Winnipeg - Of Interest

[esquire]

I see that the province is moving the site of the St. Boniface Court of Queen's Bench and provincial court from the current location on Provencher to 614 Des Meurons, making it, I'm guessing, one of the few if not only superior court sites in Canada in the same building as a bowling alley (LaVerendrye Lanes).

Anyone know what's happening with the old court location which is in the Gaboury-designed former St. Boniface Civic Complex? Is it becoming totally converted to office use or does it have a date with the wrecking ball? (Hopefully not the latter, it's a beautiful building)

[BigG]

Very nice find. Thanks.

[LilZebra]

Author: Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg
Publ.: 1971
Size: 831 K

Transcona Detailed Area Plan

NOTE: Maps now uploaded (2016-03-11)

[Cyro]

Winnipeg's inner city reversing decades of decline, report says
Exodus from core stemmed and employment rates climbing, says CCPA report

After nearly five decades of gradual decline, Winnipeg's inner city is showing signs of a newfound vitality......

....The area has reversed a trending decline in population, home ownership is up 10 per cent and income levels are rising faster than non-inner-city earners. These are among the key findings from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives' latest State of the Inner City report...

Map of Winnipeg's inner city. (Google Maps)

Con't > http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...says-1.3358232

[esquire]

^ This is what gets me about studies like this. I live in Riverview and we're geographically way closer to the centre of the city (defined as Portage and Main or The Forks depending on your preference) than Sinclair Park to the upper left of that map. What makes them considered "inner city" while we aren't?

Same with Norwood Flats... it's easy walking distance to the middle of the city... how much more "inner" can you get? Why isn't that included?

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ This is what gets me about studies like this. I live in Riverview and we're geographically way closer to the centre of the city (defined as Portage and Main or The Forks depending on your preference) than Sinclair Park to the upper left of that map. What makes them considered "inner city" while we aren't?

Same with Norwood Flats... it's easy walking distance to the middle of the city... how much more "inner" can you get? Why isn't that included?

Not saying you're right or wrong or that this is the way it should be, but the term "inner city" in North America has low-income connotations, and has become a term used to imply impoverished neighbourhoods — which are usually located in or around a city's downtown.

In terms of city planning and land use, "city centre" or simply "central" is more often used to describe the geographic centre, with no political or demographic-related influence.

[esquire]

^ If we're talking about poor neighbourhoods, then we should say that. Is it any surprise that so many people are down on urban neighbourhoods generally when they think that term is a euphemism for poor, run down areas? When analysts only make the worst neighbourhoods part of their discussion, they are reinforcing that image.

Quiet, pleasant, prosperous neighbourhoods are also part of the "inner city". Let's stop ignoring that.

[Authentic_City]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ If we're talking about poor neighbourhoods, then we should say that. Is it any surprise that so many people are down on urban neighbourhoods generally when they think that term is a euphemism for poor, run down areas? When analysts only make the worst neighbourhoods part of their discussion, they are reinforcing that image.

Quiet, pleasant, prosperous neighbourhoods are also part of the "inner city". Let's stop ignoring that.

Definition of the inner city has always been an issue in Winnipeg. According to the City, they don't officially define the "inner city", but they use the definition of the "core area" developed in the 80s by the Core Area Initiative.

http://winnipeg.ca/census/includes/Geographies.stm

Everything I've read over the years starts by acknowledging the lack of definition of the inner city, and then proceeds by using the admittedly flawed CAI definition.

Lots of inner city-like neighbourhoods are left out of the CAI boundaries (minto, sargent park, weston, etc.). I'm not sure why the city sticks to the outdated geography.

[LilZebra]

Originally Posted by Authentic_City

Lots of inner city-like neighbourhoods are left out of the CAI boundaries (minto, sargent park, weston, etc.). I'm not sure why the city sticks to the outdated geography.

Weston (Winnipeg Ave.) is really part of the old Village of Brooklands, which separated from RM of Assiniboia in 1921 and re-amalgamated with the City of St. James in 1967.

Quoting from the St. James Assiniboia Detailed Area Plan:

On November 19, 1920 a petition calling for the separation of St. James was
presented. Separation was debated and ratified by the Council of Assiniboia
on December 12 th . The Province granted municipal status to St. James in
1921. Brooklands also withdrew from Assiniboia at this time and incorporated
as a Village.

Brooklands Local Planning Area, illustrated on Map 9, contains a mixture of
residental, commercial and industrial land uses. Severe physical blight
related to housing and to properties in general in the eastern half of
Brooklands has been documented in the Metropolitan Urban Renewal Study of
1967 and has led the City of St. James-­Assiniboia to commission the
preparation of an Urban Renewal Scheme for that part of Brooklands between
Rosser Road, Keewatin Street, and Selkirk and Notre Dame Avenues.

Many of the houses in Brooklands are old and persons who have built homes in
the past were in search of inexpensive land, low taxes and escape from the
more stringent building regulations of other areas. There is certainly
evidence of efforts on the part of many residents to maintain their houses;
however, these efforts generally have not been able to keep pace with the
sort of deterioration which results from the building of buildings of
substandard construction initially.

Corydon Village and Osborne Village should be considered "inner city" too.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ If we're talking about poor neighbourhoods, then we should say that. Is it any surprise that so many people are down on urban neighbourhoods generally when they think that term is a euphemism for poor, run down areas? When analysts only make the worst neighbourhoods part of their discussion, they are reinforcing that image.

Quiet, pleasant, prosperous neighbourhoods are also part of the "inner city". Let's stop ignoring that.

I'm not saying it's a good thing or that it's "right" — but it's a thing, and it's a thing that happens in cities across North America. It's not just a Winnipeg "issue."

[Cyro]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ If we're talking about poor neighbourhoods, then we should say that. Is it any surprise that so many people are down on urban neighbourhoods generally when they think that term is a euphemism for poor, run down areas? When analysts only make the worst neighbourhoods part of their discussion, they are reinforcing that image.

Quiet, pleasant, prosperous neighbourhoods are also part of the "inner city". Let's stop ignoring that.

Have to agree with your angst on the definition..

"the usually older, poorer, and more densely populated central section of a city" and this one is from Merriam Webster

It can be found in nearly every source used.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Cyro

Have to agree with your angst on the definition..

"the usually older, poorer, and more densely populated central section of a city" and this one is from Merriam Webster

It can be found in nearly every source used.

I take your point. In North America, the central parts of cities tend to be "usually older [and] poorer". But does "usually" mean that only older and poorer parts of town constitute the "inner city"? I mean, much of central Vancouver is prosperous... does the inner city not exist there if they can only by definition be poor, hardscrabble, high crime areas? I don't get it.

[bomberjet]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...lors-1.3376884

Bombshell lawsuit shocks Winnipeg councillors
City of Winnipeg lawsuit alleges critical failures at $300M Deacon water treatment plant
CBC News Posted: Dec 22, 2015 2:01 PM CT Last Updated: Dec 22, 2015 4:21 PM CT

City councillors Janice Lukes and Brian Mayes say they were surprised to learn the contents of a City of Winnipeg lawsuit against engineering giant AECOM Canada and nine other companies over damages that occurred years ago at the $300 million Deacon water treatment facility.

[esquire]

^ rrskylar's going to love that one!

[Pinus]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...lors-1.3376884

Bombshell lawsuit shocks Winnipeg councillors
City of Winnipeg lawsuit alleges critical failures at $300M Deacon water treatment plant
CBC News Posted: Dec 22, 2015 2:01 PM CT Last Updated: Dec 22, 2015 4:21 PM CT

City councillors Janice Lukes and Brian Mayes say they were surprised to learn the contents of a City of Winnipeg lawsuit against engineering giant AECOM Canada and nine other companies over damages that occurred years ago at the $300 million Deacon water treatment facility.

I would think that this belongs in a more appropriate thread, such as "Winnipeg, of interest".

[bomberjet]

Sure, Mod can move it.

There's a common these going here. AECOM. I'm waiting for the police headquarters lawsuit to get going.

[Tacheguy]

Originally Posted by esquire

I see that the province is moving the site of the St. Boniface Court of Queen's Bench and provincial court from the current location on Provencher to 614 Des Meurons, making it, I'm guessing, one of the few if not only superior court sites in Canada in the same building as a bowling alley (LaVerendrye Lanes).

Anyone know what's happening with the old court location which is in the Gaboury-designed former St. Boniface Civic Complex? Is it becoming totally converted to office use or does it have a date with the wrecking ball? (Hopefully not the latter, it's a beautiful building)

It's being converted into a francophone medical clinic. I love that brutalist building..

[wags_in_the_peg]

GREAT ICE SHOW coming to Winnipeg. Discussed previously, but here's more details. 40 ice builders from China are coming Dec 25, opening late January, @25 adults, $15 kids. pretty cool if it looks at all like the other work they've done.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...2016-1.3378742

[cllew]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Sure, Mod can move it.

There's a common these going here. AECOM. I'm waiting for the police headquarters lawsuit to get going.

Looks like AECOM's name came up again in today's Free Press regarding a major problem with the West End Sewer Plant's operations.

[LilZebra]

Author: Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg
Publ: July 1970
Size: 303.9 K

West Kildonan - Old Kildonan Detailed Area Plan

NOTE: Tables 8 thru 15 not keyed in yet. They will be added as soon as I have the time.