What do you think of this project?

  • Total voters
    56
I am concerned that the gondola located in the immediate vicinity of the power plant will curtail other long term potential uses of the former EPCOR buildings such as a large scale museum and which may require expansion. I am also concerned about where drop off parKing for the gondola wil be located, who owns it and how many stalls there are. In a nutshell I think the gondola station is a hindrance to development of the former EPCOR buildings. I would prefer the station located elsewhere in Rossdale.
 
TAS said:
@PrairieSkyGondola
Below is a detailed blog post in opposition - the person will likely be speaking on Aug. 10.
Seems like some factual errors. And what station specifically is proposed on burial grounds?
In your promo materials, and referenced in the blog, saying "you don't have to worry about holding up the line" when referring to people with disabilities or mobility issues when they board the Gondola is not in good form.

Click to expand...
Here's my take:

1) "You don't have to worry about holding up the line" may not be worded to everyone's liking but the intent is to make everyone feel welcome to use the service.

2)"Well known burial grounds'? First I've heard of this. It's my understanding that PSG is engaging with the indigenous community on this project

3) Not one mention of the positive economic impact/spinoff of TOURISM that the gondola will bring to this city.

4) Prairie Sky Gondola is privately funded and are insured for complete removal if it were to be a failure. That's my understanding.

There's a lot more to comment on this but that document is such a turn-off to read in it's content, poor structure and additionally it's unbalanced and agenda driven.
 
The_Cat said:
I'm sure the consultations have been done.
Click to expand...
Yes, and more formal consultation requires a legal framework for engaging which is what the *conditional* lease agreement provides. If they have no rights or jurisdiction to the land they can't bring in Indigenous archeologists and Elders or do a fulsome enviro assessment etc.
 
EdmTrekker said:
I am concerned that the gondola located in the immediate vicinity of the power plant will curtail other long term potential uses of the former EPCOR buildings such as a large scale museum and which may require expansion. I am also concerned about where drop off parKing for the gondola wil be located, who owns it and how many stalls there are. In a nutshell I think the gondola station is a hindrance to development of the former EPCOR buildings. I would prefer the station located elsewhere in Rossdale.
Click to expand...
I think it will do the opposite and be a catalyst for repurposing the power plant and activating the area, hopefully in collaboration with and ideally under the leadership of Indigenous communities. The City has tried for years to find a way to activate this space. It's a very costly project no matter what is done with it and the lack of access to the area by anything other than private vehicle has been a consistent deterrent to public & private investment.
 
BASE said:
I saw this post making the rounds on Instagram.

www.instagram.com

NISHA | Poet | Artist on Instagram: "THE PRAIRIE SKY GONDOLA is culturally and financially unsound. I've written a statement with @spongepoet on why we need to email our Councilors before August 10th to vote against the approval of the lease for @pra

1,090 likes, 34 comments - anothernisha on August 1, 2022: "THE PRAIRIE SKY GONDOLA is culturally and financially unsound. I've written a statement with @spongepoet on why we need to email our Councilors before August 10th to vote against the approval of the lease for @prairiesky.gondola who are...
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com

I am not too familiar with it but it makes the assertion the gondola will be built in the indigenous burial grounds. My understanding is that these are to the west of the power plant and the station would be to the east.

Hopefully they have engaged with the Prairie Sky folks to share their concerns. From the posts attending farmers markets and other events it seems like there is some good community outreach going on.

I do disagree with the assertion that transit should be prioritized to the suburbs over central (they both should be prioritized). Also seems quite disingenuous to compare ridership estimates to the high level streetcar.

Again it seems the central argument comes down to the fear that these assets might be stranded in the river valley by a Prairie Sky bankruptcy and refers to a public private partnership as a better model.
Click to expand...
We'll have more to share soon on our indigenous engagement. You may also want to read Kirsten Goa's thread today. It's quite extensive and we would love it if you could share on your networks:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1554579761292120065
 
Last edited:
TAS said:
@PrairieSkyGondola
Below is a detailed blog post in opposition - the person will likely be speaking on Aug. 10.
Seems like some factual errors. And what station specifically is proposed on burial grounds?
In your promo materials, and referenced in the blog, saying "you don't have to worry about holding up the line" when referring to people with disabilities or mobility issues when they board the Gondola is not in good form.

Click to expand...
We received an email about this and have updated our blog as it was never our intention to infer that one group of passengers is better or worse than another. We want everyone to feel welcome and safe using our ropeway system. It escaped our eyes during the editing process and we are thankful it was pointed our to us. We want to be a barrier-free mode of transportation and would include the Accessibility Advisory Committee and other voices for Edmontonians with disabilities as part of the formal public engagement process.
 
EdmTrekker said:
I am concerned that the gondola located in the immediate vicinity of the power plant will curtail other long term potential uses of the former EPCOR buildings such as a large scale museum and which may require expansion. I am also concerned about where drop off parKing for the gondola wil be located, who owns it and how many stalls there are. In a nutshell I think the gondola station is a hindrance to development of the former EPCOR buildings. I would prefer the station located elsewhere in Rossdale.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your comments. From our meetings with City Transportation as well as the Rossdale Power Plant rehabilitation team, we have heard that they will keep the parking and no extra expansion is planned outside of the Power Plant. This may be because the plant is an enormous building which is at least 5 floors tall and has several levels below ground.

Also, we are not planning to be a park-and-ride system, and as such are not planning parking outside of the ones that alreday exist. The idea is to create more transportation options and modal shifts within the core. From the TIA that we conducted it was found that most people that drive from outside of the core as a commuter would probably continue their journey using their cars as they alreday had to take it to leave home. However, there could be a modal shift for those living in walking or cycling distance from the stations.
 
Gronk! said:
Just another river valley BANANA using the Journal as a mouthpiece

edmontonjournal.com

Opinion: Let's keep Edmonton's historic Rossdale neighbourhood green

Rossdale is Edmonton’s most historical space, yet the city has a plan to develop it for 2,500 residential units in buildings of up to 20 storeys. The city is also c…
edmontonjournal.com edmontonjournal.com
Click to expand...
I really dislike the narrative being used by density and/or gondola opponents that Rossdale is some sort of natural paradise that, if developed, will open the flood gates to complete river valley destruction. Absolutely nothing between Irene Parlby Park and the Ledge is natural parkland because it’s has been developed for over a century.
 
Gronk! said:
Just another river valley BANANA using the Journal as a mouthpiece

edmontonjournal.com

Opinion: Let's keep Edmonton's historic Rossdale neighbourhood green

Rossdale is Edmonton’s most historical space, yet the city has a plan to develop it for 2,500 residential units in buildings of up to 20 storeys. The city is also c…
edmontonjournal.com edmontonjournal.com
Click to expand...

"However, taking 15 to 20 acres of river valley green space to create a new community is off-key — especially since the city has worked for a century to preserve the river valley as park and natural area."

I don't really get this. As far as I can tell, there's very little green space of any actual value to a national urban park that is going to be developed here. I appreciate river valley conservationist efforts a lot but there needs to be logic in their propositions that isn't just "rah rah no buildy here"
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top