like someone just drove a herd of cattle through the centre of Edmonton.”

I’m fortunate enough to work in an office that is not downtown, and which has so far not been subjected to the mysterious shit-stench. Unfortunately, I live downtown and will be heading home very soon.

If anyone has an explanation as to why the city core smells like bovine feces, please let me know.

Close-up of Pumpkin Pi Spiced Ale Label

I should have written about this before Thanksgiving, but here it is: Edmonton-based Alley Kat Brewery has released it’s fall seasonal beer, Pumpkin Pi Spiced Ale.

Yes, that’s “pi” as in 3.14159, not “pie” as in, well, the stuff you eat. Maybe I’m missing the joke, but I don’t quite understand the math reference. Is it just a pun, or is there more to it than that? The label, however, does make reference to the number pi, having “3.14″ carved into the jack-o-lantern that graces the label.

There’s also a reference to Peanuts, as each label carries the phrase: “So much better than a warm blanket while you’re sitting in a cold pumpkin patch waiting for you know who!”

Putting the odd combination of mathematics and newspaper comic strips aside, is Pumpkin Pi a good beer?

Honestly, I have to say that it’s pretty average. It’s a nice novelty beer to drink on Thanksgiving or Halloween, but it’s certainly not the best brew to come out of Alley Kat’s vats.

The head is pretty much non-existant, and vanishes almost immediately after being poured; and it’s a bit too light on carbonation for my preferences (it borders on being flat, to be honest). Despite these failings, there are definite hints of pumpkin and noticeable spices (mostly nutmeg, I think) that make Pumpkin Pi an interesting drink.

Pumpkin Pi was originally commissioned by Sherbrooke Liquor (11819 St. Albert Trail), but it’s now available in other liquor stores around the city (I bought mine from the excellent Chateau Louis Liquor Store).

I certainly wouldn’t make Pumpkin Pi Spiced Ale my regular beer if it were available year-round, but it’s a nice novelty to drink on occasion during the fall season. While it isn’t mindblowingly good, it’s definitely unique and well worth picking up a case or two before it disappears for another year.

Despite the financial crisis being faced by much of the world, Edmonton is still a boom town. However, while many of us are reaping the rewards of this boom, others are suffering from a financial crisis of their own.

The cost of housing is outrageous in much of the city, forcing many of our fellow citizens to live in slums that they can hardly afford. We have a startling number of working homeless: people who have jobs but still can’t afford a place to live.

I live on 107 Avenue, in a part of the city called the Avenue of Nations. It’s one of the poorest areas of the city. Mostly, it is inhabited by immigrants and other people who have the unfortunately distinction of being on the bottom of our social totem pole.

By virtue of where I live, I see a lot of poverty on a near daily basis. I see people who are poor for all kinds of reasons. Some are struggling with addiction, some with mental illness. Some may be immigrants whose credentials are not recognized in Canada, forcing them to try and support a family of 5 on a taxi driver’s salary rather than on a doctor’s salary.

Whatever the reason, it is the responsibility of a just society to help these people—or at least to help those who wish to be helped.

Unfortunately, I’m not an expert on social issues. I don’t know how to eliminate poverty. I’m not necessarily sure what the root causes of poverty are (though, I think I managed to touch on a few of them). All I know how to do is to draw attention to the problem.

If enough people bring this issue forward, maybe someone with solutions will step forward and make a difference.

Much has been made about the high price of housing here in River City, and quite fairly. Even though prices have dropped a bit, housing is still expensive in Edmonton.

What if you could buy a house in Edmonton for only $11? Well, you can…sort of.

David and Esther Stockburger are running a contest to give away a historic house just off of Alberta Avenue. Instead of selling the house the traditional way, they are allowing people to enter this contest for the very low of fee of $11.

It’s not quite as simple as sending in your $11, though. The other part of the contest is that you must give the Stockburgers at least one reason why they should give you the house. The reason can be whatever you want, and can be expressed in writing, music, video, or any other creative way you can think of (as long as it can be mailed or emailed; please don’t show up on their doorstep with a guitar unless they actually invite you to do so).

There’s one other condition: if the Stockburgers don’t receive at least 25,000 entries they’ll cancel the contest, refund everyone’s money, and sell the house the traditional way. But, as long as at least 25,000 people enter, you have a chance at winning a house for only $11.

For more information, or to enter the 11 Dollar House contest, visit http://www.the11dollarhouse.com/.