More footie

A pitch to Edmonton's community and public services committee Monday has the Edmonton Soccer Association one step closer to its goal of two new indoor fields.

Adrian Newman of the Edmonton Soccer Association told City Hall the South Edmonton Soccer Centre is at full capacity and the need for more space is immediate.

"There's no practice time. If you want to play or practice at the moment, it's at 10:45-11 at night," Newman said. "The kids are now having to play at 7 in the morning on the weekends."

Ball hockey and other groups are adding to the demand, he said.

The soccer association will foot the bill for an architect to come up with a design for the new space, which is estimated to cost $335,000.

A plan for housing the homeless

Coun. Scott McKeen says the city has to "get its act together" and come up with a strategy to deal with the increasing number of hard-to-house people in Edmonton.

Council's community and public services committee on Monday passed a motion put forward by McKeen to prepare a report on permanent supportive housing by the end of June 2017.

McKeen wants to see as many as 12 new facilities built across the city.

"They're essentially nursing homes," he told CBC News.

"We're allowing these people to live in horrific conditions. They're walking wounded. It's time we took responsibility …and did the right thing by these people and at the same time save the taxpayer, by my guess, tens of millions of dollars a year."

Better passage for pedestrians

Mayor Don Iveson is concerned about construction detours that make it difficult or impossible for pedestrians on city sidewalks to get where they are going.

He said he's received several complaints from citizens frustrated about sidewalks and shared-use paths that are partially or completely blocked by temporary roadway signage or construction.

"This is when the city is tearing up a roadway and pushing people further into the edges of the sidewalk or off the sidewalk with either signage or construction barriers," Iveson said.

He said he'd like to see "some consistency" with sidewalk detours, and a greater regard for pedestrians' safety, particularly people with mobility challenges.

Iveson said signage for drivers shouldn't encroach on pedestrians, and that all users of the transportation system should be treated equitably.