Edmonton Chamber of Commerce wants city to pause renewal projects, focus on core services

The Edmonton Chamber of Commerce released a 56-page budget recommendations document Monday and presented it at a news conference on Jasper Avenue. Doug Griffiths, the chamber's president and CEO, framed the "back on track" plan as starting with fiscal responsibility: maintaining roads and sidewalks, clearing snow, keeping downtown clean, and "repairing neighbourhoods without automatically redesigning them from the ground up."

The chamber conducted a member survey, met with city councillors, formed a task force to review previous budget documents, and considered results from the city's public budget consultation. Among its key recommendations: sell remaining Blatchford land to private developers, allow more companies to buy naming rights for city facilities, explore contracted-out or sponsorship models for recreation centres and the Edmonton Valley Zoo, divest surplus lands, limit neighbourhood renewal projects to basic repairs, expedite planning work for annexed lands from Leduc County, simplify building standards for capital projects, protect businesses affected by construction, and defer property tax on major investments until they generate revenue.

Ward Anirniq Councillor Erin Rutherford said she respects the chamber's perspective but noted it is only one voice. She pointed out that traffic safety is one of the top issues councillors hear about, and that adding traffic safety measures during neighbourhood renewal work is cheaper than retrofitting later. "The city spent millions of dollars adding traffic-calming measures in Dovercourt and Prince Charles after those neighbourhoods had only basic repairs during neighbourhood renewal," Rutherford said. "That is not fiscally responsible."

Ward Sspomitapi Councillor Jo-Anne Wright wondered aloud whether the province should step in with funding. "I think we're getting some results, I just wonder if it's the best we can do? There's a need for it, I'm just not sure the City of Edmonton emergency dispatch should be the one handling those non-emergency calls which are more for social services." The Edmonton Construction Association opposed pausing the neighbourhood renewal program. David Johnson, the association's president, issued a statement Monday: "Infrastructure doesn't pause when funding gets cut. It keeps aging; the repair bill keeps growing."

Budget discussions are coming later this year.