Suburbs or Downtown Winnipeg? - Page 4

grumpy old man · #61 Posted **Sep 10, 2009, 4:26 AM**

Thanks for that.

Maybe the choice would not be so problematic if they stopped killing each other and the odd innocent by-stander.

I know I make a choice when someone pisses me off or when I'm bored. One choice I don't make is to pull out a fricken gun and start shooting.

Runt · #62 Posted **Sep 10, 2009, 4:34 AM**

^^^ Yup i hear ya, but if I'm young and single going to Uof W or working at HSC- it would be a great starting point. Close to the downtown,forks,transit.
I'm biased a little-- when i first lived on my own it was on Maryland then on Arlington.

wayward_prince · #63 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 12:47 AM**

Sorry to be negative but I hadn't been in the downtown of Winnipeg in a few years and have to say that the other day I found it to be easily the most depressing and ugly city in North America that I have ever visited, which is many.

UrbanPlannerr · #64 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 1:02 AM**

It's all on how you look at it...

vid · #65 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 1:25 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wayward_prince

Sorry to be negative but I hadn't been in the downtown of Winnipeg in a few years and have to say that the other day I found it to be easily the most depressing and ugly city in North America that I have ever visited, which is many.

Of course you did.

Kinguni · #66 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 3:50 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by UrbanPlannerr

It's all on how you look at it...

Or which part you look at. All a matter of perspective.

1ajs · #67 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 7:13 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wayward_prince

Sorry to be negative but I hadn't been in the downtown of Winnipeg in a few years and have to say that the other day I found it to be easily the most depressing and ugly city in North America that I have ever visited, which is many.

why not be apart of the sulution to change this

vid · #68 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 7:24 AM**

You mean "a part of the solution". He has already proven himself to be apart from it.

1ajs · #69 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 7:34 AM**

doh

sledhead35 · #70 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 11:52 AM**

lol anyway 1ajs, that pic is nice enough to change a negative opinion of our downtown pretty quickly!

ILYR · #71 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 5:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wayward_prince

Sorry to be negative but I hadn't been in the downtown of Winnipeg in a few years and have to say that the other day I found it to be easily the most depressing and ugly city in North America that I have ever visited, which is many.

Sorry to be negative but I hadn't replied to one of your posts in a few months but have to say that your particular post I found it to be easily the most pointless one ever in the history of SkyscraperPage Forum, and have read many.

harls · #72 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 5:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wayward_prince

Sorry to be negative but I hadn't been in the downtown of Winnipeg in a few years and have to say that the other day I found it to be easily the most depressing and ugly city in North America that I have ever visited, which is many.

Well, you're kind of an asshat as it is, so 'sorry to be negative' with your 'less than amicable assessment'.

Only The Lonely.. · #73 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 5:58 PM**

Wayward Prince usually has nothing of value to say anyways.

I'm surprised he spends as much time on here as he does.

drew · #74 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 6:32 PM**

Just so that Wayward Prince can be sure that it's not just us homers that think Winnipeg is an OK place...

Quote:

Toyota launches new Lexus in Winnipeg

By: Murray McNeill

Stephen Beatty, managing director of Toyota Canada, with the new 2010 Lexus HS 250h luxury hybrid car that had its Canadian debut in Winnipeg Tuesday.

Stephen Beatty, managing director of Toyota Canada, with the new 2010 Lexus HS 250h luxury hybrid car that had its Canadian debut in Winnipeg Tuesday.

WINNIPEG — In what is believed to be an industry first, a major automaker — Toyota — used Winnipeg today as the site to launch a new vehicle into the Canadian market.

The Japanese auto manufacturer brought in 40 journalists from across the country to introduce its new hybrid luxury car — the 2010 Lexus HS 250h.

Stephen Beatty, managing director of Lexus in Canada, said he was surprised to discover this is the first time a new model has been launched from Winnipeg.

"It’s just such a pretty city," he said in an interview after this morning’s unveiling in a mezzanine-floor meeting room at the Fairmont Hotel.

"I encourage everybody else to do it. We’ve received a great, great welcome here from everybody."

Lexus describes the HS 250h as the world’s first dedicated hybrid luxury car, meaning it’s only available with a four-cylinder, hybrid gas/electric engine.

It’s also marketing it as an "affordable" luxury car, with a suggested retail starting price of $39,900 for the standard model and a suggested top-end price of $48,700 for the ultra-luxury model.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

1ajs · #75 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 8:17 PM**

thats random?

h0twired · #76 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 9:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew

Just so that Wayward Prince can be sure that it's not just us homers that think Winnipeg is an OK place...

While it is nice to hear... isn't it kinda like a prostitute telling her john that she's never seen one "that big" before.

He is, after all, a sales and marketing guy.

trueviking · #77 Posted **Sep 17, 2009, 2:31 AM**

i can guarantee you that i have been to more north american cities than you and i can also guarantee that you are both incorrect and that you are a tit.

with a few exceptions, every time i come home from an american city, many far larger than winnipeg (houston, dallas, phoenix, atlanta, KC, st. louis) and particularily those of a similar size (tuscon, tulsa, omaha, albequerque, toledo, birmingham, richmond) i think to myself that we need to stop complaing so much......winnipeg's downtown is more vibrant than all of those cities.

anyhoo....

this thread is an example of the misconception the masses have of those who support good urban development...i often hear when criticising places like waverly west, 'not everyone wants to live downtown'....while downtown residential is important it isnt the only thing that makes a good city...single family neighbourhoods are just as important....there is a huge difference between the dense grid street layout of river heights, wolsely and crescentwood and the cul de sac sprawl of white ridge.

i often argue that although winnipeg's downtown population could be larger, its residential neighbourhoods are actually quite urban in comparison to most other cities....not everything has to be downtown to be considered urban or good for the city....it is about overall density.

calgary is a perfect example...it has a decent residential population downtown (actually the same as winnipeg's)...but the city's overall urban quality suffers because it has few compact single family residential neighbouroods.

all cities have single family homes...they are not the enemy of urban quality....as long as they are done right.

newflyer · #78 Posted **Sep 17, 2009, 11:03 PM**

While I definately think downtown Winnipeg could be better, I can assure you it is very far from the worst. Having lived in downtown Winnipeg for years I often enjoyed walking along the riverwalk, sitting outside patio cafes, evenings at the ballpark, or live theater in the theater district, took in many beautiful days at the Forks and dinned at some very nice restaurants.. all within a 10 minute walk from my old apartment.
Of course it would be nice to have more residential and office buildings filling in the many surface lots and adding to the vibrancy of downtown, there are few downtown streets in Canada which have the atmosphere of Portage Avenue or the beauty of Broadway. So before you bash downtown as being horrible, you should do yourself a service and take some time to notice all the things it has going for it.

1ajs · #79 Posted **Sep 18, 2009, 1:10 AM**

nothing beats sitting in the midle of old market square injoying a pita or somthing from the line up or where ever i happen to get my lunch to me even with all the construction noise with the stage the parkade and now sewer work?? and soon (i hope) rehabilitation of the biggest eye sore in the exchange and a gem thats the royal bank building but yea theres more then just downtown i must admit some suburban areas i injoy but thats more the 50's 60's stuff love the erra or architecture when done right

newflyer · #80 Posted **Sep 18, 2009, 4:35 AM**

Hey... I have no problems with the suburbs. I grew up on a quite street in a young family neighbourhood full of kids, where we'd play street hockey on the road infront of our homes or soccer in various yards, or the parks in the area. We grew up in a very low crime area and we were able to be kids .. ride our bikes all around without concern. I can't blame people who want to have the same lifestyle for there own kids today. I don't think everyone fits into the highrise lifestyle or life in a dense inner city neighbourhood, nor should they. A city is made up of a wide variety of people with widely different needs and tastes which should all be available.

With that said the architechure design should be more appealling than the standard 80's garage dominated home. As well the ability to decrease the carbon footprint of new homes should be a target of new developments. Solar and geo-thermal should be much more common in new developments.

I would also like to keep the majority of new development as close as possible to the city core, instead of the alternative bedroom communities and surrounding towns, who will add to future the commutter problems. At the same time each of these towns and independent communities are looking to increase there own tax base, so if the city doesn't want to meet the growing demand for new development, many of these communities will witness continued growth rates above the city proper.

In the end though.. Winnipeg is not facing anything new. Winnipeg is a growing city who is ticking closer to a million people every year and is starting to experience more of the issues which have been seen by other large cities around the world. For those who have driven through large parts of Europe or Asia you have seen what we could call sprawl, but they call rural living. For example metro Paris is HUGE and it isn't all high density as some people imagine it is. The only real solution to stop low density growth in area is to stop growth of population and even that is a questionable sollution, as Regina's population shunk since the 80's but has continued to see rapid sprawl outward.

A question I will put out there is... is all inner city housing suitable to the modern day demand of society? Would it be worthy to consider redeveloping some of the older areas to meet modern demands (ie: new housing and zoning) to attract more middle income families? I realize this is a Winnipeg thread and this idea may seem extreme, but has been used by many other cities as a means to revitalize certain areas which have fallen to hard times, due to low demand. I am not looking for an arguement .... just wanted to put this question out there.