We're gonna need a bigger bus.

Thank God for preseason games, is all I can say after Wednesday night. There are a lot of bugs to work out in the Bombers' new system.

I'm talking about the transportation scheme (although the Bombers' on-field game, um ...,  has a few holes as well).  I'm sure it looked great on paper, but holy smokes ...

There were two main busing options from my neighbourhood: the special Bomber Blue & Gold Express, and a regularly scheduled University bus. There were two Express buses scheduled, but I wanted to get to the stadium early so I could wander around and check things out, so I left the house almost an hour and a half before the game to catch a regular bus.

Ya, good thinking there cherenkov ... the bus I wanted to catch was 25 minutes late, and when it came it was packed full and I couldn't get on. I would have been no better off waiting for the Express ... there was a line-up of 60 people when I walked by there, and this was stop number 2 on the route. Only about half were able to get on the first Express bus. The bus driver then proceeded on it's route to pick-up point number 3 knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to pick anybody up.

Anyhow, I finally got to the stadium, but a good 10 minutes late for kickoff. I would have missed more of the game had I not gotten off the bus at Pembina Hwy and walked the rest of the way. You see, this is a two-pronged problem: a lack of buses and massive traffic bottle necks. From my perch up in the nose bleed section of the the new ball park, I could see buses lined up on University Crescent right up to the end of the first quarter, when this photo was taken:

Bus Math

I can't help but think a little math would have gone a long way in ensuring sufficient bus service to the stadium. The stadium holds about 30,000 people. There are 5,500 parking spots at the stadium. (I heard there were problems with the parking too, but I won't get into that.) If we assume two people per car, that's 11,000 people parking, leaving 19,000 other people who have to get to the ball park some way.

The Bombers asked people to take the bus, and people took the bus. Winnipeg Transit said they accounted for 5000 people taking the bus but that 8500 people actually did take transit (or attempted to?).

I don't know why they only accounted for 5000 people when 19,000 people needed to get to the stadium and no on-street parking is available in the area. But even if only 5000 people were to take the bus, I don't think they had that covered. Most Winnipeg Transit buses seat 38 people, so let's say 60 people cram on a bus in total. The transit plan had 45 total Express buses for game day service -- the Blue & Gold Express and the Park & Ride Super Express. 45 x 60 = 2700 people. This barely covers half of the passengers that they anticipated.

They also had extra service on the 161 route from downtown, the last of which was optimistically scheduled to leave the U of W at 6:20 and get to the stadium 10 minutes before kick-off. There was no other extra service from any other areas of the city, leaving people to rely on the minimal Express service or the overloaded regular University buses.


Anyhow, they will no doubt add more buses for the home opener later this month, which may solve problem #1: not enough buses, but it doesn't solve problem #2: massive gridlock. In fact, it may make it worse.

I can't help but point out at this stage that had our waffling leaders put rapid transit in place before the stadium was built this might not have been such a big problem.

So what's a person to do? I thought I might bike next time, but even the volunteer-driven bike valet was overwhelmed.

It is a conundrum...

I have thoughts on the new Investors Group Stadium too, but those will have to wait for another day. I'll just say this: it is very nice in some ways, but there are still some big shortfalls including congestion problems within the concourse. But hey, the Rum Hut made it over to the new place!

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.

*****

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.

A good sign for Winnipeg's condo market

Back in February I gave a preview of floor plans and prices for the Glass House condos that will rise across the street from the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. With condos the size of a shipping container selling for a minimum of $170k and units less than 800 square feet selling for upwards of $350,000 with a parking stall, you could say I was skeptical.

"I hope the market is there, but I don't know that it is" I wrote.

Well, now I know ...

There was a preview of the condos this past weekend in City Place where an actual condo space was constructed in the mall for people to experience in the flesh (or drywall).

This preview event was delayed by two months. It was initially supposed to be at the end of February or beginning of March, but that's okay because the extra time was well spent: All of the condo floor plans were completely redesigned.

This is good. I was critical of the long corridors and wasted space in the original designs, as well as the tiny kitchen areas. The kitchens are still tiny, but the floor plans in general are much better. They have reduced the number of units per floor from 14 to 11 so the average size is larger, and the layouts are more open, more creative and most have less wasted space.

A good example is condo b1. In the old layout this space was occupied by two units, but with a stairwell on one side and elevator on the other, both units had narrow hallways leading into a cramped living space. In this layout, they took that space between the stairwell and elevator and turned it into a usable den or sitting area.

As mentioned, the kitchens are still small. In the display unit last weekend I measured the total counter space at 49", broken up into 3 sections. In reality there was more like 3' of usable counter space. A person could upgrade with an island in the kitchen, but then you would lose the space for your table. This is probably not a bad option for a condo lifestyle though.

Nevertheless, the suite looked quite nice. The materials and finishings, which were standard trim, looked of good quality, and the 9' walls gave an open feel to the rooms (as did the lack of a ceiling).

The $3000 Francisco Nunez paintings didn't hurt either. The demo pad was really a miniature art gallery, with every room festooned with artwork from Gurevich Fine Art. 

All of this probably helped contribute to what I would call an impressive first two days of sales. There was a board mapping out all available condos, with red dots indicating those that had been sold. A super quick count showed that as of early Sunday afternoon, close to 40% had already been snapped up. I don't know what Longboat was hoping for, but that's pretty good in my books.

This is a hopeful sign, as downtown Winnipeg continues to fight its way forward towards a future as a livable urban area. There are big plans afoot for additional condos right in the core area, including Fortress Real Development's proposal for a 30-ish storey condo tower on Graham Ave. and another "residential project to be announced in the near future" by the Artis-Longboat team that's building the Glass House condos. This is in addition to the Heritage Landing and Sandhu condo towers already in progress on Assiniboine Avenue and the continued development on Waterfront drive.

If Longboat is successful in selling most of its 209 Glass House condo units, as expensive as they are, that will encourage other downtown residential developments to proceed. That in turn may encourage a real grocery store to open up downtown and things may begin to snowball until we actually have a moderately dense and vibrant core area!

Perhaps I'm reading too much into a two day sales blitz for a single project. I think the changes to Manitoba's liquor laws and the prospect of little pubs and music joints has me in a dreamy state of optimism that will abruptly end the next time somebody gets stabbed for a case of beer in downtown Winnipeg.

Jane's Walk - Point Douglas

A few photos from today's Jane's Walk with Rob Galston.

The start ..

Great attendance on a gorgeous day!

Vulcan Iron Works

Barber House

Windows...

... these windows belong to the Indigenous Cultural Education Center

Yellow house!

This year is the first year that I've done this Jane's walk thing. I'm glad I did .. they're a great way to learn about some areas of the city that you might not normally spend time in, see some new things, and hear some interesting stories while getting in a nice leisurely walk.

Jane's Walk - The West End

Just a few pictures from today's Jane's Walk of the West End with host Christian Cassidy.

Our host ..

The West End Cultural Centre.
It was a good turnout ... about 50 people.

West End Commons
a.k.a. St. Matthew's Anglican Church

This is a building of many purposes:

church, community resource centre, and soon affordable housing

This is where it all went wrong.

So .... how about that weather?

Something went terribly wrong this spring. That is clear. But what?

I've looked up the numbers and pin-pointed exactly where it went wrong: Saturday, March 9.

The following is a graph that shows the daily high temps this year, the same from last year, and the historical mean high temp for the day:

As you can see, beginning March 9 there is not a single day where this year was warmer than last year, or where we exceeded the normal historical high for that day. In fact for the most part we were a good 5-10 degrees below the normal temperature for that time of year.

That's a pretty spectacular run of below-normal temps!

The tricky question is: why did it happen? What happened on March 9 to cause our thermometers to plummet?

Well, I looked into that too and I've found the answer: On March 9 an asteroid the size of a city block buzzed by earth. It is apparent that the gravitational pull or cosmic wake from this asteroid caused a short term alteration in Earth's weather patterns such that winter was extended by a month and a half on the prairies.

That is your explanation folks. If you are skeptical then that means you don't trust science.

MB Budget 2013: Five Lies

Lies ... So many lies ... It makes me sad.

I am not happy about the PST hike -- few people are -- but for me the worst aspect of this week's budget announcement wasn't the tax increase itself but all of the lies that accompanied it. I appreciate honesty. I may not like what you're doing, but if you're honest about why you're doing it and have a good reason for doing so, I will not resent your actions.

But that is not the case here. There is a tremendous arrogance in how the government delivered this budget that I'm finding hard to articulate, so let's just get on with the show ... here some of the more grievous lies from this week's budget announcement:

LIE: The tax hike is required for flood infrastructure. Direct quote: "this revenue will help protect Manitobans against flooding." There are 13 consecutive paragraphs in the budget speech about flooding, leading up to the tax increase announcement.
FACT: Spending on water-related infrastructure is actually decreasing $11 million from last year -- from $59m to $48m. This amount also represents a very small fraction of the revenue that will be generated from the tax increase.

LIE. Holding a referendum on the tax increase would make us miss construction season. Direct quote: "We have to get on with it now. The construction season is in front of us."
FACT: This has got to be one of the worst excuses I have ever heard from a politician. I don't even know where to start. How exactly is this supposed to make sense?  You see .. much like pizza at New York's famed Grimaldi's Pizzaria, you can only pay for flood infrastructure in cash, and we ... um ... don't seem to have any cash on us. Do you have any cash Greg? No? Ya, neither do I. Gosh, where are we going to find all that money so we can protect Manitoba families from flooding? This really is quite the conundrum. I think the only solution is to instantaneously raise $48 million on July 1 with a PST hike so that we can get those construction crews working!
As already mentioned, flood infrastructure spending is going down from last year, and in any case these projects can be financed. A referendum has absolutely no bearing on whether a dike gets built this summer.

LIE: Our sales tax rate is still 3rd lowest in Canada. Direct quote: "Our PST will remain third lowest in the country."
FACT: We aren't even the 3rd lowest in Western Canada.
Alberta: 0%
Saskatchewan: 5%
BC: 7%
Manitoba: 8%  ← 4th lowest
Or .. you could look at it this way: we are 4th highest in Canada, lower than only Quebec, PEI and Nova Scotia.
FUN FACT: Two other provinces are decreasing their sales tax, including Nova Scotia. By July 2015 we will be tied for the 3rd highest sales tax rate in Canada.

LIE: The global economy is to blame. Direct quote: "But the economic outlook remains uncertain. The source of that uncertainty lies outside our borders."
FACT: As I've progressed through life I have learned that there are certain phrases that you never want to hear. Phrases like:
"We regret to inform you.."
"I just got my results back.."
and 
"While we have weathered the recession better than most provinces, the global economy remains uncertain.."
If you have the opportunity to pour yourself a scotch before hearing the remainder of any of those sentences I highly recommend it. Anyhow, on with the facts .... revenues for the year that just passed came in at only $200k less than what was budgeted for 2012/13, and those revenues were 3% more than the year before. In other words, the government's revenues are pretty much exactly as anticipated when the Premier said "Ridiculous idea that we're going to raise the sales tax. That's total nonsense, everybody knows that."


LIE. We are on track to balance the budget by 2016. Direct quote: "It will allow us to deliver a balanced budget by 2016."
FACT: The budget does indeed show Manitoba achieving a balanced budget in 2016/17. How? Through spending restraint unlike any we have seen from this government in the past. Spending growth projections are:
2014/15: 1.3%
2015/16: 2.1%
2016/17: 2.1%
For reference, the smallest increase the NDP has budgeted since it came into power in 1999 is 2.5%, and they have averaged spending increases of 4.6%. While it is technically possible for the government to keep this promise, they know very well that they will not.