Gordon Bell's Field of Reality

Monday June 10 at 10:30am, there were be an official unveiling of the new "Field of Dreams" for Gordon Bell High School.

I wrote a few blog posts about this particular project back when it was starting, and I have to admit that I was not entirely supportive. Much of that has to do with the way in which the project came about. This piece of real estate on the edge of downtown was vacated by a car dealership in February of 2007. Canada Post bought the land over half a year later, in November of 2007, and had already designed a facility to fit the unique area when the movement to turn the area into green space began in September of 2008 with this Free Press editorial by Nancy Chippendale.

In the wake of the Upper Fort Garry debacle, where a highrise apartment development was toppled very late in the game by the 'Friends of Upper Fort Garry' to make room for an expensive and unnecessary interpretive centre, I was not sympathetic to additional efforts to replace in-progress development with supposed green space.

However, I have slowly come around and I'm willing to acknowledge that this Field of Dreams concept is mostly a good thing. After all, there are several important differences between this project and the Upper Fort Garry SNAFU.

1. The land was vacant for a much shorter period of time. There was a year and a half between the closure of the dealership and the start of the movement to build a recreation field on the site. It takes a bit of time for people to recognize an opportunity and get organized, so this is not unreasonable. By contrast, the area on which the UFG interpretive centre is supposed to be built was a little-used parking lot for as long as I can remember. It was only when a developer saw the value of the land and decided to make use of it that the "Friends" jumped in to "save" it.
2. The Field of Dreams movement was a grass roots movement, driven by the community to fulfill an actual need in the community. By contrast, the UFG project is the work of an elite, wealthy cabal to build something that is not needed by anyone.
3. The Field of Dreams is achievable and affordable. It wasn't cheap -- the bill will reach close to $7 million or perhaps more, including land purchase -- but with fundraising by students, an actual desire for the project and will to make it happen, things eventually fell into place. By contrast, the Upper Fort Garry project is unaffordable, and will probably never be completed as planned. A park on the foot print of the old fort will indeed be built, but it would have been built in any event, in some form or another, with or without the Friends of Upper Fort Garry. However the elaborate plans that the Friends have cooked up for the park still require an extra $3 million to finish, and then they have to raise another $5 million or so for the interpretive centre which is the specific part of the project that the residential development was killed for. That money will be very hard to come by, when there are so many other causes that provide community benefit or greater exposure for donors. That is why the site is still a parking lot, and it will remain a parking lot for the foreseeable future.

So I guess I was wrong to look at the Field of Dreams project in the same light as Upper Fort Garry, and it's nice to see it actually come about.

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The design of the actual site is quite nice, and fairly true to the original diagram by Scatliff Miller Murray (h/t MrC):

The field is not unidirectional as shown above, but a compact soccer-type field with two goal lines. Otherwise it comes pretty much as advertised.

It should be noted that although a standard high school soccer field could fit in this space, as I showed in that previous post, they chose not to do that. Instead they opted for a north-south orientation in the middle of the space, which is an elegant design with the circular track around it, but it necessitates a smaller field.

About that track ... it is quite narrow, so there will be no racing around it. It also merges with the sidewalk at one point which is certainly less than ideal.

This is a park where, to some degree, function was sacrificed for form.

However this is mostly nit-picking. Compared to what the students of Gordon Bell had before (i.e. nothing), this is a fabulous facility. I hope they get good use out of it, and I hope that my car insurance premiums don't go up too much because of soccer balls flying onto Portage Avenue and causing accidents.

CMHR Part 2: Fund Raising (Where to find $10m)

There has been a lot written about the cost overruns and fundraising woes of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. So much so that I'm beginning to think there's a problem. For example:

the museum's new interim chairman and its president also posted a letter on its website, confirming the construction budget had climbed to $351 million, a jump of $45 million, and they are looking to the private sector to make up the difference.

Looking to the private sector for money in an economy that's disproportionately public sector might be a tough proposition. There is not an abundance of ultra-wealthy execs and entrepreneurs in Winnipeg. As an indicator: we only have six CEOs of publicly traded companies in "the 7-figure club". We have only two people or families on Canada's Rich 100 list -- at positions 14 and 98.

We are lucky to have some rich and very generous individuals in this city, but we are asking an awful lot from them. I can't speak for all them rich folk, I'll let their personal speakers do that, but if I were a multi-millionaire business owner in this city I would feel a bit like a tourist in Tijuana.

Certainly I want the Canadian Museum for Human Rights to succeed, I really do, but there are so many other worthy causes as well like hospitals, universities, and zoos and whatever else. If I were a Hartley Richardson or Paul Giesbrecht, would the CMHR make my list?

There is also no way that average peeps like you and I will make up the shortfall. I can give a few hundred bucks to a place like Siloam Mission and make a real difference, whereas that money would only be a drop in an ever-growing bucket if I gave it to CMHR, so guess where I'm going to put my money? There are literally hundreds of causes I could give to where I'd feel like I'm making a real difference.

What this comes down to is donor fatigue. There are too places for a benefactor or donor to put their money, and there simply is not enough money to go around. Especially for a project where the 'ask' is in the tens of millions of dollars, and rising. So, although you may scoff at my next suggestion, I think we need to give it serious consideration....

How to instantly raise $10 million for the CMHR

There is a pool of pre-donated and unused money right now, as we speak, sitting somewhere in Winnipeg. $10.3 million dollars. The money was raised for the Upper Fort Garry Heritage Park and Interpretive Centre.

Right now you're thinking there he goes again -- whining about Upper Fort Garry, but let's think about this:

> The Upper Fort Garry park and heritage site is still nothing more than a website and diorama. There is no sunk cost. Construction has not started. If you go there and look at it you will see absolutely nothing but a flat surface of concrete and rubble.
> The project still requires another $10 million to build ... and that's a pre-construction cost estimate. If, like with CMHR, costs escalate after shovels hit ground, it could be more. (In fact there was already a reference to $12 million in the paper but I lost the link.)

Where is that $10 million+ going to come from? Who on earth is going to have that kind of change kicking around to contribute to a giant traffic-accident-causing holographic fort and Louis Riel shrine after all the relentless fundraising and arm twisting to bail out the CMHR? Even if you like what the Friends of Upper Fort Garry have put together, it's hard to imagine them meeting their fund raising goals on the generosity of the private sector.

So I say, let's focus on the big project. The one that has the biggest impact, the most potential, and is already half complete. Divert the money there and scrap the UFG plan. Go back to plan "A": reserve the foot print of the fort for a more modest park/gathering space/market and open up the SW corner of the lot for development. Use the tax income from the development to fund the park.

There are some hitches with this plan, including:
- not all of the $10.3 million may be real. For example, $1.35 million of that might be based on fictional property value.
- Some of the donors may not want their money going to the museum instead of the park

That last one is not likely to be a problem, except perhaps the $1 million donated by the MMF. If I recall, much of the money was donated by crown corporations, although we don't really know how much because that info isn't public.

But ultimately that's how this all will have to end: the government will end up bailing out the CMHR, and if we go ahead with UFG, then that too. My guess is that provincial crown corporations like MPI, Manitoba Hydro and MLCC are going to pony up most of the cash so that it can be called a "donation" in the press releases, but one way or another it's coming from your pockets. I personally feel this is a bit too much, and would love to see the government be realistic about this and retract it's support and funding of UFG and direct that money to the CMHR. That's the key project in this city right now, and if we can help it out while developing an empty lot on Main Street, that's what I call a win-win.

Waterfront hotel experiencing development hostility

What a glorious day it was yesterday. I stood outside as the sweet warm breeze ruffled my hair, and airplane vapor trails hung in the blue sky like scattered chopsticks. Yet here I was thinking about Gordon Sinclair. Damn you, Sinclair.

You see, I happened across Sinc's latest editorial atrocity while reading the Saturday Free Press this morning. But to give you a little background: a few years ago Gordon Sinclair was a key player in the effort to stop a residential development (something that everybody agrees is critical to the vitality of downtown Winnipeg) at the corner of Assiniboine and Fort St. in order to build an interpretive centre for Upper Fort Garry. He led the deceptive PR campaign with repeated "save the fort" columns in the Free Press, giving people the impression that a critical piece of our history would be destroyed, when in fact the only thing that would be destroyed was a deteriorating surface-level parking lot. Ultimately this PR campaign and a little backroom arm-twisting was successful in pushing out the developer in favour of a park that has yet to begin construction and has already ballooned in cost to $22 million, over twice the original estimate.

So it was with this as a mental backdrop that I read Sinclair's piece today, where he explains that an empty parking lot on Waterfront Drive is actually an irreplacable part of our history because somebody "contends" that Selkirk settlers once planted wheat there, and it was also a gathering place for people during the great strike. He goes on to accuse recent residential development (no, not that again) of "putting the boots to" this historic area, and finishes his ridiculous column in typically sappy fashion:

Now, apparently, a former premier of our province, and our mayor and city council are going to finish the job.

Play the pipes loudly, today boys.

And bang the drums slowly.

Fortunately, the "Friends of History" that are the would-be heros of Gordon's column do not have the clout of the Friends of Upper Fort Garry, so their campaign is much less likely to be successful. However, I happen to know somebody closely involved with the development, and it is not a sure thing at this point. In my conversation with him we didn't get into details about what the sticking points were, but it is conceivable that a coordinated opposition to the project could derail it.

There are great journalists and there are not so good journalists. Not everybody is gifted enough to be one of those great journalists, but at a minimum they should strive to at least be truthful and not do damage to the city in which they live.

****

I had a couple of replies on Twitter that suggested that our water front area should be preserved on principle, not because of some trumped up historical concern. I understand that viewpoint. I admire other cities that had the foresight to preserve their river front as green space. So why would I advocate a riverfront development in the middle of a relatively unbroken stretch of undeveloped shoreline greenspace? Well, first of all, I'm not advocating for the Sunstone development, but against idiotic newspaper columns. However I would also make the following points:

1. If this area deserved to be reclaimed as green space, the city should have acted long ago. The time to decide that an area should be a park is not at the 11th hour after a RFPs have been solicited, proposals submitted, and designs approved by a city hall committee. The Upper Fort Garry debacle was damaging, not just because a critical development had been stopped, but because it was stopped at the last minute after the developer had gone through all the hoops, had a contractual agreement to build and made additional compromises to appease opponents. Continual behaviour like this will drive developers away.
2. There is already a building on-site: the old brick Harbourmaster Building. We can either tear it down, leave it sitting vacant and deteriorating, or re-purpose it as part of a new development. Which option do you think is best?
3. The Sunstone development will link the greenspace on either side: "The plan also calls for pedestrian walkways to link up with existing riverfront pathways" -fp-
4. The development of the east Exchange is tenuous. Additional development is required to reach that critical mass that will turn it into a thriving community. A hotel and restaurant will help.

I can't think of a snazzy way to wrap up this blog post, so I'll leave you with a video of Wild Rumpus' Rock the Joint featuring Beardyman:

UFG unveiling

I heard that the Friends of Upper Fort Garry were about to share their long-awaited plans for the Upper Fort Garry site, and I sent my Senior Upper Fort Garry correspondent down to have a look. Here is his report:

***

As I approached the parking log that is to be our newest provincial park, I visualized what the old Fort might have looked like, and imaged the majestic interpretive center that might appear here in a few years; and a chill ran through my body as though the spirit of Louis Riel himself were penetrating my soul. Then I realized that I was just cold because I had forgotten to zip up my pants.The tent in the parking lot was all abuzz by the time I arrived. There were actors in various period costumes mingling and siting behind tables with muskets and other artifacts. There were ladies dressed as settlers, a dude with a top hat, a military-looking guy. They all looked a little bit out of place in an old tent on a concrete lot, but they seemed like nice enough people.

I missed whatever speaches may have been made, so I pushed my way through the crowd of business people and media people to have a look at the displays which were all clustered at the far end of the tent. The first display that I came upon was a model of the interpretive centre:

Kind of like a flat version of the WAG or a big green slice of pizza. I overheard the Friend that was manning this post say to a lady that the intersection of Main and Assiniboine is very dangerous, and may be closed off. "So the plan is to close off Assiniboine?" I ask. "No, no that's not in the plan right now" he assures me.

I push on over to the next display, which is a model of the entire site enclosed in glass. Lo and behold, it shows Assiniboine closed off... sort of:

"What's happening with Assiniboine?" I ask the Friend who's in charge of this display, "It looks like it just kind of disappears." "Yes, it gets closed off and the traffic will be routed up Fort Street" he tells me, "but that won't happen for several years" he says, obviously sensitive to the fact that some people drive cars and may not like seeing a street closed off.

There was an impenetrable wall of people in front of the remaining displays, and I was pressed for time, so I was not able to get a good look at all of the features and details, but I can give you my initial impressions of the plan, which is not yet posted on their web site. (You can see the original plans though):

My first reaction was: "What? Is this it? There's nothing here." The footprint of the fort is basically a park with no structures. Upon closer inspection I see that the spots where buildings would have been have been turned into gardens of some kind. I was actually slightly relieved that they weren't going to try to recreate the fort. We don't need another fort in Winnipeg, and especially a 1/3 half-assed mock-up of a fort. The lack of buildings also means fewer hiding spots for drug dealers and gang bangers. It's just that ... jeeze ... there's nothing there!

There's not quite nothing: there is a large clear glass wall in the shape of a building onto which holographic images will be projected. (I ain't cleaning that thing.) The only other structures on the block appear to be the interpretive centre, a tall sign of some kind on the NE corner, and of course the Manitoba Club building.

I think there are two ways to look at this project: the first slightly cynical view is that what the Friends have done here is build themselves a giant back yard. A personal park that they have agreed to share with the public, extending right from the Friends' lair at the Manitoba Club down to the river. Sitting in their perch up in the Club, they will see almost nothing but greenery. Even the interpretive center will be barely visible because it is a low, sloping building covered in foliage.

A more sympathetic person will look at this as an enhancement to downtown. What is now concrete and rubble is about to become green space. There were no additional surface parking lots in the plan that I could see, which is a good thing.

Whichever way you look at it, you ought to keep in mind the cost: the lost vitality and safety that would have come from having more people living downtown, the property taxes that we had to forgo, the direct contributions by the various governments, and the indirect contributions in the form of donations from crown corporations and tax-payer funded organizations. All of these costs were forced on us by a small handful of privileged people. There was no consultation about doing this. Just a PR campaign to get the government on their side. Two years later: "here you go ... this is what you're getting."

***

In the big scheme of things, this project is not going to change our lives a great deal either way. There are bigger concerns in the world.

Recalibrating and Snow Forts

You're perfect just the way you are (Macleans)

Apparently the Fed gov't has almost finished recalibrating, and surprisingly, their new finely tuned calibration is remarkably similar to their old broken calibration:

Two months after the Conservatives prorogued Parliament to “consult” with Canadians, government officials have revealed the broad outlines of Ottawa’s plans for the March 4 budget. In short, it’s more of the same—it includes no new spending or tax measures, and no cuts to pensions, health care or education transfers to the provinces. Despite signs the worst of the economic crisis has passed, the federal government will push ahead with $19 billion worth of stimulus spending announced last year.

When they consulted with Canadians, Canadians resoundingly told the government "don't change a thing, you sexy beast. We love you just the way you are!" (the poll numbers were just a statistical anomaly)

We've all been there. You know, like when your car is making funny noises and feels sluggish, so you cancel the road trip to the in-laws because you are sure the car is unsafe, then a couple of weeks later the garage phones and says "Hey, you know what? We couldn't find anything wrong with the car. You can come pick it up. No charge." It happens to me all the time. But you know what they say: better safe than sorry!


Upper Snow Fort Garry (Free Press)

Breaking news! A kid in Winnipeg built a snow fort. The snow fort even had a name: Camp Inukshuk. Wait! There's more: the snow fort got destroyed by a plow because it was built next to the street!

Sorry, I'll give you a moment to pick youself off the floor and recollect your thoughts.

There ... are you OK? Good. I didn't mean to blindside you with that bombshell. I'll be more careful next time.

Oh Gordon, what are we going to do with you? I blame it on the Free Press editors for forcing poor Gordon to write a column when he had nothing of public interest to write about. Poor Gordon had to strain every nueron in his grey matter to somehow twist this into a matter of relevance. Oh, how cruel the snow plow driver was! With a jagged sneer or his face and flames dancing in his possessed eyes he callously destroyed the dreams of a young community, by, um, keeping the roads clear. Much like how the evil Crystal Developers were hell bent on constructing an apartment building on an empty parking lot, and developing an adjacent park and interpretive centre to complement the Upper Fort Garry gate. Thank God there was a group a millionaire superheros to swoop in and prevent this near-fatal revitalization of downtown!

Where are the friends of Camp Inukshuk when you need them?


I think I may die of sarcasm one day.

Space, Splashes and Videos

Splish Splash - Water park at the Forks?

The only developer interested in building a water park with the help of a $7-million city grant wants to use the public money to erect a $64-million luxury hotel.
...
According to several sources speaking under condition of anonymity, the potential water-park proposal involves the construction of a $64-million "signature hotel" that would position itself at the high end of Winnipeg's hospitality market.

The proponent would purchase the city lot on Waterfront Drive for $7.7 million, thus immediately repaying the city for its $7 million investment, the sources said.

A couple of things ..

First: This is right next to the railway tracks, where they curve around the ball park. Those trains squeal like a banshee when they go around that bend. This doesn't seem like ideal placement for a luxury hotel. Sure you close the windows and muffle the noise, but isn't part of luxury being able to have your window open?

Second: they would not be "immediately repaying the city" unless the actual value of the land is $700k, and they artificially boosted the purchase price by $7m to repay the grant.* But if that's the case, what is the purpose of the grant in the first place? That's not the case, though, because 2.4 hectares of land at the Forks adjacent to a future world class museum must be worth more than $700k. I know this because the tiny gas station lot at the corner of Broadway and Main is worth $3.35m. How did I get that, you ask? $1m cash + $1.35m "donation" for "remaining land value" + additional $1m for environmental remediation = $3.35m value for a 0.136 hectare environmentally safe parcel of land. All other things being equal, the value of the hotel property ought to be about $59m

My opinion: forget the $7mil for the water park and use it to build a kick-ass polar bear enclosure at the zoo. It is shameful that we don't have one here in the polar bear capital of the world.

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Six lucky people ...

It was announced recently that the Space Hotel is on-track for 2012. Just in time ... Six lucky people (at double-occupancy) will get a rink-side seat for the end of the world (or whatever happens when the great alignment occurs).

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Friday Night Videos

Back in the day, before Much Music, one had to rely on video shows on regular network TV to check out the latest Luba or Thomas Dolby video. I used to so look forward to Friday Night Videos, or Good Rockin' Tonight. It was a treat to watch videos for half an hour, but Much Music and MTV made those shows obsolete.

Nowadays, 90% of the content on MM or MTV is some kind of crappy reality TV or gossip programming and the other 10% is crappy hip hop videos and interviews. I think it may be time for Terry David Mulligan to re-grow his mullet (optional) and bring back the dedicated video show. But until then, I will endeavor to post a cool video each Friday.

Today's offering: Walking With Thee by Liverpool's Clinic. Enjoy:


* (edit) I understand that the city's bank account balance will not suffer as a result of this transaction. I guess my objection is to any private development at the forks being subsidized by the city. Especially one that will compete with other businesses. This is a key area with limited supply of land, and we need to be very careful about how the remaining space is developed. Yes, even this parking lot by the tracks. This seems like another ad hoc development, and not necessarily part of a larger vision of what the Forks should be. Also, if the museum is successful, one would expect this land to grow in value significantly, so what's the hurry?

We're all good now, right?

So Mr. Spletzer, I know we stomped all over your plans to build an apartment building on an old parking lot across from the Forks, but hey, here's this other vacant piece of land that you can use instead. So ... um ... we're cool now, right? We're all good?

Some people will look at this as a win-win: Rubin Spletzer and Crystal Developers get their apartment building, and the Friends of Upper Fort Garry get their world class interpretive centre. I'm not quite ready to call it even though, and not just because I'm desperate for things to rant about. I have real reasons!

First, the people of Winnipeg are still saddled with this money-pit of a mockery of 1/4 of a fort, and adjacent shrine to Louis Riel instead of a vibrant gathering space, market and park.

Secondly, there is the thing that we in economics call opportunity cost: yes, we're getting a much-needed apartment building downtown, but we're foregoing the possibility of getting two. If Crystal were allowed to build on the corner of Assiniboine and Fort, then this surplus land would still be available for another developer.

There is also opportunity cost in not being able to put this land up for sale. Sure, they say that Crystal will buy the land for "full market value", but this is the same kind of "market value" that David Asper is paying for the old stadium site. You know: the kind where the market is not allowed to determine the value. I don't know what went on behind closed doors that caused Sam Katz to cave in like a snow fort in July, or Rubin Spletzer and Crystal Developers to walk away from a lawsuit that was a guaranteed win, but I'm thinking that somewhere in there was a wink wink about getting dibs on an alternate piece of land for "market value".

Crystal may be satisfied with this arrangement, but the people of Winnipeg should not be. It's your tax dollars that are being wasted and it's your downtown that is not going to realize its full potential because of the games that are being by the cogniac-sipping elites in this town.

-- update 06/30 --

Predictably, Gord Sinclair is calling it a win-win and smugly reminding us that he suggested this last year. It's right after his hard-hitting commentary about how somebody lost a wallet and got it back. I would link to his column, but I don't have a shower near by to get the ick off me.

What is the value of 142 Main?

More on this Upper Fort Garry debacle:

The provincial government has purchased the Petro-Canada station for $1 million and will assume possession Sept. 15, Premier Gary Doer said. Petro-Canada will then donate $1.35 million to the heritage park, the premier added.

First of all, my understanding is that they're not donating $1.35 million, but $1.35 million in land value, on top of the $1 million that the province is paying Petro Canada for the spot at the corner of Main and Broadway. This puts the value of the land at $2.35 million.

Maybe somebody can make sense of this, or maybe I'm doing something wrong, but when I look up the value of the land in the Property assessment tool, it's only $814,000. That's the new assessment. Last year it was valued at $523k.



So what gives? Is the city over-paying for the land? Is this $1.35 million donation completely fictional? I hope to God that they didn't include this in the $10 million that the friends supposedly raised (but nobody can confirm because they won't make the numbers public. Hmmm... I wonder why they won't show us the numbers... )

update: Is Gordon Sinclair calling me a loser? Well excuse me for wanting a more vibrant downtown...

What to do with the Lieu?

That's a terrible blog title. I know. I apologize. Sometimes I can't help myself. It's an illness, really.

The subject matter of this particular post is the job known as Lieutenant Governor. The ceremonial head of state of our province, if you will. Cutter of ribbons and rubber-stamper of bills. One of 11 representatives of the Crown in Canada. This seems excessive to me. Are there really that many ribbons to cut?

Bruce Owen points out in Saturday's Free Press that this position is due to turn over this summer. Now is a good time to review alternatives. The Manitoba L.G. costs Canadians about a half-mil each year: $105k salary, $332k staff, benefits and other expenses, $25k for upkeep of the residence, and probably a bunch of other stuff like travel, etc.. Plus I would guess that a healthy pension comes with the job. We're probably looking at over $5 million in cost for all 10 L.G.s in Canada each year.

So here's what we do: Screw the L.G. Don't appoint anybody else. Instead, pay some ambitious brainiac University student $1000/month to rubber stamp the bills from the Legislature. The Leg only sits for, like, 20 days a year anyhow. That's a pretty good gig for a student. Take an oath to the Queen, spend 30 minutes a week signing bills, attend the odd function, get some decent dough and a unique job on your resume. Knock out the summer months when nothing happens, and we have our L.G. for $8000 a year. In the unlikely event of a provincial governmental crisis, the Governor General could be summoned to help.

Now, what to do with the mansion that is the official residence of the L.G.? It sits on the ground of the Legislative building so you can't just rent it out to some guy. How about knocking it down and building a sweet condo complex? haha. Just kidding. Easy , there, heritage nuts. We're not going to knock it down. Really about all it can be used for is a museum of some kind. But what better place for a museum about the history of Manitoba government than at the Leg? You can tell the story about the building of the Legislative building, and the beginnings of the province including the rebellion and all that. In other words, you can take 80% of the crap that would be going into the new 'Interpretive Centre' at Upper Fort Garry and put it here instead. UFG can instead have a more modest interpretive centre incorporated into the one of the buildings in the faux fort.

So there you go: I just saved us millions of dollars and freed up some valuable real estate right in front of your eyes. Of course, I'm just dreaming here. There is no way this is going to happen. I have also come to the realization that I need much more interesting dreams. Ones with dinosaurs and naked girls. Maybe I'm eating the wrong things before I go to bed...

Falcons and Forts

Mr.Christian beat me to it, but the Falcon Cam is back again and better than ever. If you enjoyed watching our head of state eat raw flesh, you may really enjoy watching Trey and Princess ripping apart freshly killed animals and feeding it to their ravenous (but oh so cute) baby raptors ... live!


Tip: I find that the video feed on the CBC website refreshes too often and I lose the picture. For better performance, open this URL: http://mfile.akamai.com/32965/live/reflector:45367.asx?bkup=57936 in your favourite media player.

***

Mr.Watson has another letter from Jenny Gerbasi posted on his blog. This part in particular made me shake my head:

It has been a long haul for the Friends of Upper Fort Garry but they have received the final go ahead from City Council to move forward on what will be a new Historic Provincial Park in the downtown .... The goal to get more people living downtown continues to be essential and requires action. Projects such as this soon-to-be Provincial Park help to create livibility in our downtown and will help to make it a more attractive place to live, work and play.

Hellooo???

Jenny G needs to be reminded that the very thing this park is preventing is a downtown residential development, a usable greenspace, perhaps a farmers market, not to mention a bundle of property tax revenue. The action that is required is to tell the so-called Friends of Upper Fort Garry to screw off and to stop this money pit from proceeding so that we can get on with development that is actually beneficial to downtown.

Peanut Pundit: Schrieber and UFG

Cirque du Schreiber

In case you've forgotten what this is all about, I'll give you a synopsis: semi-senile con-man Schreiber is avoiding extradition to Germany to face charges of corruption and fraud by convincing Canadians that he has all kinds of dirt on former PM Brian Mulroney. The result: a $14 million inquiry to investigate $250k in suspect consulting fees. Let the circus begin ...


UFG Update

As Bart promised, he posted an update on the status of the Upper Fort Garry development.

Looks like a done deal. I think there are still some unanswered questions though, like: how much of that $10+million dollars was raised from Crown Corps as opposed to private donors? Is all of that cash actually in the bank? What are the annual operating costs going to be? Is it just a coincidence that the Manitoba Club is getting renovations done after the Friends, who are mostly members of the Manitoba Club, raised all of this cash? Hmmmm. Better keep a close eye on those books.

Oh well ... the sun is shining, the snow is melting, the squirrels are going nutso in my back yard. Time to polish up the golf clubs and forget about all this stuff for a while.

Upper Fort Garry: Year 1 Progress Report

Well, it's been over a year now since the "Friends" of Upper Fort Garry stuck a knife in the gut of downtown Winnipeg by killing a promising and much needed apartment development in order to build a world class money pit interpretive centre. So how's it going? Let's check out the website: http://www.upperfortgarry.com

Gee, I don't think it's been updated. I guess their work on this project "for all Manitobans and visitors" doesn't warrant informing those people whom this project is ostensibly supposed to benefit.

So what do we have to go on? A Free Press report that the group arranged the purchase of the adjacent Grain Exchange curling rink. Okay. Bartley was also kind enough to give us an update back in December:

the group claimed to have raised $10.1 million toward the construction of the heritage park. Yet behind the scenes, the Friends continued to wrangle with the city, which wanted to know precisely how much money had actually been raised, as opposed to merely pledged.

City lawyers also asked the Friends to name as many donors as possible, disclose any conditions placed on the donations and also indicate how much of the park-building money has been donated as a lump-sum payment and how much will be donated over time.

There's not much else out there though. What's the status of these donations? Don't you think it's time we got a comprehensive update from the city? Don't you think it's time the Friends updated their web site? Unless you give us an update on the situation, all we citizens have to go on is what we see: the empty parking at the center of this affair, and that parking lot looks pretty much the same as it did this time last year ('cept with a little more snow).

Ugg

Good thing I didn't eat before I read this:

the voice of Free Press columnist Gordon Sinclair Jr. trembled last night when he talked about receiving his latest National Newspaper Award. ... NNA judges lauded Sinclair Jr.'s work for "tugging at his readers' heartstrings with powerfully sensitive columns."

One of the powerfully sensitive columns that earned him the hardware was the column that "brought the battle for the future of Upper Fort Garry, one of Canada's most sacred historic sites, to public attention.." I can't tell you which of his 82 columns on Upper Fort Garry that was, but it really doesn't matter. Let me remind you, dear readers, about what this was all about. THIS is precisely the sacred historic site he was tugging at peoples' heartstrings to save:

That's right, it's a FUCKING PARKING LOT! And thanks to Gordon and the so-called Friends of Upper Fort Garry, that's exactly how it will stay for years to come.

Apparently, the NNA judges were also hoodwinked by Gordon's sappy writing. Or maybe that's what is considered the gold standard in journalism these days: the ability to mislead readers and manufacture a controversy. If that's the case, then Gordo has many more awards in his future because he's been practicing it for so long it's now second nature. Even at the awards ceremony he couldn't turn off the bullshit machine:

He also singled out [with his voice trembling, no doubt] Free Press reader Currie McMillan for contacting him about Upper Fort Garry's precarious future.

Oh ya, Mr. Sinclair: hero for the little guy. Fighting for the cause of an ordinary Joe. 'Cause you know, if it wasn't for Currie McMillan, Gordon never would have known about Upper Fort Garry and the big bad apartment building that was threatening a near-by sacred parking lot.

Tibet, Flaherty, and Minimum Wage

Hey, look at me. I'm on TV!


I know what you are trying to do, but was that really worth 50 years in prison?

The games people play

Jim, if you really want to offer budget advice to the Ontario government, probably best not to wait until 24 hours before the release of the document.


Up goes the minimum wage

Well heck, if our nurses deserve to be among the highest paid in the country, why don't our burger flippers?


p.s.

Gord please shut up

You're just making a fool of yourself at this point.

Another week, another $100 million bucks

It seems as though the day after I left the U of M, they started to fix everything. Nothing happened while I was actually enrolled, but then I leave and suddenly Smart Park springs up out of an empty field, the engineering building is torn down and rebuilt, a brand spanking new residence is built, a parkade goes up .... and they're just getting going. Recently they've requested proposals for a hotel on the site of the Smart Park, and this week Project Domino was revealed:

Retiring University of Manitoba president Emoke Szathmary unveiled a $100-million-plus legacy project Wednesday that will change the face of the Fort Garry campus.

All told, 13 faculties and departments will be affected by the massive undertaking.

The big question of course: where is the money going to come from?

"Of course, there's an expectation government would participate," said (Education Minister) McGifford. "I don't think I want to talk about that today." [*]

Maybe the government is finally getting a little tired of all of these people grabbing for tax dollars?

It seems that every time you watch the news or open the paper there is another request for government money. The standard operating procedure is to announce the plan first then request the money second -- create some fancy conceptual drawings and a flashy web site, then wage a PR campaign to suck money out of the government. You are all familiar with some of the recent examples:

• Upper Fort Garry ($9m)
• The new Blue Bombers stadium ($80m)
  
• and of course the grand-daddy of them all: The Museum for Human Rights ($160m plus $22m per annum for operating costs plus free land and property taxes)
  

In a way, I think Gail Asper's success in securing government support for the Museum has set a precedent for the PR-driven MO that seems to be used to get funding these days. I'll call it the "Apser Effect", if you will.

I'm not saying that I oppose the U of M Domino plan ... in fact I think our Universities are tremendously important and we should invest in them. I just question the methodology of releasing your plan to the pubic first and then pressuring the government for money through the media. Is this how they do things in other cities, or is this Asper Effect our own little quirky way of doing business around here?

A couple quick things

I have been know to criticize the Free Press on occasion, but this weekend there were a couple of pieces that helped to improve my opinion of the paper as being something more than a forum for left-wing slaves pulling Bob Silver's plow through the tobacco fields of the Manitoba media. Okay, that analogy was pretty bloody bad, but I'm at a low point on my mental bio-rhythm right now and I don't think I can do any better.

First, there was this piece by Dan Lett, who I am becoming convinced is actually Policy Frog (he's at least a fan). Key paragraph:

We have the cheapest electricity in North America, but that is doing nothing to create wealth or opportunity in the province. What is has created is the highest per capita consumption of electricity in North America, a trend that will make it difficult for Hydro to charge the market rates it needs to be profitable.

Bingo.

Then there was this piece by Bartley Kives, including:

Allow me to repeat this: There is nobody in Winnipeg advocating anything other than the creation of a heritage park at 100 Main St. What the Friends and their supporters are quibbling over is the second parcel of land, at the corner of Fort Street and Assiniboine Avenue.

... The friends would rather sit back and watch Winnipeggers get spun into believing Upper Fort Garry is in danger, when in fact their all-or-nothing game is the only thing that truly imperils the park.

Which brings two questions to mind:

1) Now that Bartley has imparted some common sense to the Saturday paper on this issue, is that going to dampen Gord Sinclair's "ridiculous rhetoric" a little bit?

2) Is Bartley going to get a lashing from his boss and Friend of Fort Garry Bob Silver?

Interior Decorating at Upper Fort Garry

I made the mistake of reading Gordon Sinclair's column today:

The resurrected samples of life at the 19th-century Hudson's Bay fort include paper, wood, textile fragments, bottles, china, paper and even a child's toilet seat.

...

The artifacts might give you a better idea how the Friends of Upper Fort Garry could decorate an interpretive centre that's the cornerstone of their plan to reclaim the grounds that were the very foundation of historic Winnipeg and Manitoba.

That's great: the interpretive centre could be decorated with scraps of cloth, broken bottles and a toilet set. If we're lucky they might find some sheep skin condoms buried in the dirt that they can hang from the lights. Geeze .. I thought Gordon Sinclair supported this proposal.

Wait ... let me read the column again ... hmmm, actually Gordon seems to think this is a good thing. So good, in fact, that he is urging Gary Doer to chip in another $3m of tax dollars.

Thanks, Gordon. I didn't realize it was our birthright to forgo economic development in downtown Winnipeg in favour of an interpretive centre decorated in 150 year old trash, supported by valuable tax dollars.

**************************

I don't know how much more I can comment on this without before I feel like I'm flogging a dead horse. There are many other good posts out there on this issue, including Rise & Sprawl who points out that the Friend's proposal calls for a new surface-level parking lot (yes, that's what it is ... the green dots can't hide it).

Why don't the friends work with Crystal Development? Why does the interpretive centre have to go where the apartment building will be? Why can't it go into one of those replica buildings that the Friends want to build? What are all those buildings going to be used for anyhow? ('Cause I'm sure the hookers and druggies could find a use for them). While you're at it, turn another one of those buildings into a farmer's market. I like that Crystal plan idea .. it would be great for the residents of the building and in-keeping with the heritage of the site to some extent. Just don't decorate it with old toilet seats and rusty cans.


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Wanted: Gordon Sinclair's fingers

Sinclair has written another column about "the fight to save Upper Fort Garry", where the "generals" for the "good guys" are valiantly trying to save "the place where Manitoba was conceived". Yes, that's right .. "conceived". Just as I had speculated on a NewWinnipeg thread, Louis Riel did in fact give birth to Manitoba through immaculate conception in the shadow of the north gate of Upper Fort Garry. No doubt the bouncing baby province was wrapped in a Hudson Bay blanket while suckling on Louis' nipple. I wonder why the history books don't explain it that way? If Crystal developers agree to place a nativity scene under the gate will the Friends back off? Likely not ... only cheesy replica buildings can really do justice to the holy site.

No surprise, Sinclair is calling on the governments to show "leadership" by dumping another $9 million of tax payer's money into this project to kill private investment in downtown Winnipeg. No thanks, Gordon. We've had too much of that kind of leadership already.

Upper Fort Garry round-up

I thought it might be fun to do a little poll of the Winnipeg blog community to check out the opinions on the Upper Fort Garry issue. Most of the contributors on my usual circuit have been critical of the misinformation and game-playing from some of the Friends of Fort Garry supporters including The Rise and Sprawl, Policy Frog (incl. this & this), and Hacks Wonks. Waverly West hasn't commented much on the issue, but seemed to be somewhat in favour of the Friends' plan in a January post, and I'm not quite sure where R.U. Sirius stands.

But those are just some of the usual suspects. I decided to fire up Google Blog search to see what else was out there, and came across Kevin Hill with his BNA blog who had this to say:

When the dispute first came up I was somewhat for the Friends’ plan. It would link The Forks walkway to downtown and would be another touristy thing to do downtown. But, as with so many things in this city, the plan was ad hoc; on the fly; dependent on handouts and government funding ad infinitum. ‘Give us the money now we will work out all those pesky details later’ is a regular mantra in this city. Only when someone decides to do something do the usual suspects look up from their navels to complain about development. Apparently they were quite content to see the old gate just sit there for years with some crap painting on one side and a decrepit curling club on the other. ... Why do these people always come up with ideas when someone wants to actually do something downtown?

There is Jon Malek with his Site O Canada blog, which is purdy-near dedicated to Upper Fort Garry, and is firmly in support of the Friends. But then again, the guy is a 19 year-old D&D-playing student, so give him a few years as a tax-payer and he may have different views. Anyhoo, check him out.

But my favourite is Graham with his Progressive Winnipeg web site, and this post. Excerpt:

I'm fucking tired of this. I, a young person in Winnipeg, want nothing more than to see this city progress. Preventing the construction of something that would truly benefit Winnipeg is NOT progress! Sprawling the city out in suburb after suburb, is NOT progress. When will this city grow where it counts? Heaven forbid a developer wants to put an apartment on some parking lot downtown, which someone will no doubt find that it's history dates back to 1897 or something stupid like that, and that we can't bulldoze the parking lot, we need a plan, an interpretive centre on the rich history of the parking lot, a WORLD CLASS ATTRACTION!

I'm just fuckin tired of it.

Heh. I think I'll keep an eye on this kid. I'll update with more as I come across them.

More on Uppper Fort Garry .. um .. Gate

Vandal decides to pipe-up ... from the Freep:

City councillor Dan Vandal figures a plan to turn the site of Upper Fort Garry into a heritage site shouldn't hinge on whether a non-profit group trying to preserve the site of Winnipeg's birthplace makes its fundraising deadline.

Vandal introduced a motion this morning urging his counterparts on city council to reject an earlier committee decision to sell the land that Upper Fort Garry sits on to developers.

Vandal said he believed the city should open discussion about the future of the Upper Fort Garry site to the public.

Ok first, to whoever wrote this: Is starting an article with three consecutive 1-sentence paragraphs beginning with the subject's name proper journalistic writing technique? Just asking ... I'm not a journalist myself.

Regarding the actual topic of the article .. what does Vandal think he's doing? "It's not too late" he says. Not too late for what, to break a contract that was signed in good faith? To piss off a developer? Hey Vandal, it's not too late to protect your computer against the Y2K bug. Sheesh.

More from his website:

“I was always uncomfortable with building a condominium near these historically important lands. I was also uncomfortable with the lack of transparency in approving this deal. Now that we have conclusive evidence the fort’s walls are further west than expected, we should simply negotiate another piece of land for the developer and concentrate on preserving the integrity of Upper Fort Garry,”

What a bunch of crap. I remember hearing more about this condo proposal than any other since Excelsior. And wasn't the development adjusted to accommodate the revised footprint of the old fort? How do you "simply negotiate another piece of land"? He's been playing too much Monopoly.

So you think the public should have more input on important matters? I would like some input on giving $7m to a developer for a water park. I would like some input on building whole new neighbourhoods in the south end of the city, even though our population growth is minimal and we can't properly fund the infrastructure to support it. There plenty of things I would like to have input on, but the UFG ship is leaving port. What have you been doing all this time, Vandal?

***

Update: The Rise and Sprawl makes a good point, that Vandal didn't object when the Tache condos went up next to historic structures in St.Boniface, including the Basilica. Seems like a little bit of hypocritical band-wagon jumping to me. (Thanks for the link, by the way).

Oh yeah .. and Gordy thinks that Vandal's last minute interference is "fun".