Hey there, Planning Enthusiasts. How’s are you liking the winter? Cold enough for you?

No, wait, okay. Stay. I’ll stop, I promise.

But we will talk a bit about winter: winter festivals, that is. That’s because the Silver Skate festival is on this weekend at Hawrelak Park. It’s Edmonton’s longest-running winter festival, going strong for 21 years. Where else can you watch movies on a giant snow screen, or watch artists create sculptures out of snow…and then light them on fire? Now, way back in the early days of the Charrette, we talked about the importance of the getting outside and enjoying our winter. It might be bitterly cold out, but if you bundle up tightly, I’d encourage you to head on down and see what happens when you mix fire and ice. (Water.) This year, the festival is running an extra day, taking advantage of the long weekend.

With all the snow outside, it’s pretty hard to remember that it’s actually pretty green in Edmonton most of the year. But I assure you, there are still plants out there, and they will be back once things warm up. Also returning: weeds. Councillor Karen Leibovici asked for a city report on the idea of instituting a pesticide ban. Over a hundred municipalities in Canada have bans on the pesticides that homeowners and city workers can use. But the city administration doesn’t think that’s the right fit for Edmonton: they argue that it would lead to a Weedpocolypse and that it wouldn’t have any effects on health. On the other hand, Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment says pesticide bans have a huge impact on water quality. So, I’d be surprised if this issue withers up and dies. Expect it to bloom later on.

Heh. Plant jokes.

And finally, the City says LRT ridership is up, by a lot: 7.6 million more rides in 2010 than in 2009. Which shouldn’t be at all surprising. Edmonton expanded the system, it goes new places, and now more people use it. There are a lot of problems and issues with the current LRT expansion plan. We’ve talked about them in the past couple months. But I think it’s fair to say that the refrains of “no one will use it” that you hear from LRT naysayers is a myth. This city needs LRT expansion, no question about it. Now, the most important task is to make sure that it is done right.

Quick hits:

- This week’s big news was obviously the release of the designs for the City Centre Airport Lands. Mike Otto took a quick look at the designs this week, and he’ll be looking more indepth at each one in the coming weeks. Look for that!

- It will be harder to get across the city this weekend, because half the LRT system will be closed down. The culrpit: the never-ending north line signal work.

- The province will be giving more money for subsidized housing in Edmonton. But it won’t be in the usual places. The province wants to spread them out, with fewer housing complexes in the inner city.

Photo of downtown Edmonton in the snow by Mike Senchuk from the Charrette Photo Pool. Submit your photo today!