Winnipeg Construction X

[dmacc]

I think it will be great if the province removes the education tax from property taxes. It will allow for more transparency.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by Winnipegger

I know everyone seems to have their anecdotal opinions about "I know this one lazy person who worked in Water and Waste" or "My friend works in public works and never does anything" as if the statement applies to all 10,000 city employees, but MBNCanada and the City of Winnipeg itself provides so many statistics on just how "efficient" (i.e. under-funded or under-resourced) our city is compared to other cities across Canada, it's not just in the planning area. Decades of property tax freezes, decreases, and marginal increases (dedicated to roads) will do that to us.

It boggles my mind that the citizens of this city constantly whine about property taxes and fees one day and then complain about dirty and pothole-filled streets, decrepit community centres, closed wading pools, uncut grass, and ugly light fixtures the next.

Winnipeggers have asked to live in a cheap city and they are most certainly getting what they ask for.
Think your property tax is high? It's because the school divisions in this city have the highest tax rates in Canada, which has to do with the Province, not the City. The municipal tax portion of the taxpayer's property tax bill is among the lowest in Canada, hence our garbage infrastructure.

City council has done nothing to address the sorry state of our infrastructure (aside from reversing slashes to the roads budget by Katz), nor have they done a thing to make Winnipeg a more attractive place to live - but hey, having the lowest municipal property tax in the country will surely start attracting people... any day now, any day...

when property tax is based off property value u get this idea that taxs are to high though and that dont help. i live in a community with one of the highest mill rates in the country cause it is bsed on property value at 5-20k and it taxs comcerial like crazy hurting buisnes our taxs are not necessarily high they are horibly outa balance and all over the map


also my school taxs are 32$ a year scratches head

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by Winnipegger

It boggles my mind that the citizens of this city constantly whine about property taxes and fees one day and then complain about dirty and pothole-filled streets, decrepit community centres, closed wading pools, uncut grass, and ugly light fixtures the next.

Winnipeggers have asked to live in a cheap city and they are most certainly getting what they ask for.
Think your property tax is high? It's because the school divisions in this city have the highest tax rates in Canada, which has to do with the Province, not the City. The municipal tax portion of the taxpayer's property tax bill is among the lowest in Canada, hence our garbage infrastructure.

City council has done nothing to address the sorry state of our infrastructure (aside from reversing slashes to the roads budget by Katz), nor have they done a thing to make Winnipeg a more attractive place to live - but hey, having the lowest municipal property tax in the country will surely start attracting people... any day now, any day...

Excellent points. I think it is fairly universal that many people want to see improvements/changes in their communities, but never want to inconvenience themselves to get it. It doesn't help that tiny single-issue pressure groups like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation constantly critique any kind of tax increase, whether it is justified or not, AND get front-page media coverage for their opinions. People need to realize that nice roads will cost them $$, and be willing to pay up to get them.

I also agree with dmccc that it will be good to see the education tax separate from the property tax. I think Winnipeg is the only place in the country that does this, am I correct?

[EspionNoir]

I think affordability and sustainablilty are things the City is currently finding balance between, and right now it seems that they are increasingly not compatible as Winnipeg is growing bigger and bigger.

I think when Winnipeg becomes a city with 1 million population or reaches the critical point, the latter will become the emphasis. It's only a matter of time before things become no longer cheap, transit becomes a big priority etc.. Just my view.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by EspionNoir

I think when Winnipeg becomes a city with 1 million population or reaches the critical point, the latter will become the emphasis. It's only a matter of time before things become no longer cheap, transit becomes a big priority etc.. Just my view.

I agree. Edmonton reached that tipping point in the last 10-15 years. If you go back to the 90s it had a development pattern very similar to Winnipeg, where now you're seeing a lot of growing "up", even though they still do their fair share of growing "out", I suppose.

[optimusREIM]

This is all the more reason to get ahead in terms of transit. In 20 years time when we're faced with gigantic prices for a couple desperately needed LRT lines we'll all wish we'd done it now

[EspionNoir]

This is probably important news: Bylaw changes that allow demolition in heritage district. Relates to 514 Wellington Crescent

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/lo...565134942.html

[buzzg]

Forgot to mention it then but a couple weeks ago when I was driving down Ellice, all the brick on the main floor of the IBM building was being removed. Wonder if they're installing windows along Ellice?

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Forgot to mention it then but a couple weeks ago when I was driving down Ellice, all the brick on the main floor of the IBM building was being removed. Wonder if they're installing windows along Ellice?

They are. New tenant on the main floor.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by trueviking

They are. New tenant on the main floor.

Office I imagine? Do you know who?

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by esquire

I agree. Edmonton reached that tipping point in the last 10-15 years. If you go back to the 90s it had a development pattern very similar to Winnipeg, where now you're seeing a lot of growing "up", even though they still do their fair share of growing "out", I suppose.

Don't know how much growing out or even growing for that matter is happening in Edmonton right now, even home prices there are now about the same as Winnipeg on average.

[armorand93]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Don't know how much growing out or even growing for that matter is happening in Edmonton right now, even home prices there are now about the same as Winnipeg on average.

Tons in the south. Outside Anthony Henday/ring road? Some, but not massive growth.

Towers wise? Haven't been back since 2011, but downtown Edmontons getting quite a few. Affordable market rents though. Not the $1700/m, Nazi condo committee "you must do XYZ or face $1000 fines and fees" or "we will prosecute you for taking dog poop bags" overkill, that Calgary seems to be famous in...

[CoryB]

Wow. A few "pedestrians" tried to cross Main St at Portage Ave today and downtown traffic came to a stand still. The police even needed to dispatch the tank to try and get things back to normal. Definitely a good thing we didn't vote to open in permanently. /s

[buzzg]

Expect the announcement soon of a massive new building at the U of M Smartpark, close to Pembina

[DancingDuck]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Expect the announcement soon of a massive new building at the U of M Smartpark, close to Pembina

Any other details you can share? Even how soon "soon" is?

[buzzg]

I don't know how soon soon is for the announcement, but shovels should be in ground by early spring and hoping build is done by end of 2020. 150,000 sqft. It's still fairly under wraps so I don't want to give more away, but it's a great project by a great company.

[Winnipegger]

Originally Posted by buzzg

I don't know how soon soon is for the announcement, but shovels should be in ground by early spring and hoping build is done by end of 2020. 150,000 sqft. It's still fairly under wraps so I don't want to give more away, but it's a great project by a great company.

Is it a new company entering the local market or is it an expansion of a local business?

[ywgwalk]

I'm going to assume Bold, as we've heard whisperings of that before.

[Jeff]

Well, it isn't downtown, but maybe with this rumoured building and the Arc, the U of M campus can actually start looking like it actually has 30-40 thousand people going in and out of there every day (from Pembina at least) instead of a quaint riverside village that it presently looks like lol

[buzzg]

Also, as seen at the parade, hoarding up around the entire main floor off 201 Portage.