Have heard this idea before, but interesting article nevertheless: http://www.wired.com/2015/01/edmonton-freezeway-ice-skating/
David Patman, P. Eng.
Transit Planner
Winnipeg Transit | Service Development Division
421 Osborne Street | Winnipeg, Manitoba R3L 2A2
P: 204-986-5737 | dpatman(a)winnipeg.ca<mailto:dpatman@winnipeg.ca>
** Please share with anyone you know who may be interested. Many thanks! **
*Green Action Centre seeks a dynamic individual to join our Active and Safe
Routes to School Program*
We are looking for an independent, energetic, flexible and organized
individual to fill a position within our Active and Safe Routes to School
(ASRTS) team. Working collaboratively with other Active and Safe Routes to
School and Green Action Centre staff, the Coordinator will perform duties
to organize for and promote children’s mobility in Manitoba.
Apply by Friday, February 13th.
Find the full job posting here <http://greenactioncentre.ca/about/jobs/>
<http://greenactioncentre.ca/program/asrts/>
>From why Winterpeg to why not?Follow Edmonton's lead and capitalize on
frigid reputation
ON ARCHITECTUREBy: Brent Bellamy
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/from-why-winterpeg-to-w…
It is mid-January, and through hard crusts of frozen breath on their
tightly wrapped scarves, Winnipeggers across the city can be heard
muttering to themselves "Why do I live here?"
Winnipeg doesn't have many things that can truly be described as
world-class, but winter is certainly one of them. For a major city (with a
population over 500,000) our January average temperatures are the
fourth-coldest on Earth, rivalling cities in Siberia, Mongolia and northern
China.
In response, over the last 40 years, we have worked to build a city that
turns its back on winter. We defend ourselves from it like it's an enemy
invader. Our climate-controlled networks sever us from the outside. Portage
Avenue was for a century a bustling 12-month, outdoor shopping strip, the
retail heart of the city. Then we decided to move to indoor malls, and
today we zig-zag in our cars across massive parking lots from one big-box
store to the next. We pushed people at our landmark intersection
underground, and our sidewalks were emptied by skywalks. The default
reaction to everything from segregated bike lanes to active pedestrian
sidewalks and great public spaces seems to always be "It's too cold to do
that in Winnipeg."
We have all heard someone from outside the province call our city Winterpeg
and laugh a derogatory giggle. Imagine if we could transform that word into
a badge of honour. It is difficult for a city to reach its full potential
as a smart, vibrant, livable place with a resigned attitude we must endure
the winter months. If Winnipeg is to be globally competitive, attracting
investment, tourism and immigration, we can't simply accept a lower quality
of life for half the year. Winter is part of who we are, it defines us. It
can be an asset, if we make it one.
To begin changing our perception of the coldest months, Winnipeg might
learn from our friends in Edmonton who have begun taking significant steps
toward a long-term cultural shift in their collective perception of winter,
beginning to leverage its potential as a social and economic asset that can
set them apart in the world. Last year, the city took the bold step of
adopting as official policy a Winter City Strategic Plan called For the
Love of Winter and have drafted a clear implementation document that is now
being executed.
Edmonton's Winter City plan was created through an extensive public
consultation process that established four key pillars: Winter Life, Winter
Design, Winter Economy and Our Winter Story. Each pillar categorizes a set
of strategic goals.
*-- Winter Life: *The goals of this pillar are to improve winter
transportation for pedestrians, cyclists and transit users as well as to
simply make it easier to go outside. Strategies to implement these goals
include: constructing commercial warming kiosks in public parks and plazas;
creating regulations for use of fire in outdoor public spaces; encouraging
neighbourhood-scale winter carnivals; constructing heated transit shelters
and separated bike lanes; and prioritizing snow clearing for cyclist and
pedestrian pathways.
*-- Winter Design: *This pillar focuses on creating a set of enforceable
design guidelines that prescribe architectural and urban-planning elements
to create more livable outdoor environments. These design standards focus
on creating microclimates that maximize outdoor comfort by incorporating
such ideas as protective wind shelter, outdoor heat sources and increased
access to sunlight. Colour, public art and creative lighting elements are
also encouraged.
*-- Winter Economy: *The economic impact of creating a vibrant winter city
is seen as a multi-layered opportunity, from tourism and commercial growth
to bigger picture issues such as attracting and retaining investment and
young people by improving the quality of civic life year-round. Initiatives
to achieve this include developing outdoor winter markets, changing zoning
and alcohol bylaws to encourage a winter restaurant patio culture,
supporting civic-scale festivals and public events as well as establishing
educational, business and research centres that focus on winter-related
industry and technology.
*-- Our Winter Story:* The final pillar hopes to champion awareness for the
winter-city plan within Edmonton and abroad. The goal is to establish local
contests, marketing and public-engagement initiatives as well as
international branding and tourism campaigns that celebrate Edmonton as a
world winter capital.
Over the past few years, Winnipeg has begun to informally embrace many of
the ideals Edmonton has made official policy. If our city were to initiate
a similar plan, there would be a strong base from which to build. Festival
du Voyageur is the largest winter carnival in Western Canada, attracting
approximately 100,000 visitors. Several years ago, the well-publicized
battle between The Forks and Ottawa's Rideau Canal for the title of World's
Longest Skating Rink raised awareness for winter activity along the rivers.
Since then, the warming huts international design competition has become
famous worldwide and has spawned the RAW:almond pop-up restaurant, which
will again provide the experience of fine dining on the frozen Red River. A
competition was held for a new restaurant design this year, won by U.K.
architectural firm OS31, which proposed a dramatic tent structure currently
under construction.
A great opportunity exists to follow Edmonton's lead by building on these
initiatives and establishing a formal plan to transform Winnipeg's winter
into an asset that makes us a global model for winter-city living and a
world leader in cold-weather design. To most of the world, our frigid
isolation is as exotic as any tropical island or rainforest. There is a
tourism experience here that can be found in few places in the world.
Through good design, we can build a city that embraces what makes it
unique, improving our own quality of life and attracting visitors wanting
the Winnipeg experience.
Winnipeg explodes with activities in the summer, from the Fringe and Folk
festivals to the St. Norbert Farmers' Market and patios of Corydon Avenue.
Edmonton is demonstrating with planning and smart design, some level of
this can happen in the winter, as well. Setting goals and outlining ways to
achieve them in formal policy could transform our perceptions of Winterpeg
and make people instead ask themselves, "Why don't I live there?"
Brent Bellamy is senior design architect for Number Ten Architectural Group
bbellamy(a)numberten.com
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 19, 2015 B6
Green Action Centre and Bike Winnipeg invite you to join us for a local
viewing of the following APBP webinar: *Level of Service for Pedestrians
and Cyclists. *
This webinar viewing takes place in the EcoCentre
<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/>
boardroom
(3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave) and will be followed by group discussion of
local applications.
RSVPs appreciated but not necessary. Hope to see you then!
cheers,
Beth
* * * * *
Level of Service for Pedestrians and Cyclists
*Wednesday, January 21st, 2-3 p.m., EcoCentre Boardroom*
Learn about Level of Service and its relationship to bicycling and walking,
with specific reference to the Highway Capacity Manual. Presenters describe
the performance measures that transportation engineers and planners use
related to signalized and unsignalized intersections; identify points where
multimodal travel can be more effectively incorporated into traditional
measures; explain emerging measures that are being considered in the
update the Highway Capacity Manual by researchers; and discuss specific
treatments that should be considered.
*Presenters*
- Nick Foster, Senior Planner, Kittelson and Associates
- Peter Koonce, Signals and Street Lighting Manager, Portland Bureau of
Transportation
Good Afternoon,
Green Action Centre will be hosting this upcoming webinar from 12 - 1 pm on
Tuesday January 20th at the Manitoba Eco-Centre (3rd Floor, 303 Portage
Avenue), followed by a brief discussion.
Hope you can bring your lunch and join us!
Jackie
[image: Active Transportation Policy Case Studies and Maps Webinar]
Active Transportation Policy Case Studies and Maps Webinar
What: Webinar
When: January 20, 2015
Time: 12:00 PM CDT
Active Transportation Policy Case Studies and Maps Webinar
The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer will host a one-hour webinar on
January 20th from 12:00pm-1:00pm CDT. By attending you'll learn about our
active transportation policy resources and how they can be applied to your
work:
- Active Transportation Policy Case Studies
<http://www.cancerview.ca/policycasestudies>
- Active Transportation Policy Case Study Summary Sheets
- Canadian Municipal Active Transportation Policy Map
<http://www.cancerview.ca/cv/portal/Home/PreventionAndScreening/PSProfession…>
- Provincial/Territorial Active Transportation Policy Maps
<http://www.cancerview.ca/cv/portal/Home/PreventionAndScreening/PSProfession…>
**Note: This webinar will only be offered in English.*
--
*Jackie Avent* | Active and Safe Routes to School
Green Action Centre <http://greenactioncentre.ca/>
3rd floor, 303 Portage Avenue* | *(204) 925-3773 *|* Find us here
<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/>
Green Action Centre is your non-profit hub for greener living.
Support our work by becoming a member
<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>
Dear Winnipeg,
It is not often that an event developed here takes over the world.
The website for the 3rd annual international Winter Bike to Work Day
<http://winterbiketoworkday.org/> is now live, and it has real-time results
(in the form a cool world map) <http://winterbiketoworkday.org/#map> for
the first time ever.
Any business, organization or person can plan a fun celebratory event
<http://winterbiketoworkday.org/#plan> (its pretty darn easy).
the only thing you have to do though is commit to ride
<http://winterbiketoworkday.org/commit> and get out there on the 13th.
For the love of all things holy, just make sure that Oulu or Trondheim
(....or Saskatoon or Brandon for that matter) don't make us look too bad.
;)
This is our event after all.
Cheers,
Anders
Part of the organizing team...
*Winter Bike to Work Day* <http://winterbiketoworkday.org/>
*Friday, February 13th, 2015*
Twitter <https://twitter.com/WinterBike2Work> | Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/WinterBikeToWorkDay>