Good Saturday, urban planning enthusiasts. Glorious, bright winter day, isn’t it? What’s that? You’re all still hungover from company Christmas parties. Well then, we’ll try to keep our voices down in this roundup.

It is hard not to get excited, of course. Because it appears the City of Edmonton has gotten my letters, not to mention the milk and cookies I left out for the city’s capital projects department. Because they’ve given my neighborhood an early Christmas present – reopening the Dawson Bridge on Monday. The work was supposed to be done in late November. Then they changed it to early December. Then to just December Sometime. But now, the end is in sight. Probably.

With the bridge, and with it the path to the Hilltop Pub, nearly repaired, all is right in my world.

The same can’t be said for some of the people living near the U of A South Campus, however. Some people nearby aren’t fans of the university’s plans for expanding the campus. They’re worried that the combination of the classrooms, two arenas and the newly built GO centre will mean many traffic problems. And they’ve got an MLA on their side, with Kevin Taft asking the province to reconsider the expansion plans.

The university isn’t constrained by city bylaws and regulations – it’s expansions need to be approved by the province.

The city does have ultimate authority over the arena, though. But Mandel says it probably won’t be making that decision until April. They’re still waiting for information, and there are more talks to be done. But the mayor says he’s thinking the debate can’t go on forever. We hope not.

Programing Note: So, our little blog here has been running for two weeks, and we’ve had a fantastic response. A lot of people reading, commenting and spreading the word. And we’re loving it.

But, just like everything else, we’ll be slowing down over the next couple weeks. I’ll be working more as co-workers go on vacation. And Mike Otto is going for on a special fact-finding trip to Cuba to study zoning bylaws there. (He tells me the Cuban word for “business trip” is “vacation.” I’m learning. Neat.)

We’ll still be posting. Well, I’ll still be posting, but it might be down to a couple of times a week until the new year. But we’ll still be around on Twitter, and email, and in the comments. So keep coming by.

We’ll also be working on some larger features we want to roll out in January.

Also, we’ll be posting on Monday on some ways that YOU can contribute to the Charrette. Fun times.

Other news:

McTaggarts donate their home on the North Saskatchewan to the U of A – The uni isn’t quite sure what it’s going to do with it. I don’t want to give any ideas, but it would probably make a great home for an urban-planning-blogger-in-residence. Indira Samarasekera you’ve got my number. (I don’t think she does.)

City of Edmonton Walking Maps in your iPhone – the city is selling walking maps of neighbourhoods around Edmonton, complete with routes and interesting information. I think we’ll be reviewing these in the next couple weeks, so stay tuned!

Photo: Gift by mmlolek used under the Creative Comments license.