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WFP opinion: It ain’t over till it’s over — is it over? (Portage & Main) Apr4'24
by Beth McKechnie 04 Apr '24

04 Apr '24

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. It ain’t over till it’s over — is it over? https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2024/04/04/it-aint-over-… JUDY WAYTIUK THE other day, I dropped into the Portage and Main circus. The elderly Asian man at the little convenience store there told me, in halting English, “I hope property owners keep open.” He has nowhere to go. He’ll have to figure it out. City council’s decision is not a reprieve while debate over closing the concourse continues, and the decision perhaps gets reversed. It will close. Council prettied up the mayor’s abrupt, unilateral decision with the gentlest possible knuckle- rap (though the vote on the amendment was 14-1) for his colossal pratfall in announcing the closure without a shred of the information needed to do so sensibly. Not actual costs, economic impacts, effects on businesses clinging to survival. Not the damage dried-up foot traffic will do to Winnipeg Square shops, to hotels, restaurants, or to the property values on which taxes from all those shops and businesses and parkades and hotels are based. Without pondering the thrill of crossing Portage and Main in January at -30 C with 40-kilometre winds in a wheelchair. Because when you close the circus, surface pedestrian crossing is your only option. Remember: the sole reason the mayor chose to open the surface was so he could close the circus. Council cobbled together a face-saving repair to his blunder and threw a sympathetic bone to the Bruce Head Wall, which is in the centre of the circus. The Winnipeg Arts Council — from whom the mayor just pulled an annual $500,000 that had enabled them to fulfil an essential purpose, commissioning public art, will try to figure out the problem. But they really should just find competent art historians to document the Wall in torturous detail for history, since the public will never see it in situ again. Locating a site for a 415-foot massive circular piece of three-foot-thick, 12-foot-high sculptured concrete slab? Figuring out what to do with its backside, even if you find a spot? Assuming you could cleanly cut it up into roughly 50 four-tonne blocks and haul them out of the doomed circus? Scotiabank’s escalators won’t carry them up. I’m exhausted after weeks of battling alone, until the Building Owners and Managers Association of Manitoba and the Downtown BIZ blazed up at the last minute, firing desperate salvos across the civic ship of state’s inexorably advancing bow. I’m tired of constantly observing the mayor’s $73-million number is patently wrong, and seeing that simple truth ignored in favour of the shiny-bauble news story: “Widow battles to save husband’s art.” But the media ran with that number, unquestioning, from the get-go, and cemented $73 million into their files — and the public mind. Then the shiny-bauble news story became “Historic intersection to reopen to people.” Nobody has checked the glaringly visible arithmetic. Concourse repairs plus new accesses — $35 million — not $73 million. Sewer/water main repairs, $13 million. Rip up/ replace the intersection plus traffic management, $25 million. Total: $38 million. Traffic disruption and $73 million were the mayor’s reasons to shutter the concourse. They have been blindly parroted by journalists since March 1. The sole questioning analysis came in brief coverage quoting the building owners association protest letter, and in op-eds penned by vested interests (this being one). The mayor also wished to lift the decision-making burden for civic authorities decades into the future. He very much deserves credit for at least making a decision frantically ducked by Brian Bowman — the mayor who held that 2018 plebiscite, simultaneously ignoring the leaking concourse membrane which was, even then, degrading under his watch. But the $38 million worth of sewer and water work still needs doing. Stantec’s report documents the needed work for over two pages. It will mean shredding and replacing the intersection and East Portage Avenue as well, and five years of disrupted traffic; there are even pretty, multi-coloured diagrams. Does the mayor consider $38 million and five years of awful traffic also unacceptable? On June 8, 2016, an enormous sinkhole in downtown Ottawa swallowed three lanes of Rideau Street. Cause: a broken water main. A year later, another hole gaped open. Hasty repairs hadn’t gone quite right. On Feb. 7 of this year, a sewer line broke in south Winnipeg. Roughly 230 million litres of raw, putrid sewage belched into the Red River before it was fixed 16 days later — temporarily. Traffic on Abinojii Mikanah was terrible. On March 13, a sewer pipe collapse forced closure of a south Winnipeg community centre/daycare for more than two weeks. If your sewer and water department tells you something needs doing, you do it. But that means more costs. When crosswalks go in (possibly $10 million), they’ll have to be ripped up, along with the intersection, to do the sewer and water work. The mayor wants those crosswalks by July 1, 2025, the same deadline the public service got to produce all the information the mayor apparently didn’t need to make his decision in the first place. So, another $20 million, maybe? Nobody wanted the concourse closed. Not the consultants, not Stantec, not the public service, not the shelved 2018 Dillon report. This is what happens when you don’t think something through, and you grab the wrong decision because you skipped your homework. It could blow up in your face. Or implode. Literally. Winnipeg, and what’s simply known across Canada as The Wall, will pay the cost. One way or the other. Bruce Head’s widow, Judy Waytiuk, may be exhausted, but she isn’t quite ready to quit.

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WFP: Fuel for a rethink of driving habits (Mar22'24)
by Beth McKechnie 22 Mar '24

22 Mar '24

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Fuel for a rethink of driving habits OPINION https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/2024/03/21/an-opportunity-to-think-… THE abrupt shutdown of an Imperial Oil pipeline that carries fuel to Winnipeg is surely an inconvenience. Economically, it’s bad news because it could have a negative effect on trade and retail sales. The trucking industry has already been impacted. However, it’s also an opportunity: a chance for Winnipeggers, including businesses, to explore ways to burn less carbon-emitting fuel. Some fuel stations around Winnipeg have been limiting, or are sold out of, gasoline after the pipeline was shut down for repairs. Imperial Oil says the pipeline — which runs from Gretna, near the U.S. border to Winnipeg — will be out of commission for three months. While industry officials and politicians have assured Manitobans there is no immediate threat of a fuel shortage (since gas is being delivered by truck and rail instead), there are visible signs of a supply disruption. Hastily scrawled “Out of gas” signs are popping up at some pump locations. Those will surely become more common, as will capping the amount of fuel motorists can buy. The wrong and dangerous response to this inconvenience (which is all it is right now, it’s not a crisis) would be to hoard fuel in jerry cans in your garage or backyard. For starters, there’s no need to do so. Fuel is available for sale and, by all accounts, will continue to be so for some time. It may just take people a little longer to get it. Second, hoarding will only exacerbate the situation by increasing demand unnecessarily. Third, and most important, it’s dangerous. Storing fuel in jerry cans — or worse, containers not designed to hold fuel — increases the risk of combustion and fire. A more appropriate and healthier response would be to use this situation to re-evaluate how much carbon-emitting fuel we use in our lives. Granted, some of that consumption is not discretionary. For those who need their vehicles for work, or have no other way of commuting to places they must be, there’s not much wiggle room. For many, though, there are alternatives to driving, especially for able-bodied, single-occupant motorists. Transit is the most obvious alternative. It’s not an option for everyone, especially in Winnipeg, which has a substandard public transportation system (the government should take this opportunity to re-evaluate how poorly it funds transit in Winnipeg). But it is available to many and, while perhaps inconvenient and less comfortable than getting into a remote-started vehicle, it is often a viable alternative to driving. Walking is also not an option for everyone, but it goes without saying most people could walk a lot more to reach their destinations, myself included. Many of us are lazy. We like convenience and it’s far easier to get into a vehicle to commute a kilometre or two (sometimes less) than it is to walk. Cycling. Again, not everyone has that choice, but with warmer weather just around the corner, biking to work, school, the store… wherever, is a viable alternative for many. Fortunately, the city has made progress expanding its network of dedicated cycling routes. It is far easier to get around on a bike today in Winnipeg than it was 25 years ago. The city has a long way to go before it can claim to be cyclist-friendly, but it’s headed in the right direction. Perhaps the fuel-supply disruption could help accelerate that process. Some people can work from home more often, carpool if possible (or more often) or even stay home instead of making a discretionary commute. Dog owners don’t have to drive to unleashed parks every day. They can substitute some of those trips with walks in their own neighbourhoods. The fuel-supply disruption could even be an opportunity to re-evaluate how people drive, including reducing or eliminating quick accelerations, speeding up to red lights and exceeding the speed limit, all of which is fuel-inefficient. In other words, use this fuel-disruption situation to rethink how much fuel you burn. Is all of it necessary? Can some be reduced? Is it time to start thinking about buying an electric vehicle or a hybrid? Those who have one must feel pretty good about their decision right now. Given the climate-change crisis faced by humanity, we should be having these discussions on an ongoing basis. It should not take a minor fuel- supply disruption to get us out of our single-occupant vehicles. Since the opportunity has presented itself, why not exploit it? tom.brodbeck(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: City hall votes to open Portage and Main, close concourse (Mar22'24)
by Beth McKechnie 22 Mar '24

22 Mar '24

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. City hall votes to open Portage and Main, close concourse Tear down barricades: council https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2024/03/21/council-votes-to-… IN the end, the final vote in a debate that has raged since 1979 wasn’t even close. Next year, after 46 years, pedestrians will once again cross Portage and Main at street level: city council Thursday voted 11-3 to open the intersection and close the underground concourse. ‘ The landmark intersection, which has been called the windiest in Canada, has been the place to where Bombers fans race to celebrate a Grey Cup win, where protests are routinely held and where the military was celebrated for helping out during the 1997 “flood of the century.” The vote came after city officials estimated it would cost $73 million and disrupt traffic for up to five years to replace the leaking membrane that protects the underground concourse and keep it open. Mayor Scott Gillingham has repeatedly argued that assessment makes a clear case to close the underground instead. “I believe the practical alternative (is) to open the intersection to pedestrian traffic at street level, avoid up to five years of traffic delays and decommission the concourse,” said Gillingham. The mayor joined Couns. Matt Allard, Jeff Browaty, Shawn Dobson, Evan Duncan, Cindy Gilroy, Janice Lukes, Brian Mayes, Sherri Rollins, Vivian Santos and Devi Sharma to support the proposal, while Couns. Ross Eadie, Jason Schreyer and Russ Wyatt voted against it. Couns. Markus Chambers and John Orlikow were absent. Not everyone at Thursday’s council meeting agreed: the trucking industry questioned the effect on traffic, while one councillor argued for another plebiscite to let citizens have their say and another councillor said he backs opening pedestrian access but opposes closing the indoor walkway. An early estimate suggests it would cost about $20 million to $50 million to close the concourse, though council voted to complete a more thorough assessment of that cost, and the steps required, before the 2025 budget process. City officials are expected to prepare for the street-level reopening by July 1, 2025. The city expects to devote $13 million to the “initial opening design and construction” and defer some road projects to pay for it. Some delegates at Thursday’s council meeting questioned why council would make such a quick decision to close the concourse, before the full impact is studied. “We’ll all have to wait until after you vote to close it to find out what it would actually cost… We know nothing that we need to know about the ramifications of closing it,” said Judy Waytiuk. Waytiuk noted she has a vested interest in opposing the concourse closure, since her late partner, Bruce Head, created the 127-metre-long concrete artwork that covers the inner wall of the circular walkway, which would be difficult to save on its own. She stressed maintaining public infrastructure is a primary role of city council, including the concourse. A member of the trucking industry said he fears large trucks could lose some access to the intersection, which is a key part of many different routes. “We’re not specifically against opening the barricades… Our concern is keeping Portage and Main open in all directions to trucks because conceptual designs do not make that clear,” said Aaron Dolyniuk, executive director of the Manitoba Trucking Association. Debate over pedestrian access at the intersection has raged on for many years. In a 2018 plebiscite, 65 per cent of Winnipeggers voted “no” to reopening the intersection to pedestrians, which was cut off in 1979 after the underground concourse opened. Wyatt said the city shouldn’t pursue a reopening unless a second plebiscite with the same question finds the majority of Winnipeggers now support the change. “I’m not going to vote to open Portage and Main, absolutely not, without there being another plebiscite (to) let the citizens of Winnipeg decide,” said Wyatt (Transcona). He also expressed safety concerns, suggesting pedestrian access will result in an increase in crashes, causing injuries and even deaths. While the mayor said he was opposed to reopening the intersection during the last election campaign, Gillingham said the latest information, especially the cost to fix the concourse, led him to change his mind. Eadie (Mynarski) supported pedestrian access but opposed the concourse closure. “I’m definitely not for closing the concourse. It’s existing infrastructure, just like the Arlington Bridge (that should be maintained),” he said. Meanwhile, Browaty said an amending clause, which requires the cost and traffic impacts of closing the concourse to be studied, helped lead him to support the slightly altered motion. That comes despite his long-standing opposition to opening the intersection to pedestrians. “Even though I’m still against 24-7 (pedestrian) crossings and I don’t think spending $13 million to rush the opening for next year is the best plan, I do think… getting that amendment is important enough (to vote for this),” he said. The North Kildonan councillor said pedestrian crossings should be assessed over the first 12 to 18 months after the reopening. “If it doesn’t work out… perhaps (in the) longer term, we look at putting weekday rush-hour bans on pedestrian crossing,” said Browaty. The mayor said he’s committed to consulting with the trucking industry, property owners at the intersection and businesses in the underground concourse about the changes, noting any spending to actually close the concourse would still require city council approval. “Council has to make hard decisions from time to time. There are times… when we have to make a decision about whether we’re going to continue to invest in an asset or whether or not we’re going to say it’s time to decommission an asset,” said Gillingham. Council’s decision also directs city staff to consult with the Winnipeg Arts Council about the public art in the concourse. joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca> X : @joyanne_pursaga

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WFP: Poll shows U-turn on Portage and Main (Mar21'24)
by Beth McKechnie 21 Mar '24

21 Mar '24

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Poll shows U-turn on Portage and Main Most Winnipeggers now support reopening intersection https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2024/03/20/u-turn-on-portage… A MAJORITY of Winnipeggers is in favour of reopening Portage and Main to pedestrians six years after an overwhelming “no,” a new poll suggested ahead of a council vote Thursday. More than a quarter of those polled in the Free Press- Probe Research survey said they voted against the proposal in a 2018 plebiscite, but have since changed their mind. “When you look at this new information, I think a lot of people, like me, are making a different decision than they did six years ago,” Mayor Scott Gillingham said Wednesday. The “new information” is the estimated $73 million cost and up to five years of traffic disruption associated with proposed repairs to the pedestrian concourse beneath the iconic downtown intersection. “When people, like I did, get this new information, it moves us toward the practical alternative, which is to reopen the intersection at-grade,” said Gillingham. The online survey of 600 Winnipeg adults was conducted between March 5-18. A total of 61 per cent said they strongly or somewhat support restoring pedestrian access, while 39 per cent are strongly or somewhat against it. Women, younger adults, university graduates and supporters of the provincial NDP and Liberals were among those more likely to be in favour. Portage and Main has been closed to pedestrians since 1979. In 2018’s non-binding plebiscite, 65 per cent of voters were against removing concrete barriers and reopening the junction to foot traffic, while 35 per cent were in favour. The Free Press- Probe Research poll suggests 28 per cent of those who voted “no” are now strongly or somewhat in support. “We have seen a pretty significant chunk of suburban Winnipeggers think this is the right thing to do, given the cost and the support (on council),” said Probe Research principal Curtis Brown. “There hasn’t been as much vocal opposition compared to six years ago.” Support outpaced opposition in four of five areas of the city. The strongest support is in the city’s core (72 per cent in favour), followed by the southwest (61 per cent), northwest (60 per cent) and southeast (58 per cent). Northeast Winnipeg had the highest proportion of opposition (53 per cent). Potential traffic impacts and negative attitudes toward downtown were probable factors, said North Kildonan Coun. Jeff Browaty. The finance committee chair said he is open to allowing pedestrians only at off-peak times. He said a full reopening should be trialled for 12-18 months — to assess traffic pattern changes and economic impacts — before a final decision is made. A 2017 study by a consulting firm suggested a few minutes would be added to most commutes. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed work and commuting patterns for some Winnipeggers, the mayor has said. Browaty said council shouldn’t consider closing the underground concourse until it sees a complete study. He fears property and rental values could decline if the concourse is closed. At a March 12 executive policy committee meeting, Browaty was the lone member to vote against a motion to reopen Portage and Main to pedestrians by July 1, 2025, and proceed with an eventual concourse closure in consultation with affected businesses and property owners. Council is scheduled to vote today. “It seems like the mayor has the votes for it,” said Brown. “No matter what happens, there definitely will be people who are not happy.” Gillingham believes the motion has enough support, but he is not expecting a unanimous vote. If approved, an external engineering study will help to determine the design and cost of a pedestrian- friendly intersection. The vote is taking place less than three weeks after Gillingham announced he is now in favour of reopening Portage and Main to pedestrians. The U-turn was prompted by a report from the city’s acting urban planning manager, who said it could cost $73 million and disrupt traffic for up to five years to replace a leaking membrane under the concrete that protects the concourse. “I could see why that could sway people’s decision,” said Coun. Vivian Santos, who supports pedestrian access to the intersection, which is in her Point Douglas ward. Decommissioning the concourse, meanwhile, could cost between $20 million and $50 million, subject to further study. Gillingham has said it costs the city about $1 million annually to operate and maintain the concourse. The Building Owners and Managers Association of Manitoba has spoken out against the proposed closure, describing it as “short-sighted” and “based on incomplete information.” The city said about 72,000 vehicles pass through Portage and Main on a weekday, which is 10 per cent less than in 2016. It is Winnipeg’s sixth busiest intersection. Last year, a study counted more than 2,100 pedestrians in the underground circus during a two hour period at midday on a weekday. More than 1,500 people walked by the intersection on adjacent sidewalks during counts in mid-January. Probe Research said its survey comprised a random and representative sampling of Winnipeggers. Live operators, an automated phone system and an online panel were used to recruit respondents. The polling firm said the survey has a margin of error of four percentage points, 95 per cent of the time. Margins of error are higher within sub-groups, such as gender, age and education. chris.kitching(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca>

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The Economist on American love of big vehicles
by Charles Feaver 14 Mar '24

14 Mar '24

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Why American cars are so big A regulatory loophole that incentivised sales of big vehicles is about to be tightened [Trump supporters drive through Mooresville in trucks while participating in a Donald J. Trump parade in Mooresville, Indiana, USA.]image: jeremy hogan/polaris/eyevine Mar 11th 2024 SaveShare Give Americans love to super-size-and not just their fast food. They favour huge sport-utility vehicles (suvs) and pickup trucks over small cars. Some 8.7m hit the road in 2023, accounting for more than half of all sales of new vehicles, according to jato Dynamics, a research firm. Although European cars are also getting bigger<https://www.economist.com/europe/2023/06/21/a-farewell-to-small-cars-the-in…>, American ones still have a comfortable lead: in 2022 the average car sold in America weighed 1,857kg, almost 20% more than the average in Europe. Wide roads and big parking spaces accommodate this preference for hefty rides-and so does the law. But a loophole that for nearly 50 years has incentivised sales of big vehicles will soon be tightened. Will that lead Americans to buy smaller cars? In 1973 oil-producing Arab countries cut shipments to America to punish it for supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur war: sharp increases in fuel prices, long queues at petrol stations and a deep recession followed. In 1975, in response to the crisis, the federal government imposed fuel-economy standards on carmakers. By 1985 all new models would have to reach 27.5 miles per (American) gallon (11.7km/litre), up from an average of 13mpg. Today the law mandates 40mpg. To increase efficiency, manufacturers had to use more complex engines, which made their cars costlier. To ease the burden on small businesses that relied on big vehicles, the government exempted "light trucks", any vehicle that could be used off road and weighed less than 8,500lb (3855kg). That meant suvs-typically among the biggest and least-efficient cars-were swept into the category and avoided the new fuel standards. [cid:image002.png@01DA7652.C1A60610]image: the economist Because making light trucks held to lower environmental standards was more profitable than building small clean cars, automakers marketed big models, including suvs, enthusiastically. They portrayed them as quintessentially American, embodying freedom<https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/11/09/in-praise-of-ame…>, strength and adventurousness. By 2002 light trucks made up a bigger share of light-duty vehicle sales than cars. After the price shock of the 1970s, by the 1990s petrol had become cheaper in America than in other rich countries-so the cost of running a big car did not deter buyers. Such models are convenient for suburban living, and consumers see them as safe. Even when buying cars that are not exempt from efficiency standards, Americans favour chunky sedans over small city cars, which made up just 8% of vehicle sales in 2023, compared with 36% in Europe. And although suvs have a similar market share-a little over half of new vehicles-in both America and Europe, American models are bigger and less efficient. That has been bad for the climate. Transport is the largest source of greenhouse gases in America, and almost 60% of those emissions come from cars and other light-duty vehicles. It has been bad for the safety of other road users too. Heavier cars are more likely to kill people if they hit them. According to a study conducted at the University of Hawaii, pedestrians are almost 70% more likely to be killed if they are hit by a light truck as opposed to a car. The rule favouring big petrol-guzzlers is about to change. The Environmental Protection Agency (epa), which sets limits on cars' emissions, announced in April 2023 that it planned to tighten standards across the board and narrow the definition of a light truck. The agency is due to publish final rules this year. The CO2-emission limit for cars is currently 161 grams per kilometre, compared with 276 grams for light trucks, a 71% difference; the epa is expected to cut that gap to 22% by 2032, forcing manufacturers to use more efficient engines in their big models, which will raise the price of big cars relative to smaller ones. The agency believes that its new rules are so strict that they will speed up the move towards electric vehicles<https://www.economist.com/business/2023/11/27/is-americas-ev-revolution-sta…> (evs), so that by 2032 two-thirds of new sales will be electric. Yet this may make little difference to the size of cars. Many popular vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, would still count as light trucks and continue to benefit from lower efficiency standards, and hence lower costs and prices. And evs are developing the same weight problem<https://www.economist.com/business/2023/08/10/how-green-is-your-electric-ve…> as conventional cars. The epa does not regulate evs' indirect emissions, even though heavier models require more electricity to charge, and need bigger batteries, which contain more of the scarce metals used to make those batteries. In 2022 60% of electric-vehicle sales in America were suvs, according to the International Energy Agency. Regulation alone may not be enough to change the country's taste for super-sized cars. ■

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WFP: A step closer to pedestrians on Portage and Main (Mar13'24)
by Beth McKechnie 13 Mar '24

13 Mar '24

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. EPC votes for plan; Downtown BIZ concerned A step closer to pedestrians on Portage and Main https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2024/03/12/epc-votes-in-favo… THE proposal to reopen pedestrian access at the Portage and Main intersection and decommission its underground concourse passed a key hurdle Tuesday. City council’s executive policy committee cast a 5-1 vote in favour of the move, despite hearing concerns the below-grade closure will hurt businesses linked to the structure. After applauding the pedestrian reopening as a way to spark street-level activity, Downtown Winnipeg BIZ chief executive officer Kate Fenske told EPC she is similarly worried about the below- ground changes. “We’re hoping this doesn’t have to be an either/or position… Decommissioning the underground would have a huge impact on their livelihoods and could also impact the success of other businesses connected to the city-owned Portage and Main underground,” said Fenske. The sheltered walkways also offer a key option for employees of many downtown businesses to travel between buildings, especially during the winter, she added. “Opening the intersection at Portage and Main to pedestrians is absolutely a priority, but Winnipeg’s underground is so much more than just an intersection,” she said, suggesting the city collaborate with the BIZ to address any negative impacts. Mayor Scott Gillingham later told reporters the feedback “doesn’t change anything for me.” “I’ve committed to having discussions with the property owners and the business owners, as well. We know that businesses, obviously, within the circus… would be affected by its closure but also businesses that are located under the properties. Part of our commitment is to be in discussion with the property owners and the businesses to try to find a way to assist them,” he said. The mayor stressed decommissioning of the site would not happen immediately, though the City of Winnipeg hasn’t provided a timeline. Gillingham said it’s “too soon to tell” whether the city could compensate the six tenants who now rent spaces within the city’s portion of the concourse. “The decommissioning wouldn’t happen immediately. It would take a while to all play out, so there’s time for dialogue.” The mayor has stressed there is a clear financial basis for the changes, noting replacing a leaking membrane to protect the concourse would cost an estimated $73 million and require up to five years of traffic-delaying construction. The mayor’s office said Winnipeg received about $111,000 in rent from concourse businesses in 2023, but paid $1.011 million to operate and maintain the site the same year. An early estimate suggests it would cost about $20 million to $50 million to close the concourse. After decades of heated debate over the site’s future, Gillingham said the relatively muted response to his current call to reopen it to pedestrians is likely related to Winnipeg’s need to address more urgent concerns. “I’m not saying the opening of Portage and Main is not important, but there are just more things that are pressing in our community right now — whether it’s housing, safety, the need to continue to address homelessness in our community. I think the public is wanting us to focus on those things.” At EPC, the mayor joined Couns. Sherri Rollins, Evan Duncan, Janice Lukes and Brian Mayes to vote in favour of the Portage and Main plan; Coun. Jeff Browaty voted against it. Browaty stressed the underground walkway is an important piece of public infrastructure. “Many groups are concerned with this out-of-the-blue closure scenario, accessibility advocates, business owners, people working downtown… At this point, no real work has been done to study the shuttering of the underground circus.” While the matter still awaits a final council vote, Gillingham said he believes there is sufficient support among elected officials to get the plan approved. joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca> X: @joyanne_pursaga

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WFP Analysis: Imagining what the ‘Windy Corner’ could one day be (Mar11'24)
by Beth McKechnie 11 Mar '24

11 Mar '24

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Imagining what the ‘Windy Corner’ could one day be https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2024/03/11/imagining-wha… OPEN Portage and Main. Four simple words. Elections have been fought over them. Friends have become temporary enemies because of them. Family dinners have been ruined by them. A Winnipeg debate that has stirred local emotions and bewildered outsiders for more than half a century. During the 2018 plebiscite, a common refrain in opposition to opening the intersection to pedestrians was that the money required to remove the barricades could be used for more important things. A new Public Works report flips this economic argument on its head, revealing a staggering cost for required repairs to the underground. This construction work would also cause up to five years of traffic delays through the intersection. With this new information, Mayor Scott Gillingham and several city councillors have pulled the pin on that old political hand grenade and announced their support for the less costly and disruptive approach, proposing to close the underground and allow people to cross the street at the sidewalk level. In 2018, the easiest solution was the status quo, so we voted against change. Today the easiest solution is change. The debate will continue as the mayor’s proposal moves through committees and council votes. We know the issue has been a political quagmire and this time will likely be no different. As politicians argue, however, the rest of us might try a new approach for once. Instead of being sucked back into endless circular debates about traffic and safety, informed by gut feeling and speculation, what if we let the traffic engineers solve the traffic engineering? Let the experts be experts, while the rest of turn our thoughts to a vision of what Portage and Main might become. We may be forced into this decision for pragmatic reasons, but that doesn’t mean our response can’t inspire our collective imagination. The mayor has said, “it’s just an intersection.” He’s right, it is. It’s not the mythical beast that has its own climate or was once a battlefield of pedestrian carnage that has lived in Winnipeg lore for generations. But it was once a special place in our city, in our country. What if it was again? What if instead of being a place to drive through, it was a place where we lingered, learned, and loved? As you enter the ‘Cities of the Twentieth Century’ exhibit at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, you are greeted by a giant mural of Portage and Main from a century ago. It once represented the very best of what a city could be — bustling sidewalks filled with optimism at the social and economic heart of a city. Could it ever become that again? Portage and Main began as an Indigenous meeting place, the intersection of two ancient trading routes, its unusual width a legacy of Red River Carts travelling, side by side, as Métis entrepreneurs crisscrossed the open Prairie. When Henry McKenney built his general store at the connection of the two paths in 1862, he planted the seed that a modern city would grow from. Portage and Main would later be the site of Winnipeg’s first city council meeting, and was once the head of Banker’s Row, a stunning line of financial buildings on land as valuable as Wall Street in Manhattan. Western Canada’s first office building once stood there, and in 1969, the west’s tallest building rose from the corner. It would be where the city’s first streetcar ran, and its last. The intersection witnessed the 1919 General Strike, the signing of Bobby Hull and Dale Hawerchuk, and the return of the Jets. A place where we celebrate together, mourn together, and protest together. Imagine a place where this spirit and history was woven together and expressed through art, lighting, landscape, and interpretive design. A vibrant place that is a celebration of our city, one that welcomes visitors to learn about us and a place for us to learn about ourselves. Today, every side of the intersection is seeing renewal and growth — new plazas, new restaurants, new office space, a gym, a soaring new skyscraper filled with hundreds of people who call the nearby intersection home. The familiar old bank that resembles a Greek temple on the southeast corner will see the intersection’s highest impact transformation as it becomes the Red River Métis National Heritage Centre, poetically reclaiming the origins of the place as a celebration of Métis culture and modern spirit. It will stand as a downtown focal point and destination that will draw people to Portage and Main. Imagine if, instead of being hidden behind concrete barricades, this new landmark was surrounded by a grand urban landscape that spills from one corner to the next, drawing all this new activity out from inside the buildings onto the sidewalks and into the public spaces. A celebration of who we are, where we have come from and where we want to go. Most Winnipeggers recognize the lasting impacts of the pandemic have hit downtown hard, and Portage Avenue is no longer the proud street it once was. New ideas are needed to restore its prominent place in our city. Re-imagining Portage and Main as a welcoming place for people won’t solve all of downtown’s issues, but it will make an important statement about who we are as a city and who we aspire to be. The mayor and supporting councilors should be given credit. It will take political courage to move forward, even backed by financial justification. As we do, let’s take some time to dream about the possibilities and shift towards an uplifting dialogue about vision and opportunity, reflecting on what Winnipeg’s famous ‘Windy Corner’ might one day be. Brent Bellamy is creative director at Number Ten Architectural Group.

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WFP: ’Over the moon’: longtime proponents of opening Portage and Main plan ‘crossing the street’ party (Mar3'24)
by Beth McKechnie 03 Mar '24

03 Mar '24

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. ’Over the moon’: longtime proponents of opening Portage and Main plan ‘crossing the street’ party https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2024/03/02/over-the-moon-lon… If the concrete barricades are torn down and Portage and Main reopens to pedestrians, you can expect Adam Dooley to be one of the first Winnipeggers to cross the storied intersection. Dooley, who co-chaired the Vote Open campaign during a 2018 plebiscite that denied the reopening, joked about having a “crossing the street” party to celebrate the occasion. “We will definitely be there on day 1, and I know there will be a lot of happy people,” he said. “Once the dust settles, people will applaud this. Even people who were four-square against it.” Dooley and fellow supporters were pleased when Mayor Scott Gillingham announced Friday Portage and Main could reopen to pedestrians by summer 2025, following decades of debate. “I was over the moon. It feels like something that has been a really long time coming,” said Alyson Shane, a digital marketing agency owner who was the official spokesperson of the Vote Open campaign. “It’s nice to see the city making changes that move us in a positive direction.” The downtown intersection closed to foot traffic in 1979, after the city struck a 40-year deal — now expired — with a property developer who built an office tower and an underground mall. In 2018’s non-binding plebiscite, 65 per cent of voters were against restoring pedestrian access. Dooley and Shane said there was a lot of missing information or myths at that time, especially around the potential impacts on travel and safety. When he ran for mayor in 2022, Gillingham was opposed to removing the barricades, saying it would “disrespectful” to ignore the results of the public vote. He’s now in favour, after a new city staff report said it would cost $73 million to repair the leaking membrane under the concrete that protects a pedestrian concourse beneath the intersection. Repairs would involve digging up parts of Portage and Main, which would cause traffic “chaos” for four to five years, the mayor said Friday. Additional costly repairs would be necessary in 30 to 40 years. “We have information today we did not have in 2018, and I did not have during the election in 2022,” said Gillingham. If the report’s findings were available in 2018, the plebiscite’s result likely would have been closer, said Dooley, a public relations executive based in the Exchange District. “When I read about the rationale (Friday), I thought this is a good, common sense policy decision,” he said. In 2018, the Vote Open campaign heard two main concerns: that reopening Portage and Main would be a waste of money, and it would impede vehicular traffic. The report states concourse repairs and maintenance would be costlier, said Dooley. As for traffic impacts, people in the “vote yes” camp pointed to a consulting firm’s 2017 study which suggested only a few minutes would be added to most commutes. The difference would have been negligible, said Shane. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed work and commuting patterns, and the city has been taking steps, including bus route changes, to improve traffic flow, said Dooley. In 2017, the cost to reopen the intersection was estimated to be $11.6 million, about half of which was for the purchase of new buses. City council could soon vote on a motion which calls for pedestrian access at Portage and Main — the city’s sixth-busiest downtown intersection — by 2025 to coincide with a new Winnipeg Transit route network. Further study would find out how much it could cost to reopen the intersection. Public works chair Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) said the city budget’s road safety plan would provide funding and research to ensure the intersection is safe for pedestrians. Busier downtown intersections are open to pedestrians, she noted. The plan calls for the concourse to be permanently closed to the public. It could cost $20 million to $50 million, and take up to five years to decommission the city’s portion of the concourse, said Gillingham. Dooley said some questions are still to be answered. “We don’t know what the final intersection will look like,” he said. Supporters such as Shane believe a pedestrian-friendly junction will help to improve public safety and vibrancy downtown. “It’s a really exciting and positive step for our city,” she said. chris.kitching(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP Analysis: Six years later, ‘Yes’ side gets the last laugh (Mar2'24)
by Beth McKechnie 02 Mar '24

02 Mar '24

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Six years later, ‘Yes’ side gets the last laugh OPINION https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/2024/03/01/is-the-truth-in-the-end-… BACK in 2018, with Winnipeggers embroiled in a contentious plebiscite about whether to reopen Portage and Main to pedestrian traffic, one of the property owners connected to the concourse beneath the storied intersection suggested city council delay the vote. The roof membrane of the concourse was leaking and would have to be replaced. However, as the plebiscite campaign raged on, the property owners and city had done only very preliminary engineering work to estimate the size and cost of a fix. “It would seem to me to be very premature to vote on the intersection until we get all the engineering information on what expenditures need to be made to the concourse,” said Roseanne Hill Blaisdell, president and CEO of Harvard Developments, owner of 201 Portage Ave. History will show the plebiscite was not delayed and that — without all of the necessary information about the consequences of the concourse repairs — Winnipeggers voted convincingly to keep the intersection closed. Fast-forward five years. The missing information in the debate over Portage and Main was finally unearthed Friday when Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham released an engineering report confirming it would cost $73 million to remove the existing pedestrian barricades and repair the roof of the underground concourse beneath the intersection. Gillingham said once he had the report in hand, he began to see just how pointless it was to repair the concourse. The $73-million investment would only buy the concourse — the city-owned circular walkway that connects the sub-grade retail and commercial levels of four properties at Portage and Main — another 40 years or so, when the entire process would have to be repeated. And because the membrane has to be accessed from street level, significant portions of the intersection would be closed for up to five years. The decommissioning of the concourse will be costly, as well, Gillingham said, with estimates running from $20 million to $50 million. However, that work will not have to be repeated in 40 years and will not require the intersection to be closed at street level, he added. Despite voting against reopening in 2018 and avoiding the issue completely in the 2022 election, Gillingham said he realizes the only sensible option is to close the concourse permanently, which almost automatically means reopening the intersection to pedestrians at street level. “I think it’s the practical decision,” Gillingham said in an interview on the Niigaan and the Lone Ranger podcast. “I think that if the average voter in Winnipeg had this information (back in 2018), that we’d looking at $73 million for this work, that we’d have to do it again in 30 to 40 years and five years of traffic chaos, I think more voters would have said, ‘Open it to pedestrian traffic.’” Rather than get involved in another plebiscite, Gillingham will join Coun. Sherri Rollins in tabling a motion on the floor of city council to close the concourse permanently and reopen the intersection to pedestrians by 2025. In other words, no followup plebiscite. Gillingham should be applauded for putting practical considerations ahead of philosophical ones. But it will still rankle many of the most strident supporters of reopening the intersection who predicted this exact scenario back in 2018. You may remember that former mayor Brian Bowman was actually elected in 2014 on a pledge to reopen the intersection. However, in the leadup to the 2018 civic election, North Kildonan city councillor Jeff Browaty and allies on council challenged the mayor to hold a plebiscite on the issue on the theory that voters in suburban neighbourhoods — where there is typically higher turnout during civic elections — would defeat the idea. Sensing the political mismatch that was developing, the ‘Yes’ campaign immediately went to work educating voters on the truth of the Portage and Main debate, which was afflicted by both a shortage of critical information (engineering estimates) and deliberate misinformation. Browaty, architect of the plebiscite and unofficial leader of the ‘No’ campaign, continued to argue that reopening the intersection would put vehicles and pedestrians at risk and cripple traffic flow. He made the arguments even though there were much busier and larger intersections in downtown that allowed pedestrians to cross at street level safely and efficiently. And Browaty dismissed concerns about the concourse repairs, suggesting that if existing barriers had to be removed as part of repairing the membrane, then it was an opportunity to build something “more aesthetically pleasing” in their place. When Browaty was reminded during the campaign that a full cost estimate had not been completed, he shrugged and started repeating talking points about pedestrian safety. What a lot of people suspected, and what we know now to be true, is that the 2018 plebiscite was a sham. It was a misinformed debate that took place with only partial information about cost implications, all designed to hoodwink voters. For a ‘Yes’ campaign that relied heavily on fact but ultimately fell prey to the forces of fiction, there may be some hard feelings about having to wait five years for the truth to come out. On the other hand, the ‘Yes’ folks do get to have the last say on the matter. They told you so. dan.lett(a)winnipegfreepress.com<mailto:dan.lett@winnipegfreepress.com>

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WFP: Portage & Main - Concourse businesses worried; disability groups cheering
by Beth McKechnie 02 Mar '24

02 Mar '24

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Concourse businesses worried; disability groups cheering Winds of change bring mixed reaction https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2024/03/01/winds-of-change-b… DOWNTOWN senior Marilyn Brazeau is a frequent visitor to the underground concourse at Portage and Main. Brazeau, who lives a few blocks away, is a regular customer of some Winnipeg Square businesses and, after hearing Friday’s traffic-stopping news, expressed concerns about the owners and people who work below the famous intersection. Mayor Scott Gillingham announced earlier in the day that replacing the leaking membrane under the intersection — protecting the concourse below — would cost the city $73 million and take up to five years, creating major construction-related traffic disruptions. The city will instead close the concourse and remove the controversial concrete barriers at street level that have prevented pedestrians from crossing since 1979. Gillingham’s announcement comes more than five years after 65 per cent of voters in a civic plebiscite turned thumbs-down to reopening the intersection to pedestrians. The mayor said he’s working with Coun. Sherri Rollins to draft a motion that recommends the city remove the pedestrian barricades by summer 2025 to coincide with the launch of the new transit network. Brazeau acknowledged that safety is a concern for people who access the concourse via stairwells from the street. “It is kind of scary (in the concourse), to be honest with you but, I mean, it’s scary up here too, right?” she said, adding she’d like to hear more input from downtown residents and business owners and possibly another plebiscite, before the city takes action. “I think it’s really controversial,” she said. “I think that people should have a say, people should vote on it, because it’s going to cost money, it doesn’t matter which way we go.” John Young was 17 years old in 1979. At the time, he found the decision to close the intersection to people shocking. Now the executive director of the Independent Living Resource Centre, which supports people with disabilities in Winnipeg, he is well-versed in the difficulties downtown residents have navigating the corridor. “Just imagine this — you went from Portage Place, you want to get to here,” he said Friday morning, gesturing at the concourse entry adjacent to the Richardson Building. “But then you get to Scotiabank, and the elevator doesn’t work. You can’t keep going. You’ve got to go back home.” He said the city had reached out to the ILRC for input on the possible change. While he’d like to see the concourse stay open, taking down the barriers will make a big difference for many. “One hundred per cent, this would solve it for people with disabilities, it would solve it for older people, it would solve it for a lot of people who live downtown who just want to cross the street,” he said. If the city saves money by closing the concourse, Winnipeg Square eatery Caribbean Vibes owner Melani Bastians said the city should take the difference and invest it into social supports in the downtown core. “If there’s any extra money that’s being saved from this (change), in the downtown core, we should find a warehouse, build a massive kitchen and… we can make massive amounts of food for the hungry,” she said. Lasha Yaeger has managed the Winnipeg Square dessert shop Cookies By George for nearly 25 years and has followed the never-ending debate about the intersection nearly that long. She was thinking about the future of her business Friday. While some customers order ahead over the phone, most of her business comes from people walking up and buying treats on the go — many using the underground concourse to get to her — and she’s not sure business in the winter will keep up if people have to get to her by trudging through the snow. “As a business, it will affect me,” Yaeger said Friday. “I’m not going to get as many people walking up, especially in the wintertime. So I’m a little concerned.” Yaeger wonders how her business and others in the downtown core, still licking their wounds in the aftermath of COVID-19, will adapt again. “I have very mixed feelings on it,” she said. The underground concourse was quiet Friday morning, and many of the businesses inside were empty. Business owners in the area were skeptical about hopes from city council members that the change could help the revitalization of downtown. Mike Publicover, who owns the nearby Stonework’s Bistro, has been working downtown for more than 30 years. “Every mayor, every council, every time somebody has an idea to improve downtown, it hasn’t happened,” he said. malak.abas(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca>

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