Winnipeg Internet Pundits
Getting to the bottom of Winnipeg politics
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May 30: Oh, really?
What’s up on this week’s show, with Trevor Wideman, Greg Gallinger, Christian Cassidy, James Hope Howard and special guest Dave Shorr.
1. Mandatory bike helmets? Have we lost our marbles?
2. Is the airport-to-downtown corridor really an “image route”? Considering the implications of beautification in Winnipeg and in other urban areas.
3. An discussion with Dave Shorr: The province has all the power, not the city, not the feds. So why doesn’t anyone pay attention to provincial politics?
4. Public-private partnerships — deserving of more transparency, or is that insane?
5. Stabbing ‘epidemic’? OK, if that’s what it takes to fix CrimeStat!
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May 23: Consider the source
1. Entertainment districts — pointless or panacea?
2. City Circus: An interview with Marty Gold
3. Why are Winnipeggers so down on City Hall? Is it a matter of perspective?
4. Question: Where do you get information on city, provincial and federal issues?
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May 16: We just Canalt stop doing this
Water park … ticketgate … water park … ticketgate … if you don’t want to hear more about those topics you are out of luck because this will be the definitive (campus radio) dissertation on waterparketgate.
1. Should ministers be disciplined for accepting Jets tickets, and if so, how? Does the phrase “I accept responsibility” even mean anything anymore?
2. Go oboes go? Why are other free tickets OK?!
3. With Canalta having withdrawn its waterpark proposal, what happens next with the waterpark file? What happens next with Parcel Four? And did anybody involved actually learn anything from the whole affair?
4. Tessa humbly submits: Open Parcel 4 it up to an RFP process — get businesses to pitch the city on what should go there.5. Cherenkov notices a random trend in Winnipeg buildings.
WIP-per Snappers:
City donating $50M more to Assiniboine Park
Heritage group to get piece of streetcar rail
Property committee in favour of Whyte Ridge apartment plan
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May 9: Nothing’s stopping you/downtown dreaming redux
1. Interview with people making a movie about Woodrow Place!
2. Much of Winnipeg’s downtown area should be a residential neighborhood first and foremost. So why are we still trying to create a massive central business district (of various, non-res themes)? Why not “shrink” downtown by building more fine-scaled housing?
Relevant links:
- http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/citys-downtown-growing-fastest-124904429.html
- http://www.onemancommittee.com/2012/05/centreventure-turns-its-attention-to.html
- http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2012/5/8/the-pitfalls-of-entertainment-districts.html
3. Is “a viable downtown shopping district” the last missing piece of the Downtown Winnipeg puzzle? Is The Bay, as a store and as a building, an important enough piece of our core to warrant propping it up with tax incentives? Is it time to begin planning new life for the building, when and if the store abandons the site? Or should we just knock the whole thing down and put a waterpark or something in it?
Relevant links:
- http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/the-bay-is-key-to-downtown-renewal-150132135.html
- http://theviewfromseven.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/time-to-plan-for-the-bays-next-life/
- http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/from-eateries-to-office-space-150390895.html
4. Is a recent uptick in downtown crime something to be concerned about?
5. The Merchants Hotel — a solution for other downtown SROs ?
Relevant links:
- https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/index/uw-news-action/story.800/title.creating-a-community-hub-at-merchants-corner
- http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2012/04/30/mb-merchant-hotel-north-end-winnipeg.html
CIVIC EVENTS THIS WEEK:
U of M design students are presenting their infill suggestions this Thursday at noon at Portage Place (2nd floor, by the eastern skywalk).
WIP-per Snappers:
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May 2: One step at a time
This one’s going on our Greatest Hits list.
1. Being a pedestrian should not be a subversive activity in Winnipeg.
2. How does Winnipeg evolve beyond its car culture?
3. Stadium, Stadium, Wherefore art thou? Delays, Transit and Parking
4. Is Osborne Village really THE BEST in ALL OF CANADA? Really?
WHAT WE DIDN’T GET TO:
- Quit playin’ games with our hearts, city councillors. What’s with the lack of leadership and accountability?
- Do we need TWO police helicopters? How about 10?
- More sprawl planning planned
- Buskers come out to play for licence for Forks gigs
- Amid hubbub, $300 million in freeways approved
- Corporations tapped for school gym
- Merchants Hotel redevelopment
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April 25: Ya don’t say
1. Water park fallout. What can this possibly mean?
2. A farewell to the Albert Street Block
3. Would Winnipeg be better served by Frequent Transit than by Rapid Transit?
4. Bridgwater - Waverley West: Is building multi-unit dwellings in a sub-division at the beginning key to avoiding NIMBY-ism?
5. Jane’s Walk Winnipeg May 5-6
WIP-per SNAPPERS
- City to explore idea of giving veterans free parking
- TORONTO: How dysfunction at City Hall impedes small business
- Six-storey hotel to be built on Berry Street
- Charleswood residents working with developer to preserve green space, upgrade roads
Civic events of note this week
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April 18: Backyardigans of Manitoba
With Colin Fast, Ethan Cabel, Cherenkov, and of course Christian and James.
TOPIC 1: The provincial budget is being tabled on Tuesday. Does it do enough for Manitoba municipalities? Is the city’s reaction (inevitably critical) justified? AND: Is it realistic?
TOPIC 2: Whyte Ridge — Is this the end of NIMBYism winning the day in Winnipeg? OR Was Havixbeck right to ignore the mob?
TOPIC 3: Water park madness! Madness! (MSM coverage). PLUS: East Exchange at the, er, waterpark — a good fit?
WIP-per snappers:
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April 11: We’re going rapid transiting!
Our rapid transit is over, but download the podcast to experience riding the Transitway with the pundits — live on air!
Will we make it from Balmoral Station at U of W to the U of M by 6:30? Will people on the bus steal and smash our cellphones? Will we singlehandedly solve all of the problems with transit in this city? Listen and find out!
To set the scene, check out a fellow blogger’s first impressions over at the cold, cold ground.
Note: Hilariously, we could have gotten there SEVEN MINUTES FASTER if we get off the rapid transit.
TOPIC 1: Should infill around Confusion Corner and the south end of Osborne Village be the focus instead of the ’burbs?
TOPIC 2: Illogical planning of new routes: Did they even think this through?! Who does this benefit, if anyone?
TOPIC 3: Katz eyes gas tax to fund rapid transit — shall we? OR shall we have a REFERENDUM?
TOPIC 4: I humbly submit that we SHOULD take Route #2 — through the industrial park. It could happen faster, and it could spur new development.
BRT ROUND
- We’re trying to call this “RT”? Seriously?
- How long before a pedestrian/cyclist gets smushed? Will it draw suicides like subways?
- Hey look! It got an engineering award.
- Tunnel?! Is this a subway or something?
FYIs and other possible points of discussion:Thoughts:Are we the only city that bickers endlessly about the method of RT, without delivering?
Screw rapid transit — time to run buses until 2:30 a.m.? (Or all night?)
Or … streetcars? It’s a subject of bickering on Skyscraper Forum, which isn’t the easiest to link to, but the idea is to replace the Downtown Spirit w streetcars …
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Read this, not that!
The best of the blogosphere this week, for the busy, the lazy, and the media-saturated …
(Note: There’s nothing you shouldn’t read. Nothing!)
Anybody Want A Peanut?: April 6: The day Troy Cowley died
One Man Committee: East Exchange in catch-up mode
One Man Committee: A reprieve on Ellice Avenue
One Man Committee: Striking out
The Crime Scene: Manitoba’s mental health court sits May 10
Winnipeg Eats: Urban Bees… for the Birds?
Policy Fix: You Know You’re Not Alone: Community Development in Public Housing
The Winnipeg RAG Review: The Black-Hearted Rod
West End Dumplings: Attention bus nerds: Farewell to the 300s
Policing, Politics and Public Policy: No Charges in Bousquet Case
Observations, Reservations, Conversations: Bridgwater - Waverley West
Winnipeg… one great city (or so they tell me): On legalizing prostitution: Legs are optional
The Land of Ice & Grain: An Idiotic Suit
One Man Committee: Interesting infill on Sherbrook
Slurpees & Murder: “The needs of the many…”
Urban Compass: Take your kids downtown -
April 4: Urban issues
Downtown, Exchange District: Is it a food desert? Does food provision go hand in hand with economic development?
Quick follow-up re: IKEA transit routes. What about the increased workforce?Uniter’s Urban Issue: On stands this week
- Unicity: 40 years later — What happened?
- Transit in Winnipeg: Are we the only city that bickers endlessly about the method, without delivering?
- Are we exploiting aboriginal people to subsidize urban sprawl? Exploring the potential service sharing agreement between Winnipeg and West St. Paul
- The University of Winnipeg’s campus expansion — Is the university really helping the inner city? Should that be its job?
In a city with a precarious financial outlook and a disproportionately high crime rate, is the Winnipeg Police Service receiving too much or too little?
Listen live every Wednesday at 5 p.m. on 101.5 UMFM, rebroadcast Saturday at 9 a.m., and find our podcast here.
Email us at tessa@umfm.com or send us a tweet during the show @internetpundits
