There wasn’t a lot of fuss about the building, and Council was more or less on the same page about the deal. Even though it went to the Katz Group, no one questioned that the process followed was fair. On the whole, the announcement came and went rather smoothly. We suggest it’s because Mayor Iveson is great at the behind-the-scenes action.

And if he did that for the arena and the tower, can he do it for the LRT? Or for other big infrastructure projects? We dive into those questions and more.

Here are some relevant links for this episode:

• Edmonton Mayor Iveson is a smooth operator
• The first 100 days
• City to Consolidate Staff Working Downtown

Thanks for listening!

We also delve into the notion of civic identity. Edmonton’s seems to be intertwined with the Oilers, but can that change? Of course, it’s hard for us to chat about the Oilers without touching on the arena too! That didn’t take long, did it?

The episode is a bit random, we admit, but we’re still figuring this out so thanks for joining us on the journey! As always, we’d love your feedback, so don’t be shy!