Around This Town: Safety, PechaKucha, blogs and other stuff

Downtown safety
I'm not sure what brought this on, but a big discussion among the on-line community about downtown safety emerged recently. I guess it started with this article in the Spectator Tribune ...

Winnipeg’s most perpetuated myth: Downtown is dangerous

"Get downtown.  Break the cycle of lies and misdirection that our local media outlets propagate.  See for yourself what is going on.  And remember, just because someone is brown doesn’t mean that they are going to gut you."

... which spawned this response in the same alternative media outlet ...

Winnipeg’s most perpetuated myth: A response

"saying that Winnipeg’s downtown is safe simply because I haven’t experienced violence, or so that my family isn’t worried about visiting in my ‘edgy’ neighbourhood doesn’t cut it if we are going to be real about the problems of race and class in the city."

... and this blog post ...

 Entry number "I've lost count" re: safety in downtown Winnipeg

"Men don't have the same fear complex as women because in a purely physical sense, it is MUCH EASIER to physically intimidate a woman. As a woman, I know we're a much easier target than the average male. We carry giant purses and vaginas everywhere we go. We have much more to lose on very, very extreme levels.
...
Here is the discussion. It's so simple. Downtown Winnipeg has a crime problem, but it's also a great place with a lot to offer. How do we reconcile the two? How do we make people feel safe to be here, and how do we deal with what makes people afraid to come down here?"

... and an on-going twitter conversation. The Winnipeg Internet Pundits will carry on the conversation on Wednesday with the author of the previous blog and some of the usual pundits.

I worked downtown for 14 years and never had a problem, but I also know people who have been assaulted, including somebody who was shot in the head and killed, although those incidents were a while back.

It's a complicated discussion and one I should probably stay out of ... actual safety vs perceived safety; safety of women vs men, safety during the day vs at night, et cetera. And what is safe? Is there some metric of Assaults per 1000 People Hours that defines the threshold of "safe"? Everybody agrees that more safe is better than less safe, but how safe is safe enough?

Oh look, somebody got stabbed.


Community centre funding

Arenas and swimming pools are crumbling all over the city. When Southdale Community Centre launched it's $9.4 million expansion, some accused it of queue jumping. Some accused elected officials of buying votes in a swing riding. Some complained about preferential treatment for a relatively affluent part of town.

But what's done is done. The expansion was completed one year ago, and now it's time to focus on spending scarce tax dollars on those other facilities that are in dire need of attention in areas of town were kids rely on ...

Wait... What's that? Southdale needs another half mil? Sure, here you go!

Oh stop complaining. They did have a Bud Spud & Steak to raise some of their own money you know.


PechaKucha

PechaKucha is kind of like a mini Ted talk with shorter presentations. Volume 13 of PechaKucha Winnipeg is taking place this Thursday at the Park Theatre.

There is an interesting and diverse group of speakers. Should be a good evening. Maybe see you there.


New blog

Somebody named after my favourite Thanksgiving meal has started a new blog called Winnipeg Spends. He or she is monitoring the contracts that the city is awarding and all money that is being spent, and summarizing on the blog with bar charts and analysis.

Did you know that the city just spent $95,000 on gloves? Well I do, and that's because I read Winnipeg Spends !


Audience participation blog

As far as Winnipeg bloggers go, James Hope Howard is about as famous as they come (second only to Winnipeg Cat). If you're a fan of Slurpees and Murder, now is your chance to find out more about the author, because ... March is Ask James Anything Month at Slurpees and Murder!


Random act of heritage

Another one of Winnipeg's top local bloggers, Christian Cassidy, held a Random Act of Heritage this Sunday. It was a presentation and tour of the intrepid Arlington Bridge, which is really much more interesting than it sounds. The Arlington Bridge is the second oldest bridge in Winnipeg and was built using surplus parts from the Eiffel Tower.

That might not be true. I didn't actually make it to the event. I took advantage of the nice day to go for a big long bike ride up the Seine River instead, however I do have a picture from somebody else who was able to go:

This random act of heritage thing is a great idea. It is encouraging to see that the media picked up on it, and hopefully Mr.C does more of them. He needs to schedule them around my bike rides though.


Well, that's it for this week's edition of Around This Town. Tune in 3 months from now for next week's edition.

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RIP Nick Ternette. Very few people worked harder to make their city a better place than him.

Around This Town: Slurpees, Surefoot, Speed limits and Stumbling

This is big news. HUGE news. 7-11 is now at the airport!!!!

See? Right there. 7-Eleven number 25.

I haven't seen it and I don't think it's actually in the airport terminal, but nevertheless it's conveniently located such that when you come back to Winnipeg from some inferior place that does not love Slurpees as much as us, the first thing you can do is buy a Slurpee!

Also, because of the strategic location, 7-11 has introduced a new 100 ml Super Small Gulp that you can take on the airplane.

Okay, I just made that last part up.

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This is big news. HUGE news. Especially if you're a frail old lady. That's right: www.surefoot.org is up and running again!

A full two weeks into November and a week after our first big snowfall of the year, the website had absolutely nothing to report.

Now, thanks to a team of IT professionals working around the clock to restore surefoot functionality, the online sidewalk safety tool now informs you that you should take precautions when using sidewalks.

This is tremendously important for those older folks and people with disabilities who would otherwise have danced down the sidewalk wearing rollerblades.

Now that surefoot.org is back up and running, we can rest easy knowing that Councillor Harvey Smith will not fall down this winter.

(Really, I like Harvey. He cares about the city and he's a very engaged person. I sent him an email one evening and he called me within half an hour and we had a good long chat. Usually the most you get is a one word reply.)

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This is big news! Speed limits are being reviewed, and this time we're not talking about making them lower, but actually increasing some of the ridiculously low limits that you see around town. I give a tip of the hat to Winnipeg Girl for pointing out the CJOB web site with the details.

That's a great summary by CJOB, with Google maps and a description of the proposed increase.

I've written about this before, but increasing speed limits has been proposed in the past only to be shot down by a city hall committee with little consideration. Hopefully the Manitoba Traffic Board's consultative approach this time will have more success.

You know people will come out and oppose this, saying things like "a person has a 30% better chance of surviving an accident with a car going 50 km/h than 60 km/h" and so on. That's a false argument though, because if you take that to it's logical conclusion all speed limits should be set to 0 km/h.

In reality, the safest speed to drive is the "natural" speed of the road ... the speed that people tend to drive. The "85th percentile" that traffic experts recommend speed limits be set at. If you set speed limits too low then there is more lane changing and shuffling of traffic, and more people will take short cuts down side roads endangering kids.

I'm usually not a big fan of obscure provincial boards, but GO Manitoba Traffic Board!

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In blog news, the blog Stumbling (A)Bordeaux is gone. Like a puff of smoke, it has vanished into the ether, posts and all. Patrick Oystryk went out with a strong final post "Winnipeg: a Recycled City" -- a sobre evaluation of Winnipeg's shortcomings from somebody who just spent a few years living in Europe. He has hinted at starting up something new now that's he's returned to the 'Peg, so stay tuned.

It's a personal decision, whether to delete it all when you hang up the blogging gloves, or keep things on-line for posterity. I selfishly prefer the latter, because there was a lot of good content that has disappeared from the likes of Patrick, David Watson of Waverly West and Beyond, Walk Krawec of One Man Committee, and others.

Speaking of One Man Committee, it popped up on my blog roll again today. There is only one post with nothing in it, and the author is now Kindra Cahya. What's up with that?

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Lastly, this Friday is the 16th annual LITE (local investment toward employment) Wild Blueberry Pancake Breakfast at the Indian and Métis Friendship Centre. 

I will be there flipping pancakes or washing dishes or, given the time of day, slumped in a chair drinking coffee. Maybe see you there!

Around this town - October 2012

 The Big Man Bob Cox has put figurative pen to paper in a recent blog post on the Free Press web site. He doesn't write half bad (aside from the one sentence per paragraph thing -- did somebody draw a period on the enter key of his key board?) Maybe he can pick up some of the slack from the laid off journalists and put out some concert reviews and web content.

Half a million Winnipeggers read newspapers

Half a million people read newspapers regularly in Winnipeg.Two out of every three Winnipeggers read the Winnipeg Free Press at least once a week.
...
The real numbers, complete with full-colour graphs, are in a survey made public this week by the National Audience Databank better known as NADbank. When you consider all newspapers, four out of five Canadians read a newspaper at least once a week either in print or online. In Winnipeg, 78 per cent read a printed paper weekly, making us the most prolific newspaper readers in the country.

"Dang .. if only we had known that before we laid off all those people. Oh well ... what's done is done..."

So what's up? Is the Free Press okay or not? Go to the quarterly report and scroll down to page 5 and look at the revenues. Add up 2010 and 2011. Revenues actually increased year over year! But .. look at the first two quarters of 2012 -- not so rosy. What's changed? The Metro. That's my bet. The humble little free daily paper has put a big bite in the Free Press ad revenue.

So what does this have to do with the"alt weekly" Uptown magazine getting axed and replaced by an existing paper insert? That, I'm not entirely sure. However, say goodbye to local content and hello to CD reviews from the Associated Press and entertainment pieces yanked from Slate.com.

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Prior to the last provincial election I followed most of the major candidates on Twitter and regretted it immediately. If it wasn't required for my lucrative career as a blogger I would have instantly unfollowed them.

"Great day of campaigning in St.Boniface. #GoJetsGo"
"I'm in the front row of the Ukrainian pavilion at Folklorama! Mmmmm perogies!"
"I'm at the fall supper in Glenboro. Boy are the perogies ever good!"

Oh God, shoot me before I read any more of this drivel.

Remarkably I neglected to unfollow them after the election, probably because most of them stopped tweeting. However I need to give a shout out to Hugh McFadyen who, now that he's no longer a politician, re-emerged in the Twitterverse in August with a photo of Ron Swanson as his avatar and some actual substance in his tweets..

He's since ditched the Swanson picture, but might be worth a follow if you don't already.

Here's the thing though: why not actually share your thoughts on social media when you're a politician??  Yes, there is some risk, but I would argue that the bigger risk is leaving voters detached and bored. Put it out there. Give people a reason to relate to you or at least see that you're human!

Just watch the swearing...

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We have a few returning Winnipeg-related blogs and/or bloggers.

David Jacks has revived what used to be the Banana Peel as the new Jacks of Diamonds. He's only a couple posts into the new project so we'll keep on eye on this one and see how it goes.

Arthur Mira (@H0PP on the twitter) has returned with the WpgNewsReview, minimalist in design but not in length of post. If I have a word of advice for Arthur it's to cut those posts down a wee bit. Trust me. A picture or two helps also.

Shaun Wheeler has recently returned from a three month self-imposed exile from the internet and produced a five-part blog super-post for blog action day (start with part 1 here). This seems to me a little like trying to bench press 200 lbs after not going to the gym all summer, but good on him for doing it.

I just couldn't get into blog action day this year. Theme: "The Power of We." What the hell? "We"??? We WHAT? Great, ya, we can get more stuff done if we work together, but I need more of a framework in my subject matter. Something with a little less holistic nebulosity. Something like: Blog Action Day: how to make a good omelette.
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Finally, there is a new upstart Winnipeg internet forum out there: the uniquely name Winnipeg Forums.com. With only 8 total members they have a ways to go, but everybody has to start somewhere, right? Winnipeg Zoom is doing well as it approaches it's 1 year anniversary (and the Sandbox ... well ... it's still out there too.)

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Ah heck, one last thing: Binders Full Of Women.

Oh Mitt ...

Around this town: Clara Hughes, Blue orbs, and other things

It's hard to believe. A stunning event that you know is true because you're seeing it happen, but yet doubts linger in the back of your mind simply because it's so improbable.

I'm not talking about the Bombers beating the Tiger Cats this week, but the owners of the Boyd Building taking down their illegal electronic sign. I don't mind electronic signs in general, and I don't even mind this one, except that the very presence of the sign meant that the owners intended to reneg on their intention to build a taller mixed use complex next door and in the adjacent vacant lot that used to be a park, which leads me to believe that the proposal was nothing more than a ruse in the first place to gain control of the park for use as an illegal parking lot.

However, the fact that they actually took down the sign gives me a bit of hope -- not much, but a slim little ray of hope -- that the owners may sometime be convinced to do something about that ugly and illegal parking lot on Portage Avenue if the City were to push a bit harder. And by "something" I don't mean cheap plastic planters.

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During the recent Summer Olympics (c) a thread was started on the Winnipeg Zoom forum about doing something to honor the great Winnipeg-native Olympian Clara Hughes, now that it appears that her Olympic (c) career has come to an end (although I hesitate to write those words). "More than just a little park off Main Street."

Another great local Olympian (c) Cindy Klassen has a street and a fancy recreation complex named after her. Our civic and provincial politicians sprained their ankles racing to name shit after Jonathan Toews after just 3 seasons in the NHL, yet Hughes, one the greatest Olympians of all time, has a tiny park with a tiny little sign in her honour. 

I'm sure she doesn't mind, and she doesn't make Winnipeg home anymore, but it just seems a little out of proportion. 

UPDATE: I'm not sure how I missed this, but Regan Wolfrom posted about this a week ago. (I blame it on slo-pitch playoffs.) The Metro has picked it up as well.

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A drama unfolded in the local bloggoshpere recently. North end activist Michael Redhead Champagne, a.k.a.North End MC, posted that his sister was missing. This alarmed me and several others who spread the word on twitter, because, you know, the people who follow me on twitter are just SO likely to hang out at the places where an abducted Aboriginal girl would be. 

Then came this post: Dear Woman Beater. 

You are a snake. A poisonous snake. A coward. Spineless. A mindless predator. Ruthless. Systematic. Power hungry. You must feel like a big man when you hit women.

That's just a small sample of the post itself. You have to read it, but especially the comments. There is some pretty crazy shit there. Accusations of crack use, rape, child beating, etc.. things I would not feel comfortable about having on my blog. And then a dialog starts between commenters who claim to be the lost sister and her mother. It's a unique slice of social media there.

Anyhow, I'm happy to report that the sister is safe.

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Osborne Village will never be the same once Papa Georges is gone. Of the the great Winnipeg institutions started by Greek restaurantuers, Papa Georges was one of the go-to places for late night vittles after the bars closed. Moreso than the loss of Vi-Ann or even Movie Village, this will change the character of the area for me. PG's along with the Courtyard building across the street, mark the entrance to the core of the Village. The dense, quirky and pulsating mass of businesses that make the Village so unique.


You could see some signs. The building was looking worn in recent years. I'm not entirely surprised by this, but I do hope that whatever moves into that location will not be generic and mundane ... a franchise of a big US corporation looking for a high-visibility spot in a new market.

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If you go to Google Streetview in about 2 months and look up Bishop Grandin and St. Mary's, there's a good chance you'll see a dork on rollerblades holding up a cell phone.

That blue orb has probably scanned all of the chip information off my credit cards.

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That's Around This Town for today. 'Till next time ... 

Around this town: 92.9 FM, food, and other stuff

You know what's around this town? FOOD! Winnipeg has always been a food hotspot, but now we're starting to see more mobile food vendors setting up on streets, giving downtown office workers more options. Melissa Martin wrote about it in the Free Press this past long weekend. It looks like this might be a trend!

There's El Torrito, the taco truck. (twitter, facebook)

Baon Bistro "Fil-Asian" fusion. You can imagine my confusion as I misread the name as Bacon Bistro. (Twitter, Facebook)

Beaujena's French Table French/Mediterranean sandwiches, etc.. (Twitter, Facebook). The pork cutlet sandwich sounds amazing. I am definitely going to give that a try soon. But according to their facebook page they're launching an even better sandwich this week: Toasted bun, slice of brie cheese, 6-7 oz. filet mignon, trufle butter, two slices of crisp bacon topped with sauteed wild mushrooms and onions. "After you eat it, you will have to kill yourself because nothing will ever be so good again".

Drool.

Pimp My Rice Filipino food. (Twitter)

Little Bones Wingery Gourmet breaded chicken wings, including POUTINE WINGS. (Facebook)

And finally, So-Cal Smoothies hit the streets of Winnipeg two weeks ago (Twitter, Facebook)

I'll see you on the streets!
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UPDATE

A commenter pointed out Falafel Queen as another mobile vendor. FQ needs to expand their on-line presence. I could not find a web page or Twitter account, and their Facebook page is sparce.

Stuff-It Foods, by contrast, has a slick web page with a funked-out version of Wonder Wall playing while you browse the web site. (Twitter)

Sis & Me has typical summer food: burgers, smokies, etc.

J. T. Springrolls doesn't have much of a web presence either, although I found this picture ------------>

Lovey's BBQ also has a food truck .. or Kitchen On Wheels (KOW). (Twitter, Facebook)

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Speaking of mobile food, here is a picture of a slurpee in a shoe that I took a little while ago. An abandoned shoe and a slurpee ... what could be more Winnipeg than that?

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Another Winnipeg blog that you might not be aware of is The Daily Observer. It's author is Gabriel Hurley, the mastermind behind the Winnipeg Zoom forum, which has really taken off in it's half a year or so of existence. Gabriel's posts are not frequent, but you should keep an eye on it.

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Lastly, this is a major loss to Winnipeg radio:

THE FOLLOWING IS AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF CRE-COMM RADIO INC., OPERATOR OF 92.9 CKIC-FM:

As a result of recent changes to CRTC regulations regarding campus and community radio stations, and financial challenges, the Board of Cre-Comm Radio Inc. has decided to discontinue over the air broadcasting effective Wednesday, July 4, 2012 at 4:00pm, and will be returning the current broadcast licence to the CRTC.

I listen to 92.9 a great deal, simply because they play new and alternative music instead of the usual rock / classic rock / pop that you hear over and over again on most other stations. This is disappointing.

Hat tip to Marty Gold about that announcement.

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That's it for now. Next up: a new idea for leader of the Liberal Party!

Enjoy the rest of the week.

Around This Town

Supposing you do a periodic post about different things going on in Winnipeg .. what do you call it?  What I do is I hijack the name of a kick-ass song by a kick-ass Winnipeg band, Grand Analog, and present to you:

Around This Town

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 UPDATE

Walter Krawec has made the decision to shut down his One Man Committee blog. As far as blogging goes, Walt made a big impact in short span of time, and his contributions to the Winnipeg 'sphere will be missed.

I'll move him down to my "Are they alive?" blog roll just to see if it springs back to life at some point.

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A marriage in the bloggosphere

The Anybody Want A Peanut Congratulatory Response Team (CRT) had a meeting this week and came to a decision, with a near-unanimous vote, to acknowledge the wedding of long-time Winnipeg blogger Shaun Wheeler (a.k.a. Conceited Jerk) to his wonderful wife Jillian.

Please join us in wishing them a long and wonderful life together.

Princess and Ivy

Speaking of hooking up and having families, a pair of endangered Peregrine Falcons are back downtown, and have become very slightly less endangered having produced four yet-to-be-named chicks. Watch countless hours of the little fuzzballs developing into fearsome predators on the live web-cam HERE.

Clean-up day

Last Saturday I helped pick up litter along Bishop Grandin Greenway. I say "litter", but that includes TWO couches!


The weather was nice and the turn-out was good, and like the web site says a clean trail is a happy trail.

More photos here.


City Circus

Well, Black Progressive Marty Rod has a new show!! (I should clarify that Marty is NOT the Black Rod. Wink.)  Anyhow, in addition to his Great Canadian Talk Show podcast, Marty Gold has found a new home on Shaw TV, with a show called City Circus. Check the web site for times and details.

One of the best things about the old TGCTS were the in-depth interviews with the mayor, as well as people that often otherwise wouldn't have much of a voice. I hope to see more interviews in this new series. Good luck with the show!

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Although I will be nowhere near as regular as James Hope Howard (insert fiber joke here) and his Man Links Weekly, I do hope to be a little more active in writing these little local composite posts. Being pressed for time this week this is the best I could do. Have a great long weekend!

I leave you with, what else? Grand Analog!