Key takeaways:
- ‘Chinatown has been overlooked for decades,’ Mayor Amarjeet Sohi says.
- A plan to restore Chinatown has been on the books since 2018, but little work has been done in the district.
Edmonton’s Chinatown may eventually get a nuts-and-bolts boost. Citizens say it’s required many years after city councilors committed to pushing ahead with the district’s capital projects.
At a meeting Wednesday, the council’s executive committee directed city staff to have infrastructure projects for Chinatown in the following four-year budget cycle from 2023-to 2026.
The administration is anticipated to present economic estimates for the Chinatown plan in the fall as the council starts debating the capital and operating budgets. The program will be subject to council support at that time.
The plan was made in 2018, and Coun. Anne Stevenson noted that the council decided not to support the projects at the time.
“I think this is an investment that’s been required for a long time,” Stevenson stated.
The pledge from the mayor and council comes after a rough month for the neighborhood. Hung Trang, 64, and Ban Phuc Hoang, 61, were murdered at Chinatown businesses on May 18. Justin Bone encounters two counts of second-degree killing in their deaths.
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Upgrades in the Chinatown strategy have streetscaping 97th to 101st Streets between 105th and 107th Avenues.
Community renewal projects are scheduled to begin next year for Boyle Street and McCauley, including 98th to 100th streets and areas of 105th Avenue.
Stevenson said she’d like to see enhancements in these areas similar to those done on Jasper Avenue over the previous several years.
‘We need to step up.’
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi called the capital assets in Chinatown “required.”
“Chinatown has been neglected for decades,” Sohi told reporters after the meeting. “We need to step up.”
Source – cbc.ca
