People who have lived in Edmonton most of their lives can’t really realize how bad the weather is here. -35C with strong wind can kill anyone in winter.

That said, people here is awesome, traffic is never a problem, there are plenty of jobs and there’s no stress. Also festivals are something to look forward to during the summer.

Weather is often sunny, unfortunately often accompanied with frostbite warnings.

Make the choice, or shut up.

What’s critical moving forward is to take those discussion out into the city, engage with people (as groups like Next Gen and the still-in-its-infancy Better Edmonton are trying to do) outside of the echo chamber.

Twitter/blogging/social media is only the beginning of this conversation.

Needless to say, I love the city, and there’s a good chance I’ll be coming back. I’m excited for that.

However, what I think needs to be asked is “why are we rallying around these things and what are the ends?”

The Edmonton Twitterverse (which I would argue is not indicative of the average Edmontonian and is but a fraction of a fraction of the population) seems to rail against every issue that anyone can make a case for harming or helping the city. I’m not saying that having discourse about these things is unimportant — it’s very important and we all have every right to do so — but I’ve never seen anyone present an ultimate goal of what this “Better Edmonton™” should be or how to achieve it.

I don’t think Mack’s tweet is unique or insightful. The girl probably doesn’t really want to be a waitress and would probably love to get out of Edmonton. You once wanted out. I wanted out. My friends who grew up in other cities wanted out of wherever that was. I won’t fault young people for thinking like this, and I don’t think anyone — a waitress or a brain surgeon — has a responsibility to stay in the place they grew up.

I know more people who are proud of where they live than those who aren’t. That goes for everywhere I’ve lived for an extended period of time. (Edmonton, Halifax, Ottawa.) Edmonton doesn’t have one big endemic problem. It has a series of smaller problems that most major municipalities also have. Tweeting and blogging about them doesn’t accomplish anything. Your audience is converted. Pin-pointing the problems and explaining to the apathetic masses why they’re important, then offering tangible solutions is what needs to be done. That’s not going to be done through social networking.

Grand Prairie: http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1640792

To be fair to Wetaskiwin, they have started a message board/newsletter/twitter & have hired some firm from out of town to run the whole thing.

http://www.uccommunications.com/
http://www.wetaskiwintomorrow.ca/

Part of the problem with municipal governments is that they have a hard time listening to local constituants ideas I guess, so they need to hire consultants to solve local problems.

The major take-home here, at least for me, is that it’s people doing this. Real people who give a shit, who care enough about how things have gone that they now want to have an active role in how things will go. I’m loathe to evoke the word “grassroots”, but that’s what it is.

And that gives me hope.

You’re right on when you talk about having some patience in changing the city into something drawing people in (outside of oil booms). I try and remind myself of that when I think about the LRT and transit. The greater good will come!

You’re also right that the city has had its champions, continues to have those people driving new ideas, and will require those kinds of people to push the evolution.

I also hate the term “world class” city.

This post also reminds me of some musings from a friend, where he talks about the need for good Edmontonians to get on the case of the bad: http://grandefullbody.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/a-note-on-edmonton/

Grande Prairie has hired an American firm to help it’s image by ‘rebranding’ the community. The citizens of my Community of Wetakiwin seem more interested in complaining about the way the city is run, rather than trying to become a part of the solution.

The 25-40 demographic in this province have to become more involved in politics & organizing events in order to ty & make our province a better place.

My favourite part about Edmonton is that despite it being close to a million in population it doesn’t feel like a big city. Calgary is too congested, and too big. Vancouver is a nightmare for traffic. Edmonton has that small town feel that I just don’t think you can get anywhere else in a big city in the West (unless you’re brave and venture to Saskatoon or Regina maybe).

I’m one of the (seemingly) few people around town who grew up in Calgary and moved to Edmonton after university. One thing that I’ve noticed in the three or four years that I’ve been here is that Edmontonians tend to spend far too much time worrying about what’s going on in Calgary, and not enough time enjoying Edmonton and its many attributes.

There is a group of young people here like Mack and others who are working hard to change that, and I think their work is paying off. What needs to happen is that people need to stick up for this place. Don’t pile on when your friends are running Edmonton down; instead, respond by saying something that you really like about Edmonton. If you hear a waiter chasing tourists away, say something to him. His job depends on people coming here and spending money – he needs to get on board! Let’s get rid of the old culture of civic self-flagellation and follow the lead of the new, forward looking, generation. Other cities do it, why not do it here.