Winnipeg | Exchange District | Developments & Discussions

[Boreal]

Is it too over the top to suggest that most of society is not ready for the candid conversation necessary to discuss the current global, national and civic challenge related to drug use / poverty / homelessness / desperation? There needs to be some very "left" thinking in some cases and some very "right" thinking as well. I doubt either side of the political spectrum is capable of getting off of their lily pad if the last 5-10 years of social discourse is the barometer by which that assessment is made. Care and institutionalization don't have to be mutually exclusive. Removing people from transit shelters need not be racially driven. Dramatically increasing safe spaces (open to interpretation) and social services need not mean going soft. But are people collectively ready? Probably not. When tucked away in preferred enclaves, it's easy to migrate to the poles. In short, I anticipate things getting much, much worse across the continent. I tend to believe that humanity only responds to intense crisis with vigour. We're not quite there yet, so muddling and kicking stones will likely be the course of action for now as far as I see it.

Or maybe we just normalize sections of "Gotham" in our urban centres and get on with it. Everything gets delivered to the front door anyways, so you legitimately can navigate the landscape by not engaging with it much at all if you wish.

[xubiqtss]

https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/how...came-a-model-for-other-us-cities/637515/

Success in action...Learn from other cities and emulate.

Pretty weird that people are jumping to "round them up and put them in camps" before actually attempting to solve the problem.

[Sheepish]

Thank for posting the article. As I suggested previously, all the stakeholders - city, province, feds, agencies etc need to meet together to share understanding and ideas. In the end they need to implement a single strategy. Work together, rather than against each other - spend money on programs rather than duplicating bureaucracies. No guarantees, but greater chance for success. Do it now before we loose yet another generation. And yes...they should speak directly with these folks from Houston.

[Labroco]

Finally we had a conversation with Councillor Santos to discuss the Waterfront Encampments, theft and vandalism, targeted execution on Gomez, violent attack on our employees, break ins and the burnt out pile of rubble at Lily & Disraeli creating added sense of blight…

As for the encampments, the path forward she suggests will be Teepees erected on the City owned parcel of land at Higgins where the flour mill stood. They hope to have it manned by community elders in an attempt to extract individuals from the river bank.

Not too optimistic of its success but give the First Nation community leaders our encouragement and hope of a progressive outcome.

Is there a path forward for these lost and damaged souls?

We can hope…

P.S

Roadwork and sidewalk on Galt have commenced…

No word on Alexander Ave linkage or the vital Alexander Docks commencement.

The Bend on Pacific / Alexander has commenced leasing.

[NewIreland]

Originally Posted by Labroco

Finally we had a conversation with Councillor Santos to discuss the Waterfront Encampments, theft and vandalism, targeted execution on Gomez, violent attack on our employees, break ins and the burnt out pile of rubble at Lily & Disraeli creating added sense of blight…

As for the encampments, the path forward she suggests will be Teepees erected on the City owned parcel of land at Higgins where the flour mill stood. They hope to have it manned by community elders in an attempt to extract individuals from the river bank.

Not too optimistic of its success but give the First Nation community leaders our encouragement and hope of a progressive outcome.

Is there a path forward for these lost and damaged souls?

We can hope…

P.S

Roadwork and sidewalk on Galt have commenced…

No word on Alexander Ave linkage or the vital Alexander Docks commencement.

The Bend on Pacific / Alexander has commenced leasing.

Thanks for the update. I sincerely hope the plan to extract the individuals living on the riverbank is a success. The good news is that there is a fair bit of human traffic on Waterfront now. It's been VERY busy this summer (cyclists, joggers, tourists, locals) It seems as though people have grown tired of watching their neighborhood deteriorate and have started to take a stand. Anecdotally, I witnessed two individuals confront an addict who was openly dismantling a park bench in broad daylight. They chased him off and then sat on the bench. Hopefully we see more of this. Well lit busy streets with active CRU's and full leased/sold apaetments will do nothing but help solve the problem of social decline in the Exchange. Eventually the criminals will be forced out of the neighborhood into areas where there aren't as many opportunities to steal, and will (hopefully) choose to get help from an agency.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by Labroco

As for the encampments, the path forward she suggests will be Teepees erected on the City owned parcel of land at Higgins where the flour mill stood. They hope to have it manned by community elders in an attempt to extract individuals from the river bank.

Not too optimistic of its success but give the First Nation community leaders our encouragement and hope of a progressive outcome.

Is there a path forward for these lost and damaged souls?

We can hope…

wow they have no idea what the issue is.

[anthonyk]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

wow they have no idea what the issue is.

I think many people believe that the symptoms are the issue.

Encampments on the riverbank are a symptom of failures elsewhere in the system, moving the encampments elsewhere will not magically solve the issue.

One could even say that homlessness is not the issue, it is a symptom of greater issues in our society, most likely a lack of systems and education to prevent the issues that cause homelessness in Canada, such as generational drug addiction and alcoholism.

These "symptoms" are not going to be "cured" until we solve the root cause of the symptoms. This is something that I believe will only be solved if all large Canadian cities, along with provincial and federal governments band together to commit to solving these issues. This is a large task that should not be left to individual cities.

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by anthonyk

I think many people believe that the symptoms are the issue.

Encampments on the riverbank are a symptom of failures elsewhere in the system, moving the encampments elsewhere will not magically solve the issue.

One could even say that homlessness is not the issue, it is a symptom of greater issues in our society, most likely a lack of systems and education to prevent the issues that cause homelessness in Canada, such as generational drug addiction and alcoholism.

These "symptoms" are not going to be "cured" until we solve the root cause of the symptoms. This is something that I believe will only be solved if all large Canadian cities, along with provincial and federal governments band together to commit to solving these issues. This is a large task that should not be left to individual cities.

Well said.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by anthonyk

I think many people believe that the symptoms are the issue.

Encampments on the riverbank are a symptom of failures elsewhere in the system, moving the encampments elsewhere will not magically solve the issue.

One could even say that homlessness is not the issue, it is a symptom of greater issues in our society, most likely a lack of systems and education to prevent the issues that cause homelessness in Canada, such as generational drug addiction and alcoholism.

These "symptoms" are not going to be "cured" until we solve the root cause of the symptoms. This is something that I believe will only be solved if all large Canadian cities, along with provincial and federal governments band together to commit to solving these issues. This is a large task that should not be left to individual cities.

nothing against the camps always been. im against not removing the problematic ones where theres massive public safty issues we need to look at the rest of north amaerica and see ignoring desnt work


id rather deal with the drunk natives on main st then the meth heads on waterfront getting sketched out myself and thats upseting they have cause many massive fires. we need to do something
theres a meth dealer here, so in ur face the rcmp wont do squat they just say we have no evidence its constant traffic all day and he does hs drug muling himself with no licence or insurance on his car at night as rcmp wont go out after 5
and someones house was home invaded in leaf cause their kid has a drug debt and almost got burned alive in it their dog was choped up with an axe as well happend to a co worker family
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/leaf-rapids-house-fire-home-invasion-1.6929816


theres a serious problem and no ones even trying.

[pacman]

People keep taking about solving the root causes and not focusing on the symptoms. That sounds great on paper and I'm all for tackiling the root causes ALONG with treating the symptoms. And if I had to choose, my immediate Day 1 priority is treating the symptoms. When you go to the hospital with insane pain and crazy symptoms, the first thing I would want as a patient is to ease the pain - as long as it doesn't screw up the treatment for the root cause. Gimme that morphine NOW!

There is no excuse for ignoring the day to day problems like encampments, fires, violence, etc.... Nobody in their right mind would say that the root causes shouldn't be dealt with, I think that's common ground for anyone with a warm brain, but do something about the symptoms WHILE the root cause solutions are getting sorted out.

[NewIreland]

Originally Posted by pacman

People keep taking about solving the root causes and not focusing on the symptoms. That sounds great on paper and I'm all for tackiling the root causes ALONG with treating the symptoms. And if I had to choose, my immediate Day 1 priority is treating the symptoms. When you go to the hospital with insane pain and crazy symptoms, the first thing I would want as a patient is to ease the pain - as long as it doesn't screw up the treatment for the root cause. Gimme that morphine NOW!

There is no excuse for ignoring the day to day problems like encampments, fires, violence, etc.... Nobody in their right mind would say that the root causes shouldn't be dealt with, I think that's common ground for anyone with a warm brain, but do something about the symptoms WHILE the root cause solutions are getting sorted out.

I laughed at the deputy mayor's comments about allowing alcohol in public parks. The leaders of this city are truly delusional. Just larp as a homeless person and you can get away with pretty much anything (theft, arson, assault, illegal drug use, public drunkeness). God forbid the people who are paying for the upkeep of the parks have a bottle of wine on a nice day though.

[cllew]

Going into work this week I saw that there is a banner on 245 Princess @ Alexander offering free space to an architect in exchange for providing designs to redevelop the building.

I don't ever recall seeing a barter request for design work in Winnipeg.

I wonder if the building owner will get any offers? If so maybe from some new person starting up their own practice and wants out of their spare bed room, as I can't see the bigger firms wanting to do that

[drew]

I wish them luck, but they certainly aren't going to attract the type of professional skill set necessary to repurpose and redevelop a 120 year old warehouse in the Exchange.

[peg]

Looks like that China town Centreventre plan is still breathing behind the scenes - there was a story in CTV about a new gallery space being made in the Chinese cultural centre and the next steps. Interesting conversation about the future of Chinatown. Though not much new information.

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/renovations-plans-coming-to-winnipeg-s-chinatown-1.6521273

[WinCitySparky]

Yeah saw that. I was surprised to hear something was actually happening. Chinatown seems so desolate, glad someone out there is trying to work on it.

[pegster]

Haven't seen anything recent posted about this, but the redevelopment of the Paulin-Chambers building into apartments has been completed. Seems like a really exciting development for the west Exchange. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/2023/08/14/historic-rebirth

[Unbending]

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by NewIreland

Thanks for the update. I sincerely hope the plan to extract the individuals living on the riverbank is a success.

Spoiler:

It will fail.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by BlackDog204

Spoiler:

It will fail.

indeed

theres a whole slew of issues at hand

[trueviking]

crane going up today for the bannatyne project