So Air Canada no longer wants its employees staying in downtown Winnipeg. How do those of us with a passion for the downtown react?
I don’t think there is much comfort in painting a more positive picture even though that may be our first reaction. Air Canada has declared its judgment to the world and the media has assured the message was heard. Perception is more important than reality.
There are always interesting ideas about how to better deploy our police services—horses, buffalo coats and beat patrols—the Chief has undoubtedly considered them all. Political leaders of every stripe are strongly supportive and police budgets are voted an ever increasing share of public resources. In addition, the public and private sectors have both invested in the downtown through major projects like the MTS Centre or the new Hydro Headquarters as well as countless smaller ones. Philanthropy is also doing its part. Support for the Human Rights Museum symbolizes the community’s generosity—The Winnipeg Foundation alone granted $6 million. The Foundation has invested heavily in Central Park, Old Market Square, the Red River Culinary School—the list of projects is very long. And other charities are equally committed.
Despite Air Canada’s conclusion about our downtown, my view is that we are making progress. But to change the situation in a profound way, we need 2000 new condos on the “walkway system”. There are certainly available sites for major residential blocks—for example, over Portage Place, along Graham, over Winnipeg Square, north of the Canwest Building or east of the Fairmont Hotel.
It would take very significant government subsidies and it is not easy for public policy to support private housing. But the advantages accompanying such development would be equally significant. From a safety perspective alone, several thousand residents constantly moving throughout the downtown and connected by our all-weather walkway system would be transformative. Residents would give more meaningful voice to the most obvious needs which mostly relate to root causes. And their presence would not only bring new business (groceries, dry cleaning, etc) but equally important, shore up the business that already exists. Of course, whatever the required subsidy may be, investing public money into the capital construction of new condo units will lever a more significant private investment. It will create jobs and an increased tax base. I haven’t looked recently at how much PST, income tax or other provincial revenue is generated by the construction of a $350,000 condo unit, but at least some of the subsidy would be immediately recovered.
We all want a city where community life flourishes. The Air Canada decision is really a message saying that whatever progress has been made and however well intentioned our efforts to date may be, the results are not sufficient. Setting a goal of 2000 condo units may be entirely arbitrary but can there be any doubt that such a major residential initiative would be a game-changer for the downtown? Hopefully the private and public sectors will seriously consider this option knowing the charitable sector will continue to play a supportive role appropriately focused on the amenities and social services of the downtown area.
Tags: community foundation, downtown
Well I sure hope the condos will be more affordable than the ones on Waterfront Drive…but yes condos are needed downtown
Here are three incidents that happened in downtown Winnipeg in broad daylight that I know of in the last three weeks.
A friend of mine pulled in behind Mountain Co-op at 4pm on a Friday. She simply wanted to return a pair of boots. Two intoxicated men and one woman started bashing her vehicle with their fists and calling her names. She was terrified. An employee from Mountain Co-op came out the back and was able to help her.
Another friend of mine works at one of the make-up counters in the Bay. She told me a woman had come to her counter in tears, and told her the man handler outside was so aggressive she had a hard time getting in to the store.
Last week at two thirty in the afternoon I exited the underground parkade at Portage Place on to Carlton Street and stopped at a red light at Portage Avenue. I was waiting to turn right. A man came staggering around the corner with his penis in his hand, urinating wildly. A young woman also came around the corner. She tried to pass the man, but as she did he stumbled to his right and had she not jumped out of the way she would have been sprayed with urine.
This is the reality of downtown Winnipeg. When in Portage Place I see numerous of security Guards. How come I never see them at Polo Park or St Vital Centre?
People going to the MTS Centre to see a game or concert are perfectly safe because there is safety in numbers.
The Manitoba Hydro Building looks lovely, but it’s employees go home, most to suburbia, how many live in the core of downtown?
Why is everyone so scared to be honest. Our downtown is a disgrace. Drug deals go down in broad daylight outside Portage Place. Portage Avenue from The Bay to Main Street is pathetic. It should be vibrant with Restaurants, Cabarets, Coffee Houses, Stores etc. Drive down there late at night and it is a ghost town. So, who is going to have the guts to turn things around and get rid of the establishments that get rich from the people who are suffering from the addiction to alcohol.
Jane M.
Back in the late 1980s, some dedicated folks and I really worked at re-branding downtown life. We created the Broadway Assiniboine Neighbourhood Association (South of Broadway, Osborne to Main) to provide a focus for work which addressed the needs of the “perchers” who lived in in our community. Long labelled by the community development field as “transient”, we instead focussed on “transitory”. Our neighbours, like ourselves, were in the area because we wanted to be. We valued the convenience, the closeness of the river, the affordability, which fit into our lives. We were students, young professionals, people experiencing a change in our lives, and seniors. There were daycares, parks, neighbourhood shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues close by. Living in Broadway Assiniboine was a wonderful stopping point to wherever our lives would next take us.
Yet I was up in front of City Council, or speaking to other government departments numerous times trying to protect what we had. We were concerned about downtown development that saw our area as expendable, a parking lot for the so-called “more exciting” things that were happening north of Broadway.
I don’t think you can just put in a bunch of apartments and call it downtown living. There has to be an emphasis on ensuring that the elements of community are in place before the efforts are made to bring people to communities. During the 80s there were efforts to create downtown housing without these elements, which failed. Life on a street full of traffic on all sides is no life for most of us.
I am appalled that Air Canada has made this statement, slapping again the faces of people who have already been hit very hard. When the story first broke I was certain that the question was one of money, now that there is so much activity right along Portage where they were booking rooms so that costs are higher. Using displaced people as a smoke screen is despicable.
Given that some gifts to the Wpg Foundation come from outside of Winnipeg, I am wondering if there isn’t some way that a portion of the gifts of the Foundation couldn’t be put into play to help these people go home, maybe through community foundations in the flooded regions.
– Zanna Joyce