Edmonton - How It's Changed in 25 years

[waldedw]

OMG - a bit of history I lived in and around Edmonton from 1973 to 1998, worked in Edmonton for 20 years and lived mostly in and around Beaumont. This week on Monday morning I brought an old buddy up from Lloyd to have a pacemaker put in at the Royal Alex, I stayed in Stony Plain with the kids but had a bunch of running around to do in Edmonton. I took him back to Lloyd Wed afternoon then had to come back yesterday as I had my appointment at the Cross this morning at 08:15, and another appointment Monday morning so will hang out for the weekend with the kids.

The thing I noticed most in Edmonton was the traffic, you couldn't pay me enough to deal with that on a daily basis, I guess I forgot what it was like or maybe I'm just getting old and idiot drivers get on my nerves. Rush hour this morning from stony to the cross was like a mad house, 50 minutes, heck I can get from Lloyd to Wainwright in that time.

This morning after my appointment at the cross I had to run over to 118 ave and 87 street so went across the 105 st bridge then over and up 97 street just to see what the downtown core was like, my God what a crap hole it has become, the streets were full of bums and druggies, yelling at cars, sleeping on the sidewalk or just stumbling around like zombies, unreal, almost looked like downtown Nanaimo or Abbotsford.

Sorry Edmontonians nothing against you, I used to love Edmonton, not so much anymore.

[sns2]

I live here and feel the same. It is no longer a decent place to live, but are our problems not similarly duplicated in all the big cities? I would think so. To move to Edmonton is a less than desired move for most I would say. The busyness and traffic is crazy. Not the city I grew up in.

[Stinky Buffalo]

I moved here around the same time as you did, Waldew. It sure has changed, and there are times I really wish it is like it used to be back then.

Still some nice aspects about it, though, although I'm glad to be living outside the city now, and looking forward to moving even farther away once the kids are grown. Thankfully where I live now I have a pretty slick path to get Incredigirl to her appointments at the Cross.

We used to take family portraits just off Scona Road, with the city skyline in the background. Love showing those photos to my kids, as it has changed so much since those days.

[58thecat]

Sorry folks the whole dam country/world has changed.

Some call it progress and some not.


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[Dick284]

I grew up in Edmonton, learned to drive there too. Left in 1989 at age 25, and when ever I go back, it’s absolutely insane to drive there….
I manage and that’s about all, couldn’t imagine actually living in the cess pool it has become.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by sns2

I live here and feel the same. It is no longer a decent place to live, but are our problems not similarly duplicated in all the big cities? I would think so. To move to Edmonton is a less than desired move for most I would say. The busyness and traffic is crazy. Not the city I grew up in.

Edmonton is becoming the Toronto of the west, socialism, traffic, crime, drugs, all of the negative aspects of a big city.

[Talking moose]

Was a lot more Stanley cups back in the day.
Not sure we will ever see another one.
Praying one day they will return.
This city is starting to have a Calgary feel to it….. change is needed.

[Drewski Canuck]

Lived here all my life other than my economic exile in the 1990's to Texas and Florida.

In 1989 I was Articling at the Wentworth Building across from Canada Place. Behind 97th Street was a bunch of skid row drug dens and ***** houses.

Ladies would be "marketing" all over the area from 2 PM onward. The Transit Hotel, the Cecil Hotel, and a host of other slum dive bars could be counted on for regular stabbings every week.

Those parts of Edmonton have cleaned up. Alot of the current downtown core is now empty lots, with homeless people. There never was a real downtown redevelopment simply by building Rogers Place. No other developments to date like the City had envisioned for the "ice district".

Biggest issue is rising homelessness and meth / fentanyl abuse. No secret that alot of people have turned to the streets and are permanently unemployable due to lack of skills / mental illness / thirst for stronger and stronger drugs.

Used to be getting busted for Pot was a deterrent, now there is a Pot shop on most major travel corridors. Only deterrent to drug abuse is how long a ride on the ETS bus it is to the free / safe injection site.

Edmonton is a symptom of the failed Woke Experiment. Not as bad as Vancouver, but still pretty bad. We could spend money on Parks, Recreation and Roads, but instead the services of a Municipal Government are the last thing a City Manager cares about.

The Homeowners get taxed to death while dreamy eyed City Planners and Counsellors dream up new ways to show their support for diversity and inclusion while the bike lanes remain unused.

All the while the homeless rob the grocery stores and liquor stores and the Police treat shoplifting as not worth enforcing.

Drewski

[Erik]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

Lived here all my life other than my economic exile in the 1990's to Texas and Florida.

In 1989 I was Articling at the Wentworth Building across from Canada Place. Behind 97th Street was a bunch of skid row drug dens and ***** houses.

Ladies would be "marketing" all over the area from 2 PM onward. The Transit Hotel, the Cecil Hotel, and a host of other slum dive bars could be counted on for regular stabbings every week.

Those parts of Edmonton have cleaned up. Alot of the current downtown core is now empty lots, with homeless people. There never was a real downtown redevelopment simply by building Rogers Place. No other developments to date like the City had envisioned for the "ice district".

Biggest issue is rising homelessness and meth / fentanyl abuse. No secret that alot of people have turned to the streets and are permanently unemployable due to lack of skills / mental illness / thirst for stronger and stronger drugs.

Used to be getting busted for Pot was a deterrent, now there is a Pot shop on most major travel corridors. Only deterrent to drug abuse is how long a ride on the ETS bus it is to the free / safe injection site.

Edmonton is a symptom of the failed Woke Experiment. Not as bad as Vancouver, but still pretty bad. We could spend money on Parks, Recreation and Roads, but instead the services of a Municipal Government are the last thing a City Manager cares about.

The Homeowners get taxed to death while dreamy eyed City Planners and Counsellors dream up new ways to show their support for diversity and inclusion while the bike lanes remain unused.

All the while the homeless rob the grocery stores and liquor stores and the Police treat shoplifting as not worth enforcing.

Drewski

100% on all of this, except maybe the bike lanes...at this point I don't want to crap on any legitimate activity...maybe in their current form they are not efficient, but I'm supportive of people who want to ride bikes and not do drugs and crime.

[mooseknuckle]

Originally Posted by waldedw

OMG - a bit of history I lived in and around Edmonton from 1973 to 1998, worked in Edmonton for 20 years and lived mostly in and around Beaumont. This week on Monday morning I brought an old buddy up from Lloyd to have a pacemaker put in at the Royal Alex, I stayed in Stony Plain with the kids but had a bunch of running around to do in Edmonton. I took him back to Lloyd Wed afternoon then had to come back yesterday as I had my appointment at the Cross this morning at 08:15, and another appointment Monday morning so will hang out for the weekend with the kids.

The thing I noticed most in Edmonton was the traffic, you couldn't pay me enough to deal with that on a daily basis, I guess I forgot what it was like or maybe I'm just getting old and idiot drivers get on my nerves. Rush hour this morning from stony to the cross was like a mad house, 50 minutes, heck I can get from Lloyd to Wainwright in that time.

This morning after my appointment at the cross I had to run over to 118 ave and 87 street so went across the 105 st bridge then over and up 97 street just to see what the downtown core was like, my God what a crap hole it has become, the streets were full of bums and druggies, yelling at cars, sleeping on the sidewalk or just stumbling around like zombies, unreal, almost looked like downtown Nanaimo or Abbotsford.

Sorry Edmontonians nothing against you, I used to love Edmonton, not so much anymore.

Lived here most of my 46 years. Certainly changed, I agree a bit is getting old too. The traffic and construction...... the worst. On another note hope your well? I have to got to the Cross Cancer a couple times a year, great folks there.

[Geraldsh]

I drove a taxi, yellow then barrel, from 69 to77 . Got out of there and moved to the oil patch - Lloydminster area. Going back now Edmonton has too many addresses with names instead of numbers.

[Smoky buck]

Cities suck all of them not just Edmonton and that is why I stopped living in them

Living in a city just makes me frustrated, angry, and just negatively impacts my quality of life. You guys who live in them can keep them

[-JR-]

This is why I live on the out skirts of town . So much nicer when heading out to a local lake and not driving threw it .

[KGB]

Originally Posted by -JR-

This is why I live on the out skirts of town . So much nicer when heading out to a local lake and not driving threw it .

If you can only move west… I hate this drive to your place, Yellowhead is a beach with all construction…

[KGB]

Been here since 1993. I hate bike lanes, LRT, pick hours traffic and all the constructions, potholes and amount of idiots on the road….

[I-Love-Eyes]

Spruce Grove is just as bad anymore. I grew up on a farm just outside of Spruce Grove and when I got married, moved to my Hubby's farm in Parkland County. I miss the Spruce Grove I grew up in, where us kids could ride our bikes anywhere, where everyone knew my my parents (and could tell them what I had been up to on certain days) and all the surrounding PRIME farmland wasn't being eaten up by "progress".

We now live in a me, me, me world and the rest of humankind be damned.

[MountainTi]

Was there once for an exam at ABSA. That was enough. Happy I never have to go back

[ehrgeiz]

Ehhh it’s not that bad. But I grew up in the roughest areas of Edmonton so maybe I have a more realistic perspective. Even back in the late 1990’s most of my buddies were selling crack, and that **** was everywhere. Drugs and homelessness are just more in your face now because everyone has a camera and things are posted instantly. Less gun play back wen though, more stabbings. I mean if you were out on a Saturday night in CV Pub and somebody didn’t get stabbed it was a red letter day.

Currently live in an upper class infill neighbourhood and it’s great. Everybody has young kids, and our block is filled with good neighbours. School is down the block, not overcrowded. Great sense of community, sadly some theft but I’d argue less than rural AB.

I think Edmonton is still a great place and I choose to live here.

City Council is a bunch of leftist morons though except Tim C. Hopefully he’ll be the next Mayor.

[jetboat175]

EHRGEIZ, sounds like your part of the problem in the inner city of Edmonton. I guess we can blame you and your liberal drug homey buddies for the direction the city has has went. You should be so proud

[ab_hunter]

I can't get over the amount of homeless people in Edmonton. Rogers place is a rough area. The government should be disgusted with themselves.

[ehrgeiz]

Originally Posted by jetboat175

EHRGEIZ, sounds like you’re part of the problem in the inner city of Edmonton. I guess we can blame you and your liberal drug homey buddies for the direction the city has has went. You should be so proud

I never said I sold crack. Nor did I say I endorsed the sale of it, in fact I advised against it. I’m just telling you what it was so you don’t let the warm glow of nostalgia skew the reality of 25 years ago. Actually, a few of those guys went on to run successful small businesses. I believe they understood risk better than most and wanted wealth more than most and were willing to do whatever it took.

Anyway, my point is drugs and crime were prevalent 25 years ago just as today, although I knew functioning crackheads, McMurray in the 90’s 00’s was built on them haha. Today there is no functioning on those powerful opiates. You get homeless zombies.

Lastly don’t call me a liberal **** face.

[elkhunter11]

I spend far more time in Edmonton lately, because of the GF, and I had no idea just how many homeless people there are. I also noticed just how bad traffic has become, constant accidents, even in good driving conditions. The GF has been flipping houses in Edmonton for a couple of years, after being away from the city for many years, and she is anxious to sell the last property, and move out of Edmonton for good, as she no longer feels comfortable there, with the homeless, the addicts, and the crime.

[Penner]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

There never was a real downtown redevelopment simply by building Rogers Place. No other developments to date like the City had envisioned for the "ice district".

What? Have you ever been down there? Outside of the Epcor tower there was practically nothing in existence in the ice district. Got the rink, two new towers, new luxury apartment tower being built as we speak, fan park, with more planned to be under construction. It takes more than the weekend to develop something like this. Gotta open your eyes bro.

[6MT]

I haven’t lived in Edmonton since 1999. While now I am retired, I firmly beleive that Edmonton is a great place to earn a living and dump your garbage. And I did that for 35 years. (I now use my county’s waste transfer station to dump my garbage though.)

[densa44]

If you work on the treatment side of the problem, you have to contend with not just the effects of the mental illness, but politicians, nimby neighbours, lack of funding, and did I mention politicians.

There is no easy fix, if there is no one has found it yet. We could start by treating the mentaly ill, and getting them housed.

The drug problems, I don't know anything about but there are those here who do. I know that we don't want to keep killing people at nearly 2 per day.

We can make this better if we really want to, but if won't be easy or cheap!

[IL Bar]

Originally Posted by ab_hunter

I can't get over the amount of homeless people in Edmonton. Rogers place is a rough area. The government should be disgusted with themselves.

Yes I agree it’s a real cesspool. Took my son to an oilers game a year ago. Stopped in the washroom at the bottom of the big escalator in Roger’s place and there was a drug deal between 2 bums going sideways in there. Got my son out of there quickly. Had to explain to an 11 year old farm kid what was about to go down. Not something he’s used to.

We were there the other night at the Capitals game and I don’t know if it was the warmer weather or there’s just that many but it was a bugger just trying to drive around there and not run over one of the homeless druggies.

[MountainTi]

Originally Posted by IL Bar

Yes I agree it’s a real cesspool. Took my son to an oilers game a year ago. Stopped in the washroom at the bottom of the big escalator in Roger’s place and there was a drug deal between 2 bums going sideways in there. Got my son out of there quickly. Had to explain to an 11 year old farm kid what was about to go down. Not something he’s used to.

We were there the other night at the Capitals game and I don’t know if it was the warmer weather or there’s just that many but it was a bugger just trying to drive around there and not run over one of the homeless druggies.

Sounds like a real 3rd world craphole! Somethings not working..

[pittman]

No doubt about it - Edmonton has grown into a big city. These days when I head over to Saskatoon it reminds me a bit of what Edmonton used to be like.

I wouldn't say the city is all bad. Housing is affordable and there is lots of opportunity. The homelessness problem in Edmonton has been getting worse for years - it follows many cuts to social services by the conservative government. Fixing this problem is a significant financial burden on the normal working taxpayer for sure.

The problem with drugs permeates every corner of this province even out to the small towns. I spent time growing up both inside and outside of the city and while the big cities come with more visible homelessness and drug abuse, the smaller communities had (in my experience) more drug abuse amongst the youth from the normal middle class.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by pittman

No doubt about it - Edmonton has grown into a big city. These days when I head over to Saskatoon it reminds me a bit of what Edmonton used to be like.

I wouldn't say the city is all bad. Housing is affordable and there is lots of opportunity. The homelessness problem in Edmonton has been getting worse for years - it follows many cuts to social services by the conservative government. Fixing this problem is a significant financial burden on the normal working taxpayer for sure.

The problem with drugs permeates every corner of this province even out to the small towns. I spent time growing up both inside and outside of the city and while the big cities come with more visible homelessness and drug abuse, the smaller communities had (in my experience) more drug abuse amongst the youth from the normal middle class.

Drug problems and homelessness are rampant in BC with an NDP government. They have tons of social programs to “help” these issues yet it keeps increasing

It’s not an Alberta or UCP created issue it’s across the country regardless of political party managing the province. Out of all the present social problems available across the country non are succeeding to curb the issues.

Let’s be realistic it an issue across North America and no political party has a solution. There has yet to be a social program to solve the issue of homelessness or addiction

I don’t have the answer to the issue but our country has never actually had control of the issue

[DiabeticKripple]

I grew up in Calgary, left 10 years ago.

I hate going back. I hate driving there, there’s so many rude and inconsiderate people around now as well.

It’s not the Calgary I left.