Happy New Year everyone! I hope your 2025 is off to a great start. The past few weeks have been filled with the annual Lunar New Year festivities across Chinatown. I’m always so impressed by the rich and vibrant events that bring us together and showcase this incredible community at the heart of our city.

The Lunar New Year celebrations have had me reflecting on how we at City Hall can continue to build on the strengths of the area. I am excited to share more about a number of initiatives. Most recently, City Council committed to continuing the Chinatown Vibrancy fund for the next two years. This will provide $480,000 a year to support community initiatives in both north and south Chinatown. If you have an idea for an event, festival, public art, or programs to bring the community together, please be sure to apply.

We will also see a number of capital investments moving forward in 2025. In addition to the ongoing neighbourhood renewal project, the building of the new Mary Burlie Park will also get started. Construction on the new Chinatown Gate is also planned for 2025. I can’t wait to see these investments come to life in our community.

I know safety is a top priority for Chinatown, and throughout Boyle Street and McCauley. The City is continuing to explore how we can best respond to the health and housing crises we see playing out in our streets. In addition to advocating to other levels of government to address the root causes, the City is looking at the tools we have to respond to our current challenges. 

An important conversation coming up in that regard is our Public Spaces Bylaw. This bylaw seeks to regulate behaviour in parks, transit, sidewalks, and other public spaces. It tackles questions of how the City will respond to things like open drug use, bikes on sidewalks, and large protests. We will debate this bylaw on February 10th. I encourage you to share your thoughts. You can call or email my office, or register to speak to Council. This will be a hard conversation with many viewpoints to balance, and the more input we have, the better able we will be to make the best decisions. I hope to find practical, evidence-based approaches that best meet the needs of all community members and support a safer city for everyone.

Thanks as always for taking the time to read and don’t hesitate to reach out to my office any time!

Anne Stevenson, City Councillor for Ward O-day’min
Email: anne.stevenson@edmonton.ca
Phone: 780-496-8333