This made me laugh when I saw it on the Free Press web site:
Ooo. Ooo. I know! Ask me!
Katz runs the city of Winnipeg like I play monopoly (except that Katz doesn't end up in jail).
In the column Lett makes a good point about the costs of developing Point Douglas:
All the moaning and whining about the costs of assembling and remediating the light industrial lands that dominate South Point Douglas ignores an important point: The city will have to bear those costs sometime in the future if Point Douglas is to move forward.That does not mean that the stadium/hotel/waterpark idea is any better of an option for development in the area. What this means is that our mayor and our perma-councilors need to do some thinking and planning about how to revitalize the neighbourhood over the long term. And I'm not talking about fancy street lamps, planters and banners that say "South Point Douglas Village". I'm talking about cleaning up the area and encouraging organic growth. And listening to the people who know something about urban planning.
I'll trade you my Higgins Ave and my Upper Fort Garry for your Forks.
5 comments:
You had to mention Banners again.
I need one of those Cliff Claven shock devices to keep me from typing that word.
Perhaps the best criticism from the urban planners conference was this:
"I don't believe the city is putting a lot of effort into this community in the first place."
We should invite more comments from out of town experts cause that is bang on. The city has done nothing the revitilize that area in decades and has watched the fires slowly knock it over.
Long-term planning is needed.
The timing of that urban planners conference was very fortunate. The thing is, I don't even think that "a lot" of effort is needed. That location has a lot of potential and even "some" effort would get us closer to realizing that potential. Certainly it would be better than complete negligence.
If you buy out and clean up some of the industrial areas and rezone them, I think we'll be well on our way. We can also encourage development with TIFs or modest tax breaks if needed. A handful of stores and some residential development will do more for the area than a mega-project (in my opinion at least).
Right cheren...its as easy as changing the zoning.
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