We discuss the potential renaming of the field at Commonwealth Stadium, a recommendation to accelerate the adoption of heat pumps, another Edmonton Public School Board trustee resignation, and the new ICE District deal. Plus, we talk about the Energy City Cactus Rats, ETS merchandise, and more.

Here are the relevant links for this episode:

Commonwealth Stadium field

• Commonwealth Stadium field could be renamed Play Alberta Field

Adopting heat pumps

• Council urged to accelerate adoption of heat pumps

ICE District deal

• Here's what's in Edmonton's draft deal with province for OEG event park and private development
• Public benefit questioned as Edmonton eyes 10-year extension of Downtown CRL

EPSB resignations

• EPSB trustee resigns due to 'current political environment'
• Coun. Erin Rutherford's post
• Edmonton public school trustees face increased workload after another resignation
• EPSB superintendent Darrel Robertson to retire

Cactus Rats

• A New Energy in Baseball
• Previous name options

ETS merchandise

• Wearing your love of Edmonton: Limited ETS and other YEG-themed merch for sale

Rapid fire

• Trouble in Gretzkyville: For the first time, The Great One finds himself shunned by Edmonton fans
• Computing science professor wins 'Nobel Prize in computing'

Speaking Municipally is produced by Taproot Edmonton, the most reliable source of intelligence about what's happening in the Edmonton region. Through curiosity-driven original stories, tailored and useful newsletters, a comprehensive and innovative events calendar, and thought-provoking podcasts, we inform, connect, and inspire a more vibrant, engaged, and resilient Edmonton region.

Sign up to get The Pulse, our weekday news briefing. It's free!

A new committee of council has been born (or, at least, is in utero). Plus, Bridgegate both continues and concludes, council has approved the Nordic spa in the river valley, and the province's CorruptCare scandal (allegedly) reaches the city.

Here are the relevant links for this episode:

Bridgegate

• City releases schedule of Edmonton's bridge renewals for 2025
• Puneeta McBryan's LinkedIn post
• Downtown Revitalization Coalition's LinkedIn post

Infrastructure committee

• Council report
• Coun. Aaron Paquette speaks at council meeting about misinformation

Nordic spa

• Edmonton city council approves rezoning application for nordic spa development
• Top of Bank Policy
• Memorandum of Cooperation and Dialogue

CorruptCare (allegedly) reaches the city

• UCP Placed Mraiche Business Partner on Edmonton Police Commission

From the Taproot newsroom

• Hydrogen HUB enters 'activation phase' with new leader
• Varme Energy brings in CEO from Norway for first-of-its-kind facility
• Boyle Street creates artist residency to prioritize arts programming for marginalized clients

Rapid fire

• Edmonton's Emily Murphy Park statue stolen leaving nothing but her shoes

Speaking Municipally is produced by Taproot Edmonton, the most reliable source of intelligence about what's happening in the Edmonton region. Through curiosity-driven original stories, tailored and useful newsletters, a comprehensive and innovative events calendar, and thought-provoking podcasts, we inform, connect, and inspire a more vibrant, engaged, and resilient Edmonton region.

Sign up to get The Pulse, our weekday news briefing. It's free!

You may have heard that several bridges will be closed at once, but is that true? We dig into bridge maintenance planned for the next few years. We also discuss new bus priority measures, Lime's winter cycling pilot, an audit of DATS, and the upcoming wildfire season.

Here are the relevant links for this episode:

Bridge maintenance

• No, five bridges in downtown are not closing all at once
• Opinion: Perfect storm of bridge closures will devastate Downtown
• Edmonton business group urges bridge construction pause fearing Downtown backslide from snarled traffic
• Downtown biz group worries Edmonton bridge construction crunch could hurt city's core

Bus priority measures

• Major streets set to change to give buses priority

Lime winter pilot

• Lime brings e-bikes back to Edmonton early for winter pilot program

Wildfire season

• City of Edmonton adds proactive measures to wildfire protection plan
• Edmonton creating wildfire strategy as part of emergency management plan

DATS audit

• Improvements coming to Edmonton's accessible transit service, following audit

From the Taproot newsroom

• Fringe historian to document Edmonton theatre history
• Check the Label app could 'push our politicians' as tariff threat grows, Punchcard says

Rapid fire

• Alberta cold snap breaks more records as deep freeze set to recede Thursday
• Edmonton looks to impress as potential expansion destination by hosting PWHL neutral-site game

Speaking Municipally is produced by Taproot Edmonton, the most reliable source of intelligence about what's happening in the Edmonton region. Through curiosity-driven original stories, tailored and useful newsletters, a comprehensive and innovative events calendar, and thought-provoking podcasts, we inform, connect, and inspire a more vibrant, engaged, and resilient Edmonton region.

Sign up to get The Pulse, our weekday news briefing. It's free!