The City of Edmonton invites residents to get involved in transforming Edmonton’s urban form by taking part in its Planning Academy – a series of five courses in urban design, land use, and transit-oriented planning.

The courses make city and urban planning easier to understand, and help participants get involved in the planning and development process.

The first Planning Academy course of the 2013 spring session will be on Thursday April 4, 2013. People can sign up for one, or more of the courses including:

Land Use Planning: The Big Picture	April 4, 2013
Getting a Grip on Land Use Planning	April 6, 2013
Transit Oriented Development	April 30, 2013
Come Plan with Us: Using Your Voice	May 2 & 3, 2013
Urban Design	May 11, 2013

Register soon. Courses run evenings and weekends, and are limited to 40 people per course. Participants can earn a Certificate of Participation by completing three core courses and one elective course.

The City of Edmonton is committed to working with residents to promote good urban planning and help us all to create a more vibrant, compact, sustainable and transit-oriented city.

Capital City Clean Up’s third annual graffiti audit confirms the City of Edmonton’s efforts to curb graffiti vandalism, with the support of Edmonton Police Service and Edmontonians, is holding strong but there’s still more work to be done.

The 2012 Graffiti Vandalism Audit recorded 1,116 incidents of graffiti as compared to nearly 1,133 incidents in the same top 20 Edmonton neighbourhoods audited in 2011. This amounts to a 1.5% decrease in the total amount of graffiti vandalism found from 2011 to 2012 and down 43.6% from the inaugural audit in 2010.

“Graffiti vandalism is an important issue in Edmonton as it victimizes us where we live, work and play and can escalate to more serious criminal activity in the community – we can’t become complacent,” said Councillor Jane Batty. “With the continued help of the Edmonton Police Service, program partners and Edmontonians, we can wipe out graffiti vandalism and add to the quality of life of people living and working in our city.”

Graffiti vandalism was found in 438 locations in 2012, down 19% from 543 locations in 2011. Five of the audited neighbourhoods (Downtown, Strathcona, Garneau, Central McDougall and Queen Mary Park) accounted for 45% of all graffiti found.

The auditor, third-party consultant MGM Management, was accompanied again this year by Municipal Enforcement Officers who assisted in examining streets, lanes and alleys in the selected neighbourhoods. Thanks to the officers’ expertise in analyzing and classifying tags, new graffiti tagger names continue to be identified.

This year the audit identified 275 taggers who were responsible for 69% of all graffiti vandalism surveyed. Ten of those taggers were responsible for 40% of the graffiti vandalism.

The most prolific tagger in the audit was responsible for 9% of all tags found and was recently arrested by the Edmonton Police Service.

“Police receive numerous complaints regarding graffiti vandalism and realize the impact it has on the community, and the cost towards citizens and businesses,” said Constable Ryan Katchur. “Through our investigations, we're able to hold more graffiti taggers accountable and make significant arrests on prolific offenders. Taggers have also been sentenced in court to make substantial victim restitution payments for damages caused. This would not be possible without collaboration between the Edmonton Police Service, the City of Edmonton, and the community.”

The graffiti vandalism documented during the 2012 was not artistic in nature. 88% of the graffiti vandalism surveyed was less than 2 sq ft in size with 90% of all 1,116 incidents being “text only” graffiti.

Graffiti vandalism is a public nuisance crime. Edmontonians are encouraged to help the City and EPS fight graffiti vandalism by reporting it to 311. If citizens observe graffiti vandalism in progress, they are urged to call 911.

A summary of the audit and information on other graffiti vandalism prevention programs can be viewed at www.edmonton.ca/capitalcitycleanup.

“The City, program partners and citizens working together have made a positive difference,” said Ken Block, acting general manager for Community Services. “More and more people are taking ownership for keeping the river clean but our work isn’t finished.”

The program, operated by Capital City Clean Up, removes litter and debris from the shoreline, in the river and other waterway locations in Edmonton. HSBC Bank Canada’s donation will help educate the public on the damaging effects and impact waste in the river has on wildlife, drinking water and river recreation.

“We are delighted to be a longtime supporter of the City of Edmonton’s North Saskatchewan River Clean Up program,” said Andrew McPherson, Vice President, Commercial Banking, HSBC Bank Canada. “HSBC believes that education and the environment are fundamental building blocks for the development of healthy communities, and this program is a great example of a community-driven approach to the protection and preservation of a local waterway.”

If you spot debris on the river please call 311 to report it. Do not attempt to retrieve it yourself.

The City of Edmonton is launching a cigarette litter enforcement blitz. Bylaw staff will regularly patrol downtown and other commercial areas with outdoor cigarette ashtrays, encouraging smokers to butt out responsibly instead of littering. Tossing a cigarette butts on the ground can result in a $250 fine.

Capital City Clean Up’s 2011 litter audit found that cigarette litter is the largest contributor to small litter in Edmonton.

“Cigarette butts tossed on the ground do not biodegrade, as many people believe. They can take anywhere from 1 to 12 years to break down,” said Don Belanger, Program Manager of Capital City Clean Up. “Improperly disposed of cigarette butts pollute our streets, sidewalks and green spaces. Not only does it give the impression that we don’t care about the cleanliness of our city, cigarette butts can be harmful to the environment and to wildlife.”

This year enforcement officers will be recognizing smokers who are appropriately disposing of their cigarette butts in ashtrays by providing those people with a complimentary coffee from program partner, Tim Hortons.

“Our goal with this blitz is to encourage smokers to think twice before tossing a cigarette butt on the ground and littering,” said Ryan Pleckaitis, Director of Complaints and Investigations. “Education and awareness are our first priority. We want to reinforce positive behaviour and recognize smokers who are making the effort to put their cigarette butts into ashtrays, where they belong.”

The enforcement blitz will last until the end of September 2012.

In 2009, outdoor cigarette ashtrays were introduced on Jasper and Whyte Avenues. Their success led to the expansion of the program to include 104 Street, Chinatown/Little Italy, Alberta Avenue, 124 Street, Stony Plain Road and along parts of 107 Avenue.

“The introduction of the outdoor cigarette ashtrays along 104 Street have made a huge difference and have improved the general tidiness in the area,” said Ed Fong, owner of deVine Wines and Spirits on 104 Street. “We are seeing more people using these ashtrays and we want to encourage that to continue.”

Another option for those smokers who are not near an outdoor ashtray is to carry a personal pocket ashtray with them. The ashtrays are available at City Hall and at some summer festivals.