Winnipeg Construction

[GD4C]

Were you at the dDondo open house?

If you attend the Fortress launch May 22, feel free to post some cellphone shots.

I've been trying to find a countdown clock for Fortress that displays correctly here but none do.

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by GD4C

Were you at the dDondo open house?

If you attend the Fortress launch May 22, feel free to post some cellphone shots.

I've been trying to find a countdown clock for Fortress that displays correctly here but none do.

Sorry, no. I was at the Park City Plaza in Transcona open house on Thursday.

And unfortunately I will not be attending the Fortress announcement. But I`m sure there will be plenty of info. and images released!

[Jeff]

d condo site tonight. Dubrovnik soon to be all but just a memory..

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Sorry, no. I was at the Park City Plaza in Transcona open house on Thursday.

And unfortunately I will not be attending the Fortress announcement. But I`m sure there will be plenty of info. and images released!

i would not be surprised if not much imagery was released on wednesday....my guess is it will be more of a 'this is who we are' than 'this is what we're selling'

[1ajs]

have to see eh

[chrisallard5454]

Just got back into the city, and I must say that every time I return I am struck by just how bad our roads, curbs and sidewalks are. I know this topic has been beaten to death, however the first impression people must get when they first come to our city must leave a lasting negative impression just from the state of our crumbling infrastructure.

Anyways, Assiniboine Park Zoo from the air...

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by chrisallard5454

Just got back into the city, and I must say that every time I return I am struck by just how bad our roads, curbs and sidewalks are. I know this topic has been beaten to death, however the first impression people must get when they first come to our city must leave a lasting negative impression just from the state of our crumbling infrastructure.

The state of our roads, curbs and side walks is really deplorable, the homes in my area are nicely kept, people pay a pretty good property tax bill and yet the city infrastructure resembles that of the poor part of a city in a former eastern bloc 🞵🞵🞵🞵-hole. There really is no excuse for the complete neglect of city infrastructure by our so called mayor and useless city council.

[chrisallard5454]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

The state of our roads, curbs and side walks is really deplorable, the homes in my area are nicely kept, people pay a pretty good property tax bill and yet the city infrastructure resembles that of the poor part of a city in a former eastern bloc 🞵🞵🞵🞵-hole. There really is no excuse for the complete lack of neglect of city infrastructure by our so called mayor and useless city council.

I think, at least personally this is what makes it worse. If not only because the city really is beautiful in everything other than what is handled by our municipal government.

The exchange is gorgeous. We have wonderful dense inner city neighbourhoods. We have beautiful housing stock, even in the North and West End's. And last but certainly not least, we have one of the best tree canopies that I have seen. Yet it is all moot if our streets look like they haven't been touched since the conception of paved roads.

[headhorse]

part of it is our climate. I'm in Edmonton right now and I can barely ride my bike around Whyte Ave there are so many potholes. It's tough to pay for street maintenance when we're too busy spending millions on new roadways and sprawl. hopefully homeowners inside built up areas will start to realize that their tax money is going to build massive roadways on the fringe of the city and start to demand change.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by headhorse

part of it is our climate. I'm in Edmonton right now and I can barely ride my bike around Whyte Ave there are so many potholes. It's tough to pay for street maintenance when we're too busy spending millions on new roadways and sprawl. hopefully homeowners inside built up areas will start to realize that their tax money is going to build massive roadways on the fringe of the city and start to demand change.

BINGO, completely agree, how is it fair to have those in older areas paying property taxes year after year and never seeing any of that returned in infrastructure repair and yet seeing the city pay for new infrastructure in areas of suburban sprawl.

[Wigglez]

Originally Posted by chrisallard5454

I think, at least personally this is what makes it worse. If not only because the city really is beautiful in everything other than what is handled by our municipal government.

The exchange is gorgeous. We have wonderful dense inner city neighbourhoods. We have beautiful housing stock, even in the North and West End's. And last but certainly not least, we have one of the best tree canopies that I have seen. Yet it is all moot if our streets look like they haven't been touched since the conception of paved roads.

Walking around the exchange always makes me laugh. There are a half dozen different sidewalk designs that seem to be selected randomly when they finally repair a section. You can go down 1 block and walk over 3 or 4 different designs in various states of decay.

[lilwayne]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

BINGO, completely agree, how is it fair to have those in older areas paying property taxes year after year and never seeing any of that returned in infrastructure repair and yet seeing the city pay for new infrastructure in areas of suburban sprawl.

i agree most of the newer areas have amazing infrastructure, the roads are flawless. i mean its night and day particularly when u compare the southern portion of the city with the rest of it. The city seems to neglect the poor neighborhoods and focuses more on the newer richer ones. Traveling down lindenwoods or bridgewater Forrest its easy to forget your in winnipeg because there's such a contrast between the newer developed areas and the older neglected ones. I think there is a little more effort being put on fixing the infrastructure problem.. but some residential roads with the most obvious problems seem to never get any attention for some reason.

[Jeff]

what makes it worse about the roads is when you consider the damage done by the snow clearing machines. as soon as the snow melts and you see the various curbs pushed onto the boulevards, it can make you mad.

[chrisallard5454]

Originally Posted by Jeff

what makes it worse about the roads is when you consider the damage done by the snow clearing machines. as soon as the snow melts and you see the various curbs pushed onto the boulevards, it can make you mad.

That drives me crazy. That is what makes me want to rid ourselves of our removal program (especially at the cost) and come up with a new one. There are places all over the Northern Hemisphere coming up with better ways to control snow conditions. You'd think being one of the premier winter cities, Winnipeg should be able to come up with something new and revolutionary.

Nothing makes me more mad than when I walk down Osborne and see that even though it is less than a year old, the Plows have already ripped up the curbs. There is no pride in workmanship anymore. That is what has been lost, pride.

[cllew]

Originally Posted by Jeff

what makes it worse about the roads is when you consider the damage done by the snow clearing machines. as soon as the snow melts and you see the various curbs pushed onto the boulevards, it can make you mad.

At least that damage gets charged back to the contractor so the taxpayer does not pick up the tab for damage.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by chrisallard5454

That drives me crazy. That is what makes me want to rid ourselves of our removal program (especially at the cost) and come up with a new one. There are places all over the Northern Hemisphere coming up with better ways to control snow conditions. You'd think being one of the premier winter cities, Winnipeg should be able to come up with something new and revolutionary.

Nothing makes me more mad than when I walk down Osborne and see that even though it is less than a year old, the Plows have already ripped up the curbs. There is no pride in workmanship anymore. That is what has been lost, pride.

The machinery they use is too big for the job of clearing snow, the street a couple over from me was revitalized with new asphalt and curbs a few years ago and already parts of that have been ripped up. Really don't know why the city insists on installing the 1950's vertical curbs instead of sloped curbs like in other jurisdictions that can handle the abuse of snow removal contractors.

Do some of you actually believe the snow removal contractors even pay for 1% of the damage they incur, maybe if they did actually pay we wouldn't see the curbs and side walks destroyed year after year.

[Bdog]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

BINGO, completely agree, how is it fair to have those in older areas paying property taxes year after year and never seeing any of that returned in infrastructure repair and yet seeing the city pay for new infrastructure in areas of suburban sprawl.

To play devil's advocate here, developers pay for the cost of new local infrastructure in subdivisions (including roads), not the city (e.g. existing taxpayers). The cost of 4-lane arterials is split 50/50 between the developer and the city.

That being said, I'd love to see Winnipeg implement development charges (where the some of the costs of regional infrastructure, local servicing, and maintenance) are charged on each new lot. You could waive them on infill sites, and only charge them in fringe areas. I mean, even so-called exurban communities like ESP charge upwards of $15,000 to $20,000 on each new lot subdivided to pay for infrastructure reserve funds, etc.

[CodeGreen]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

The machinery they use is too big for the job of clearing snow, the street a couple over from me was revitalized with new asphalt and curbs a few years ago and already parts of that have been ripped up...

This is true on some occasions. I saw a grader scraping the road and curb on kenaston by grant when they were cleaning the street a couple weeks ago. i don't know why anyone would use a grader to move sand, i could see him sparking his blade against the pavement.

Originally Posted by rrskylar

...Really don't know why the city insists on installing the 1950's vertical curbs instead of sloped curbs like in other jurisdictions that can handle the abuse of snow removal contractors.

Lip curb is a sloped curb in mostly residential areas versus barrier curb which is a 90 degree curb used on major roads, medians, and corners everywhere. Barrier curb is meant to prevent vehicles from leaving the road, and lip curb is able to be crossed (for driveways etc..) Some of the operators don't seem to care, or have much information on where the location of the curbs are. When everything is covered with snow it must be hard to do their job on some of the residential streets, but there should be some sort of solution to this as they have to deal with it year after year.

[chrisallard5454]

Originally Posted by Bdog

To play devil's advocate here, developers pay for the cost of new local infrastructure in subdivisions (including roads), not the city (e.g. existing taxpayers). The cost of 4-lane arterials is split 50/50 between the developer and the city.

That being said, I'd love to see Winnipeg implement development charges (where the some of the costs of regional infrastructure, local servicing, and maintenance) are charged on each new lot. You could waive them on infill sites, and only charge them in fringe areas. I mean, even so-called exurban communities like ESP charge upwards of $15,000 to $20,000 on each new lot subdivided to pay for infrastructure reserve funds, etc.

During the Free Press Cafe when Scott Fielding was having a debate with a Provincial representative - Same old, same old "Province isn't paying enough..." - something funny occurred. Fielding had one of his own slides backfire on him. The slide contained info on how municipalities pay for infrastructure across Canada, and the percentage of what pays for what. A large portion, if I could render a guess it would be 30%, was from Developer Fees. And this city doesn't charge them.

Later on in the evening someone pointed that out, only after Fielding complained that the city was exhausting all options for infrastructure income. The individual blatantly pointed out that most municipalities (especially sprawling cities) charge a hefty developer fee to try and stagnate sprawl. Fielding's response was something along the lines of "I don't believe in them", he then moved on to continue complaining about how he believed the province wasn't doing enough.

And to counter your Devil's advocate; You're right the initial laying down of roads, etc. are paid for by the developer, but once the area is complete the infrastructure and services are taken over by the city. My uncle (who is a major developer in Ontario) said very blatantly to me "Do you think we spend a fortune to make the roads as good as they should be? Hell no. We build to minimum code and let the city take over". In other words, yes they pay for the roads, etc. but the city has to repair them in under 10 years anyways. This is already being seen in subdivisions from the 70's up to the 90's. The focus on late 21st century sprawl has left our inner (and original) city untouched and in a state of decay.

[cheswick]

Personally I don't understand the people complaining about how ba Winnipeg streets are as if every other city streets are far superior. I lived in Regina for a while, the streets there were worse than Winnipeg. Whenever my inlaws from Montreal visit they say Winnipeg streets are superior to Montreal where bridges are on the verge of collapse.