r/SherwoodPark

Hi everyone!

My team and I are in the early stages of a new building construction in the Strathcona area (targeting 23+ units). I felt like reaching out now instead of assuming and building something that doesn’t add enough value

Before the design process gets finalized and approved, I wanted to reach out to this community. I want to create a space that the neighbourhood is proud of and that provides long-term value for the people who live and work there!

Our main goal is to offer \*\*affordable rents\*\* without sacrificing the quality of life. We’ve been doing some initial research, and here is what we are already prioritizing based on feedback we’ve seen:

• \*\*Soundproofing:\*\* We know noise is a major factor for tenants, so we’re looking at high-level soundproofing between units to ensure peace and quiet.

• \*\*Durability & Pride:\*\* We’re investing in high-quality finishes that don't just look good on day one but actually last. We want tenants to feel a sense of pride in their home, which we hope reduces turnover.

• \*\*Tech-Forward:\*\* We’re focusing on ideal internet speeds and infrastructure for the tech community, entrepreneurs, professionals of all ages and graduate students who need a reliable home-base.

• \*\*Safety & Security:\*\* Improved lighting in and around the building and modern security features to make everyone feel safe and comfortable.

• \*\*Management:\*\* We’re aiming for exceptional customer service with a system designed to process maintenance and work orders almost immediately. Would like to develop a community portal for communication and easy access to information.

\*\*Here’s where I need your help:\*\*

What else makes a building "the one" for you? We are considering things like:

• \*\*Aesthetics & Art:\*\* Should we incorporate local murals or specific architectural nods to Strathcona’s history?

• \*\*Shared Spaces:\*\* Would you actually use a "lab" or co-working space? Or is a cozy entertainment room with a fridge, couches, and TVs more your speed? I’m thinking a golf simulator and oilers hockey fan lounge

• \*\*Community Collaboration:\*\* How can a building like this better integrate with the existing local businesses and neighbors?

If you live in the area or are looking to move to Strathcona, what are the "deal breakers" or the "must-haves" that would make you choose one building over everything else?

I really want to invest in long-term, happy tenants who contribute to the community. I’d love to hear your honest thoughts (even the critical ones). Please also suggest if this question should be asked in an alternate sub… feel free to DM me or send an email to wtmsindustries@gmail.com

Thanks in advance!

William

I went to take my 2 young kids for a walk and as we were going to park near a vacant truck, two old dudes popped up... very clearly suckin each other off. One shirtless and laying back and the other leaning over the console.

I know RCMP patrols this place from time to time and the cops HAVE to know what goes down here. Is there any use reporting this? Or just don't go there? I'm all for getting your rocks off, but damn, maybe in a little less of a public place.

Just turned away a friendly man who is driving an (unmarked) white Ram 1500 with work gear in the back, simply because I've seen this play out before. They typically go door to door offering a quote on a paving job for your front pad, and from everything I've read online the quality of the work done is so bad that it crumbles and falls apart within weeks of being done and you're out of luck on getting it fixed except to pay someone else to start it over.
To confirm something noted in others' anecdotes, he did have an Irish accent but that may not be helpful depending on what kind of crew they run. Historically these crews are using extremely poor quality product, fake credentials, and may not even be in Canada by the time you realize you were deceived.

If you want a quality job on your aging and rutted driveway, it's not likely to happen as a result of a knock at your door. Be especially cautious of a proposition such as "We have extra materials from a previous job and don't want it to go to waste, so here's a discount". Just decline and wish them well, it isn't your problem after that.
You can see past discussions of this with a search for 'asphalt' in r/edmonton history.

I thought I’d try to lay out what’s going on with EMS in our county. I made this as a comment but thought it could be its own thread.

To jump in here as someone with some context.

Right now, EHS (part of what was called AHS, provincial government) contracts out ambulance service in certain municipalities.

Many small municipalities do not want to run their own local service, so a company like Medavie will pick up the EHS contract and provide ambulance services for the community.

In Strathcona County, the actual County (big C) has the AHS contract to provide emergency medical services (EMS) services. This is done through Strathcona County Emergency Services (SCES), which also operates our fire department. This is called integrated services. Other larger urban centres in Alberta have a similar model. The benefit is having your first responders cross-trained

In addition to the funding from EHS (the province) the County puts more funding into SCES EMS to increase the level of care we get as citizens. This top-up funding means among other things we have better trained paramedics.

AHS decided to cut the provincial funding significantly. It has given the County the option to continue providing EMS through SCES, but basically pulling their most of the provincial funding.

This means that to keep EMS within SCES and continue providing the high standard of care, the County would have to pay a few million more through of their own money.

If the County does not want to continue providing EMS through SCES, EHS will put out a RFP and companies like Medavie can bid on the contract.

This would mean SCES would be reduced to just fire. Layoffs would be significant. Hopefully those staff could work for Medavie but Medavie is a significantly worse employer than SCES and their requirements are a lot lower, meaning we’ll have worse trained EMS staff in the County.

There is a middle ground options where SCES will retain what are called Community Response Units (CRUs) on their own dime for medical first response while EHS outsources the rest of the EMS to the lowest bidder. IMO this seems unlikely but who knows.

The predicted cost to taxpayers will be small, probably less than $2 per month per household (I could be wrong here), but with the coming increase to property tax, this is could be tough sell.

Council will vote May 12

This is a step by the provincial government to cut spending and pass on costs to the municipal level.

So no, Strathcona County will not be without ambulances, but those ambulances might be outsourced to a private company rather than being operated by our county.

I need help to find sports like activities for my 5 year old that are affordable. So far everything I’ve seen has been over 150$ for 4 classes. Does anyone have recommendations?

Thank you!!

Looks like we’re having problems again!

Anyone else with problems? Davison Creek area.

ONT PON light flashes, then goes steady, then the data light flashes a bit, then the cycle continues. Submitted a service request. We’ll see what happens!

Just drove by Wye/RR223, they have closed a section of the road heading east. There are 2 motorcycles smashed on the road. I hope those involved are okay but since the road is closed has me thinking they may not be okay. Prayers.

Dear Mayor and Council,

I am writing to you today as a concerned citizen. The thoughts shared are expressly mine and not shared by my employer nor any other organization which I am a part of. All of the information I share with you has been made publicly available by EHS (formerly AHS), previous media releases, or ATIA (formerly FOIP) requests.

As I write to you, I compassionately understand you have been put in a difficult position by EHS (and by extension the provincial government). You have been tasked with the difficult decision of balancing responsible fiscal stewardship with public safety. The decision by EHS to reduce the funding provided to you is a blatant attempt by the provincial government to off-load healthcare costs onto municipalities – balancing their books at the expense of your budget, or your citizens' safety. As I trust you are carefully considering your options, I would like you to take into account a few key facts regarding the decision before you. If you choose to divest of municipally managed Emergency Medical Services (EMS), EHS or a private for-profit company will “fulfil” this responsibility. I say fulfil with a hint of irony, as I would like to present to you a few reasons as to why I believe they lack the system capacity to deliver the services your citizens expect and deserve.

1. EHS has a repeated track record of being unable to adequately staff the ambulances already under their control. I’d like to explore some data pertinent to our area. A 2025 FOIP request revealed 2024 data regarding the staffing of ambulances in the Edmonton zone. Throughout the 2024 calendar year, EHS Edmonton zone was able to staff their ambulances 89.22% of the time – leaving ambulances unstaffed over 10% of the time. This resulted in 74 code red situations (0 ambulances available), or 15,578 code orange alerts (less than 3 ambulances available) – all this for a metropolitan area of well over 1 million people.

 

While reviewing this data I can’t help but feel your citizens not only expect better, but deserve better. The good news is, your citizens have received better thanks to the diligent work of Strathcona County Emergency Services (SCES) and the historical support you have provided them. Over the same time period, SCES had their ambulances in service 98.08% of the time (some out of service time is expected to facilitate shift change, staff decontamination, and biological needs). While SCES staffed their ambulances, these units were used to subvert the code red or orange statuses within Edmonton. EHS Edmonton relied on outside agencies 5335 times in 2024 alone. 
I present these statistics to you so we can together ask this question: If SCES has been used to bail out EHS thousands of times, who will be there if EHS assumes management of Strathcona County ambulances? Who will be there when your family, friends, or co-workers call for help? Will that ambulance be staffed and ready to respond, or will it be sitting idly by as our community enters the same code red crisis that follows EHS wherever they go?

2.Moving beyond the 1/10 times EHS leaves its ambulances unstaffed, let’s consider the ambulances they do staff. Within EMS there are two defining terms when we consider which ambulance is responding: Basic Life Support units (BLS) and Advanced Life Support units (ALS). A BLS unit is staffed, at minimum, with one Primary Care Paramedic (PCP) and either an additional PCP or Emergency Medical Responder (EMR). An ALS unit is staffed, at minimum, with one Advanced Care Paramedic (ACP) and either an additional ACP or PCP. 

ACPs boast two years of additional education in comparison to their PCP peers. While all designations within Alberta hold impressive skills, those of an ACP can be critically important in times of emergency. The advanced scope of an ACP allows ACPs to perform crucial life saving skills in the field and administer additional life saving medications, delivering world class care on the streets of our communities. In short, your community wants, and deserves an ALS service. 
The aforementioned FOIP request outlines how EHS has historically gone about providing an ALS service within the Edmonton zone: they recognize the need for these highly trained practitioners but are repeatedly unable to retain them. In 2024 alone, EHS downgraded 11,985 units from ALS to BLS – that’s nearly 1000 times a month (32 times a day) that EHS Edmonton zone made the decision to provide a lower level of service where they had initially forecasted the need for ALS care. This is simply unacceptable. 
SCES has prided themselves in delivering ALS care to the community, but how did we get here? SCES has been providing EMS since 1972, initially at a BLS level. In 1984, the unfortunate choking death of a child (that could have been avoided with ALS equipment and care) prompted SCES to pursue an ALS service; in 1985, five Advanced Care Paramedics (at the time called EMT-P) were hired and SCES has provided top tier ALS care ever since. In 1984, it took the unfortunate death of a child to prompt this change. Today, it will take you voting to maintain this service level to prevent such tragedies in the future.

3. Should you choose to divest of a municipally managed ambulance service, you should consider how EHS will find staff to provide EMS care to your community. Again, the previous FOIP request provides numbers to show EHS’s historical track record for hiring within the Edmonton zone.

 

Between 2019 and 2024, EHS hired 56 full-time paramedics to the Edmonton zone – 56 paramedics in five years equates, at most, to seven ambulances (when not accounting for sick time, vacation time or other time off).  In that same timeframe, the city of Edmonton grew from an estimated population of 972,223 to an estimated 1,190,458 (an increase of over 220,000 people). When considering these low hiring numbers, EHS may attempt to point you toward the 488 casual employees they hired; they may neglect to tell you that 382 of those casual hires were previous full-time employees who dropped to casual status. 
I do not solely blame EHS for this, as for many years our province has faced a shortage of trained EMS staff, particularly ACPs. Should you choose to divest of this ambulance service, you should know that SCES employs 141 trained EMS personnel, nearly 40% of which are ACPs. As an aside, the seven communities that provide an integrated Fire/EMS service account for 856 trained EMS personnel, over 65% of which are ACPs. The integrated model does not have the same problems with recruitment and retention as seen across the industry. The model is proven to show reduced burnout, higher employee satisfaction, and more reliable ALS service. 
In the unfortunate event that any of these highly trained individuals were to be laid off, many would be hesitant to accept worse working conditions with other EMS providers. Divesting of EMS would take practitioners off the road, worsening a province wide crisis. This decision comes at a time when the Alberta College of Paramedics has decided to lengthen the PCP program, creating a bottle neck where many new PCPs won’t be entering the workforce until 2029. EMS staffing levels are in crisis all over; the proven remedy: an integrated service.

 4.Lastly, the integrated Fire/EMS model provides your community with highly trained individuals where every firefighter is a paramedic and every paramedic is a firefighter. I have seen and experienced first hand the benefits of being able to seamlessly transition between these two roles at complex rescue scenes. Many of these firefighter-paramedics hold roles on specialty teams, allowing them to deliver ALS care while an individual may be trapped in confined space, in water, or on ice. When it comes to emergency medical care, seconds save minutes, and minutes save lives. Therefore, all SCES operations staff must meet stringent physical requirements to prove their aptitude for the rigorous demands of the job; the same cannot be said for other EMS services.

This system costs more, because this system works 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. When your citizens need care, you as council have supported this model which has proven to be effective. Over the coming days as you consider your vote, I ask that you take all these factors into account. Should you choose to divest of a municipally managed ambulance service, you put your community at risk. For 54 years, SCES EMS has provided stable, reliable, and world-class care to your citizens. Voting to divest of this service means poorly staffed ambulances and a decrease in the level of service provided. I encourage you to vote to maintain the service provided today, and pursue other options for healthcare cost recovery with the province. 
The provincial government has put the well-being of your citizens in your hands. I trust you won’t take this lightly.

Respectfully,

Hey I'm searching for a private contractor electrician/handyman, not a big electrical company. I got a bunch of outlets in my garage that don't work and have no idea why. I've diagnosed as far as my knowledge goes. So looking for recommendations please.

EDIT: Thank you all for the recommendations. I appreciate it

Last Friday night, I was walking along Baseline when a black Ford F-150 with FX4 decals slowed down right beside me. The guy inside leaned out and screamed a slur at the top of his lungs at me before flooring it and speeding off. I reported the incident as a "hate motivated incident" to the RCMP as soon as I got home. The RCMP will contact me this friday about it (I think they got his license plate on the traffic cams).

Does anyone else get heckled or yelled at while walking?

I am removing a large spruce tree from my yard in Glen Allen and I was wondering if there are some people who would like some potential firewood?

The tree itself splits into two separate trunks with a max diameter of 14-15 inches (36-40 cm) and close to 50 feet of length each. The plan is to hopefully remove it soon so the wood has some summer heat to dry.

If you are interested in some or all, please respond to this post within the next week. If there is no interest I will pay the extra for removal.

Thanks everyone!

P.S. I should add that a professional tree care company is doing the work, and they are leaving the trunk on site cut into firewood length pieces. No need for a chainsaw.