Winnipeg Budget Website

[njaohnt]

It seems like this website hasn't been discussed here. The topics are now closed, but it is interesting to see what people seem to want. When the topics were open you could make an idea for how you want the budget to be spent. I made some ideas, but I wish I could have made more before it closed.

http://www.winnipegbudget.ca/

[njaohnt]

Here are some of my ideas:

Changed Taxes on Foods
The amount of taxes you pay has nothing to do with the amount of food you buy, because everyone needs foods. There is no reason why people who make healthier choices should pay for people to make unhealthy choices. Organic, and non-GMO, fruits and vegetables should be tax subsidized. Processed foods should have higher taxes, up to 60%.

Better Use of Downtown Grants

The city and province are giving $40 million dollars for downtown residential development. Really, those grants should only be given to developers making buildings that have a very high quality of life.
Here are ideas for what they could do:
-Parks and plazas on the property
-Trees/bushes along the side of the building
*Birds will come to the bushes/trees
*Windows would be programmable to open, to wake people up to the sound of birds
*Birds wake people up in a much more calming way than an alarm
-Gardens for people to grow food.
-Everything a person needs in, or very close to the building
*Stores
*Jobs
*Schools
*Recreation
-A food court where residents to get any type of food that would be at a grocery store
*Ban the processed foods that are killing our people!
-A car/bike sharing program
-Wifi resistant walls, to stop the negative effects of Wifi microwave radiation

Take the HFSA out of the water
We are spending $250 000-$2.1 million on putting HFSA(hydrofluorosilicic acid) in the water. HFSA is not approved by Health Canada, therefore is illegal to put in the water. It is filtered out of city hall. It can cause fluorosis. Also, it should not be replaced sodium fluoride, as that had a Harvard study that showed that it lowered IQ by 15 points, and is the main ingredient in rat poison.

Alternative Rapid Transit
The city seems to be only looking into BRT and LRT. There are many more options, though. Like one lane rapid transit, where schedules allow one lane to be used, and buses cross each other at the stations. Here are some options that I think should be looked into(capacities are in people per hour per direction, speed is 80 km/h unless it says):

Aerobus
Aerobus is a train running on cables held up by poles up to 2000 feet apart.
Cost $5-18.6 million (depending on # of tracks)
Capacity 10000-30000

Monorail
Urbanaut monorails don't have the reputation of ordinary monorails, because the only time it was used, the construction company did not build the guide way properly, so it did not work.
Cost $5.4 - $18 million per km (depending on overpasses, and # of tracks)
Capacity 2160-34000
Speed 96 km/h
Normal monorails
Cost $10-73 million per km (depending on overpasses, and # of tracks)
Capacity 11300-49600
Urbanaut also has maglevs that go 225 km/h.

High Quality Freeways
Roads with frequent traffic jams should not be widened, because it makes it more expensive to put overpasses in. Roads like Route 90 should have freeways on top of them. High quality freeways would have parks, stores, and high rises on top of them. The real estate on top of the freeways would pay for the freeway. Putting Waverly West south of CentrePort Canada with the very busy Route 90 in between was not a good idea, and will require a freeway on Route 90.

Direct payment
There is no reason why people who walk to work should pay taxes for roads. There is no reason for people who drive to work to pay taxes for the bus system. Let the bus people pay fares for the bus system, and drivers pay gas tax for the roads. Gas tax will encourage people to walk, bike, or take the bus. Bus fares will encourage people to bike or walk.

Better Rapid Transit Stations
Rapid transit stations need to be destinations, not just transfer points.They need stores, workplaces, and apartments in them. They should have off-board fare collection. Better station would have more usage, and would raise property values.

Portage Avenue Plaza
Here is a design for a plaza on top of Portage Avenue. With 300 units of apartments on top of the stores this would cost ~$200 million. Sale of the real estate would pay for most of it, because the real estate would be very valuable here. Rent of the temporary stores and food services would pay for the rest over time. The stage would have school bands, etc. playing. Adding BRT would cost ~$30 million, adding LRT would cost ~$70, adding monorail would cost ~$5 million for Urbanaut, or ~$15 million for Bombardier.