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[cllew]

I also believe its provincial law that if "anything of interest" is found while excavating work has to stop while the provincial anthropologist investigates the site. I'm not sure how often that happens though each year.

[Spocket]

Originally Posted by jimj_wpg

Have any geologists studied Winnipeg area rock & soil to see if there were a civilization here ~25-50,000 yrs. ago?

Totally not topic-related but I'll answer your question :

There's no need for two reasons as well as the one pointed out above by bomberjet.

1 - Nobody was in the Americas 25-50K years ago. So far we can only be sure about settlement here going back 13.5K years. By here, I mean the Americas. There are some sites that are highly disputed that date back 40,000 years but they're very much disputed for good reason.

2 - Nobody was in Winnipeg or Manitoba because it would have been covered in ice for the most part anyway. You'd have been standing on top of a glacier a mile thick. Even if you believe that people were traipsing around on top of those ice sheets, they wouldn't have stayed anywhere very long and wouldn't have left much of anything that would have stayed in the area. In either case, the glaciers' advances and retreats would have moved everything around. The best you could get would maybe be carbon dating off of anything you found but you wouldn't be able to place any of it.

As I recall (and I could be wrong) settlement in the area only goes back around 6-7,000 years which makes sense because even after the glaciers were gone you still had the giant lake. Had to wait for that to shrink dramatically before settlement could take place.

[cllew]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Isn't there geo-thermal going in this development? Maybe that's what the drill rig in a box thing is. I see them moving it around site, doing stuff with it. But can't really see any results.

They have a cage with pipe in it, next to the box rig thing. So would make sense if that's what they're up to.

Rodren Drilling has pulled their core sampling rig and geologist shack out of the pit between 6:30am and 1pm today. Two less things cluttering the excavation now

The cage with the pipe as far as I know is for doing a controlled pour of concrete into any piles etc. The pipe is used for placing instead of just free fall plopping the concrete in the holes.

I also have not seen it being used yet for any pours. All I have seen the pipe cage move from location to location in the pit like a nomad. When I looked this morning there were two of them in different locations on site.

[bomberjet]

Thanks cllew. Makes sense. And ya you cant let the concrete free fall like that or it will destroy the rebar ties and complete mess up the rebar cage.

[cllew]

I just looked out the office window and see that Rodren moved the drill rig back onsite. The Geologist shack is still gone though. I wonder if something came up back at the test lab that required some more core samples.

[cllew]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Thanks cllew. Makes sense. And ya you cant let the concrete free fall like that or it will destroy the rebar ties and complete mess up the rebar cage.

I don't think its good for the concrete mix either as it separates into different layers if not placed properly.

[bomberjet]

Latest photo from TNS construction cam. This one won't change either haha. The hole getting ever closer to be done. I think they'll leave another ramp at the far corner, similar to what they have now. They're seems to be a gate there, but maybe I'm wrong.

[Urban recluse]

Looking at the RWB red masonry building: how quaint that stretch of Carlton would be if buildings similar in size and materials lined the street. I am not complaining about this project of course. Rather, as Esquire noted in another thread, densely packing streets with smaller buildings is not on the agenda anymore; it should be.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Urban recluse

Looking at the RWB red masonry building: how quaint that stretch of Carlton would be if buildings similar in size and materials lined the street. I am not complaining about this project of course. Rather, as Esquire noted in another thread, densely packing streets with smaller buildings is not on the agenda anymore; it should be.

Total daydream scenario here, but what if a block of city/province owned land somewhere was carved up into like 40 foot wide parcels to be sold off at a discount to encourage the development of small, mainly 2 to 4 storey buildings?

How awesome would that be if a block like, say, the WCB parking lot along Hargrave were turned into a row of smaller commercial buildings with upstairs residential or office space?

There has been so much focus on megaprojects but no attention whatsoever to the small projects that end up punching way above their weight in terms of the difference that they actually make on the cityscape.

[bomberjet]

Have there been ANY small projects downtown lately? Virtually nothing comes across SSP. There was the 6 storey women's place. Uhhhhh, drawing a blank here. The building on Graham and Kennedy was renovated..

I guess the exchange has had a number of smaller condo projects. But nothing in the SoPo area.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Have there been ANY small projects downtown lately? Virtually nothing comes across SSP. There was the 6 storey women's place. Uhhhhh, drawing a blank here. The building on Graham and Edmonton was renovated..

When it comes to small buildings, I'm hard pressed to think of anything other than reno projects.

Yes, Marie Rose Place was one, but as you point out, even that was still 6 storeys. Buhler Centre is another, but even that swallows up most of the small block that it's on... it's by no means the kind of minor building that a small business would build and own.

I'd think that land values are too high to build small commercial buildings on Graham anymore, but you'd think it could work in shoulder areas like Chinatown, the stretches of Fort and Garry closer to Broadway, etc.

[Urban recluse]

I agree Esquire. Intimate and inviting. How about recreating a street like this?


https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Grote+H...!1s0x47c5ef6aea4db261:0xf6ea8d74cc152ad7

[Bluenote]

Originally Posted by esquire

Total daydream scenario here, but what if a block of city/province owned land somewhere was carved up into like 40 foot wide parcels to be sold off at a discount to encourage the development of small, mainly 2 to 4 storey buildings?

How awesome would that be if a block like, say, the WCB parking lot along Hargrave were turned into a row of smaller commercial buildings with upstairs residential or office space?

There has been so much focus on megaprojects but no attention whatsoever to the small projects that end up punching way above their weight in terms of the difference that they actually make on the cityscape.

That's a fine pipe dream. But again we have so many small buildings that are vacant or half used and you want to dedicate an entire city block to more. What will that do to the buildings struggling to fill vacancies? All that will do it move what tenants they have and then they will be empty and ready to be torn down for a mega project.

You need to think of the others before you start making more.

Mega projects like we have going up are also mainly residential. Not commercial. Residential projects packed into large towers helps those little stores out a lot more then more little stores.

Like honestly one floor or residential as you want is going to do what exactly? Vs 40 floors?

Or even small residential buildings? The exchange isn't exactly full. So if you cannot fill the exchange why build more low rise that will just pull away from the exchange.

[Urban recluse]

There are many streets, as Esquire mentioned, such as around Chinatown, also around Waterfront/Disraeli which could become charming pedestrian friendly shopping districts:

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Grafton...!1s0x48670e9b8c8edbf1:0x90afb1bb108edcdd

[esquire]

^ Valid criticisms. Like I said, it was a daydream scenario. A lot is done to assist large-scale projects but what can be done to encourage even just a small handful of small 2-4 storey projects around the downtown?

Chinatown and the vacant lots at the far eastern and western ends of the Exchange would seem like a natural place for those to go. It doesn't necessarily have to be a large clump of new buildings, but having more would be better.

[Bluenote]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Valid criticisms. Like I said, it was a daydream scenario. A lot is done to assist large-scale projects but what can be done to encourage even just a small handful of small 2-4 storey projects around the downtown?

How many grants are there to renovate exchange buildings? Or do they still have all those?


I can see waterfront filled with small stores. In fact I would love that. Imagine walking down waterfront drive and all the main floors were unique stores all the way to Higgins. And even a bigger dream. How about an actual new dock for the river boats. I know Selkirk was able to build a wonderful new dock. But again we are not as foreword thinking as Selkirk...

[Urban recluse]

Originally Posted by Bluenote

How many grants are there to renovate exchange buildings? Or do they still have all those?


I can see waterfront filled with small stores. In fact I would love that. Imagine walking down waterfront drive and all the main floors were unique stores all the way to Higgins. And even a bigger dream. How about an actual new dock for the river boats. I know Selkirk was able to build a wonderful new dock. But again we are not as foreword thinking as Selkirk...

Yes, Waterfront would be perfect for such a transformation..

[bomberjet]

The river has been very low on the Cities priority list, as in virtually non-existent. Slowly starting to embrace the river again. But it will take time, just like anything. the City knows there's an issue with the dock, is it still closed? Maybe it will either be shuttered and located elsewhere, or a new one constructed in it's place.

[Bluenote]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

The river has been very low on the Cities priority list, as in virtually non-existent. Slowly starting to embrace the river again. But it will take time, just like anything. the City knows there's an issue with the dock, is it still closed? Maybe it will either be shuttered and located elsewhere, or a new one constructed in it's place.

Meanwhile the riverboats get shipped out of province or rot away.
They have no where to dock in this city. Something the so called forward thinkers of the forks never thought of. Instead they built way way to small docks for the river boats.

As for it being closed. It os still closed and will be closed till they remove it and put some grass down plant a few trees and call it a park.

[Bdog]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Have there been ANY small projects downtown lately? Virtually nothing comes across SSP. There was the 6 storey women's place. Uhhhhh, drawing a blank here. The building on Graham and Kennedy was renovated..

I guess the exchange has had a number of smaller condo projects. But nothing in the SoPo area.

Earl's tried to build a 20 foot tall building on Main, but it was rejected cause it wasn't quite 30 feet tall.