Winnipeg - Of Interest

[1ajs]

lol ok then

[Only The Lonely..]

Developer leads charge to build green
By DAVID SCHMEICHEL, SUN MEDIA

Last Updated: 4th March 2009, 3:32am


The Canada Green Building Council launched new national LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating systems for homeowners and homebuilders.
Play Video Talk about LEED-ing by example.

A local property developer is among those leading the charge in the area of environmentally friendly construction standards, by adhering to a new national rating system launched yesterday across Canada.

Having already created similar standards for office towers and business, the Canada Green Building Council unveiled its new LEED (that's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) criteria for homeowners and homebuilders yesterday.

"We know that building green is the future," said Cam Dobie, president of Dobie Properties Ltd. "This is the way it should be, and we want to be ahead of the curve."

Yesterday's announcement -- made simultaneously in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal -- took place in a former church hall in the North End, a site Dobie is renovating into condo spaces using the new green building requirements.

Dobie listed soy-based spray foam insulation, triple-pane windows, low-flow plumbing fixtures and energy efficient light fixtures among the materials that will help him make certification. He also pledged to recycle everything from old hardwood, ceiling finishes, hammer tresses and even coffee cups to reduce the amount that winds up in a landfill when he's done.

"It takes vision and commitment to build sustainable buildings and homes, but ... it pays off in the long term," said Rodney McDonald, chair of CGBC's Manitoba chapter. "A LEED home will use energy and water more efficiently, it'll use sustainable, longer-lasting and durable material, it'll be a healthier indoor environment for the building's occupants, and it'll provide increased comfort to those occupants."

A recent Nielsen survey showed 82% of potential homeowners were willing to spend more on a home if they knew it was LEED-certified.

"We want to be part of the solution," said Dobie. "We suspect some builders will be slow to warm to sustainable construction. But we know when we build green, it improves our bottom line."

[SKYSTHELIMIT]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Here's a great article in today's Toronto Star.

link

That's the image that Winnipeg has to build on. Quirky destination for upscale and cultural-industry people looking for unusual destinations with an air of authenticity, even if they're rough around the edges.

Nice article indeed, I also liked the fact they used my building for the photo

[Kris22]

^^It's nice to hear a positive overview of our city. Funny though, because from my experience, nearly everytime someone actually visits Winnipeg they leave with so many positive things to say. Most the negativity comes from people who either haven't actually visited, or from Winnipeggers themselves who are just bitter, blind to what's around them (or just sit around and never actually go out and do things), or are convinced with making it "big time" somewhere else. Not saying I think our city is perfect or anything, I just enjoy myself here and always make an effort to go and check out all the interesting places in the city.

I swear, if more Winnipeggers (I'm thinking lots of suburbanites I know) would just go and be a "tourist" in their own city--hit up the Forks, walk to the exchange to check out the shops, grab lunch in osborne/corydon--they would see there's lots to do.

[vid]

Every city is like that. People just don't know what they have.

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by Kris22

I swear, if more Winnipeggers (I'm thinking lots of suburbanites I know) would just go and be a "tourist" in their own city--hit up the Forks, walk to the exchange to check out the shops, grab lunch in osborne/corydon--they would see there's lots to do.

How is any of that "being a tourist"?

If Winnipeggers consider walking around the Exchange or the Corydon/Osborne areas to be "touristy" I think that they have actually no idea as to what urban living really is.

In most cities people head downtown to see a show, do some shopping or have dinner. I don't think they feel they are "being tourists"... just urban.

[vid]

You people living in the suburbs, though, being "urban" is being a tourist.

[Kris22]

Originally Posted by h0twired

How is any of that "being a tourist"?

If Winnipeggers consider walking around the Exchange or the Corydon/Osborne areas to be "touristy" I think that they have actually no idea as to what urban living really is.

In most cities people head downtown to see a show, do some shopping or have dinner. I don't think they feel they are "being tourists"... just urban.

Well, considering I said I was referring to most of the young suburban people I know, then yes, of course they have no idea what urban living really is. And since I don't live downtown, I guess I don't either. Yet when I, and pretty much everyone else I know, go to another city, we're all more than willing to explore the downtown and live the "urban" life for a few days.

And the reason I put "tourist" in quotation marks was because I was using it lightly. I was referring more to the 'sensibility' a curious tourist has, as in wanting to go out and see all the unique things a place offers. Going downtown to see a show, shop, and have dinner--those are things many suburban people do as tourists in other cities, but not as often in their own.

And the Forks and The Exchange are without a doubt tourist destinations.

[sledhead35]

i just stumbled accross the article about the future of our downtown job force posted by 1ajs, and it got me kinda turned on...did i just say that? but ya, its a good read. found in the "future canadian skylines" thread. i reccommend y'all paying a visit there.

[viperred88]

Not really news but atleast they are putting them to work and earning some responsibilty. Same deal will happen with the aboriginals
_____________________________
MMF, city launch neighbourhood cleanup programStaff

1:00 AM | Comments (0) / wpg free press

many Winnipeggers, David Chartrand has watched some of the city's once charming neighbourhoods decay.
On Friday, the president of Manitoba Métis Federation announced he will put together a team to clean up the city's most impoverished areas one street at a time.

Chartrand and Mayor Sam Katz held a news conference to announce the launch of the It's My Community Too program. A team of seven Métis or Inuit Manitobans will receive training in grounds maintenance, graffiti removal, fence painting and repair and other aspects of neighbourhood beautification. They will then clean streets, boulevards and back alleys.

"By next year, I'm sure you will see a very different core area in the city of Winnipeg," Chartrand said.

The idea was years in the making, Chartrand said, but made possible because of help from city hall.

The city will provide equipment -- trucks, trailers and smaller gear -- for the first seven-person team. The MMF will pay team members "more than minimum wage," Chartrand said.

He will appeal to the private sector to donate other equipment such as paint and brushes.

The MMF will soon take out advertisements in newspapers to hire the first team and Chartrand said he hopes to add more people by next year.

There are about 100,000 Métis people in the province, about half of whom live in Winnipeg.

The city is working on a similar program with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs aimed at aboriginal people, a spokesman for Katz said.

Chartrand said the work will start as soon as possible in the North End, an area where signs of decay have spread over the years.

But he was quick to add the effort is meant to benefit all Winnipeggers

[Andy6]

This idea took "years" to come up with?

[vid]

No, they woke up on Monday with this great idea and it was so well thought out from the start that the city supported it immediately.

[viperred88]

Originally Posted by Andy6

This idea took "years" to come up with?

Sadly yeah, its amazing what a person can do when they stop drinking 24-7.

[wags_in_the_peg]

Originally Posted by viperred88

Sadly yeah, its amazing what a person can do when they stop drinking 24-7.

ouch.... they aren't ALL like that you know. it may seem like it but they aren't.

[vid]

The problem is that they're more public with their drinking. They don't hide it. It's a cultural thing.

[Only The Lonely..]

City plans to get active at last. Proposal calls for link between Waterfront Drive, Kildonan Park

By: Bartley Kives | Winnipeg Free Press - March 10, 2009


Trail-building money is finally going to flow to the long-neglected North End, as a $3.3-million plan to create new bike and pedestrian paths this year will connect Waterfront Drive with Kildonan Park.

Winnipeg's 2009 active-transportation plan, which comes before city council's public works committee this morning, calls for the city to spend $405,000 on the North Winnipeg Parkway, a recreational bike and walking path on the west side of the Red River.

The North End route will improve one of the worst Winnipeg sections of the Trans-Canada Trail and "will also serve to solve a dangerous situation" that finds "children running out in front of the Redwood Bridge," according to a report authored by active-transportation co-ordinator Kevin Nixon.

Along with the North Winnipeg Parkway, the city's active-transportation plan calls for three other major recreational paths to be built this summer: the western portion of the Bishop Grandin Greenway, the Silver Avenue Trail in St. James and the Donald Street Parkway, which will run parallel to the first phase of the southwest Winnipeg bus corridor.

The $3.3-million trail-building kitty will also be used to create new Exchange District bike lanes, a bike-commuter route on Eugenie Street in St. Boniface, $250,000 worth of new regional sidewalks and $170,000 worth of bicycle-parking facilities.

The plan also calls for the city to spend $685,000 to research future active-transportation corridors and promote the infrastructure the city is building, a commitment that has taken the city's chief trail-building advocate by surprise.

"They're actually spending money on promotion and research!" said Janice Lukes, executive director of the Winnipeg Trails Association, who was also pleased to see the city siphon off $200,000 worth of parks money to fund the Silver Avenue Trail and use $400,000 in existing federal and provincial funds to build the North Winnipeg Parkway.

"Super allocation of funding, super creativity in funding," said Lukes, who's usually critical of the city. "It's very interesting and very good."

Despite her praise, Lukes said she remains concerned the city does not have a long-term trail-building plan and has trouble completing the commuter and recreational trail projects it plans to build.

In 2008, roughly one third of the city's active-transportation projects were not completed or were delayed until this year, mainly because the work was not tendered until August or September.

The incomplete projects will be finished this year, along with all the new projects in the 2009 plan, said city spokesman Ken Allen.

He noted this year's active-transportation plan will be approved two months earlier and will also be vetted in front of trail groups.

"Now that these processes are in place, the work is expected to proceed more quickly," he said in a statement.

The 2009 trail plan still requires city council approval.


bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

$3.3 million finally flows for pedestrian and bike trails


Active-transportation projects planned for Winnipeg in 2009:


New pathways and corridors

Bishop Grandin Greenway West (Pembina Highway to Waverley Street): $650,000, with a combined $400,000 coming from the province and Ottawa


North Winnipeg Parkway (connects Kildonan Park to Waterfront Drive): $405,000, with $200,000 from a federal/provincial municipal infrastructure program


Silver Avenue Trail (Hamilton Avenue to St. Matthews Avenue): $370,000, with $200,000 coming from parks and playgrounds


Donald Street Pathway (Parallel to new southwest rapid-transit corridor): $325,000.

McDermot and Bannatyne Avenue bike lanes: $115,000


Eugenie Bikeway: $80,000


Other projects

New sidewalks (St. Vital Bridge, Levis Street, Hargrave Street and Carlton Street): $250,000


Red River Crossing feasibility study (options for connecting St. Vital to the University of Manitoba): $250,000


Spot improvements (various locations): $200,000


Signage strategy: $200,000


Bike parking (various locations): $170,000


Pembina Highway study: $95,000


Promotion (commuter challenge, Bike To Work Day, new cycling map): $85,000


Research projects (GPS cycle route study, design guidelines, others): $55,000


Trailhead signage: $50,000

[Only The Lonely..]

Core isn't a full retail district yet: BIZ study

By: Geoff Kirbyson | Winnipeg Free Press - March 10, 2009

MORE restaurants, grocery stores and sporting goods outlets are required downtown before it can be considered a full-service shopping district, a new study shows.

The report, based on nearly 1,250 person-on-the-street interviews with downtown employees, also found additional security measures are required because many people, women in particular, feel considerably less safe once the workday is over.

Stefano Grande, executive director of the Downtown Winnipeg Business Improvement Zone (BIZ), which commissioned the study, said his goal is to provide its 1,400 members with as much information as possible so they can provide the right type of retailing mix to the 57,000 workers who call the central business district home from 9 to 5. The data will also be plugged into its downtown retail attraction and retention strategy, which will be unveiled within the next three months.

"We really want to help our business community get a handle on who these workers are, what their income is, what they buy or don't buy downtown and what they'd like to buy downtown," he said.

A quick snapshot of respondents shows 72 per cent of them earn more than $50,000 in annual salary, 65 per cent have about 30 minutes of free time over the noon hour and the majority of their food purchases are made at breakfast and lunch. Half of the respondents said they shop on their lunch break while a quarter of them said they shopped multiple times a week.

Grande said a significant opportunity exists to target post-work meals, either in restaurants or the take-home variety.

Jino Distasio, director of the Institute of Urban Studies at the University of Winnipeg, which interpreted the results for the Downtown BIZ and helped design the study, said with Manitoba Hydro opening its new Portage Avenue headquarters, which will be home to 2,000 workers, plus a number of smaller companies relocating downtown, a first impression is key.

"We need to expose these new workers to the many services available downtown and make it a positive experience for them. It might help fill in some of the vacant storefronts we see as well," he said.

Distasio said he expects retail activity will also be given a boost when the downtown walkway system is completed, giving shop owners year-round exposure.

Scott Jocelyn, president of the Manitoba Restaurant Association, said while he can't see a void of a particular type of restaurant in downtown Winnipeg, he's confident demand could sustain more eateries because of the continued high level of activity at the MTS Centre.

"We have a nice mix of restaurants already. From quick service, such as A&W, to high-end, such as Hy's Steakhouse, to independents, such as One Night In Bangkok," he said.

Grande said one of the ongoing challenges is combatting the continued perception that downtown is an unsafe area, even though it is home to just one-tenth of the city's criminal activity.

"More police foot patrols would address this immediately," he said.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca

[vid]

Since Thunder Bay introduced foot patrols in it's three cores, they've done quite well, and the public reaction has been very good. Downtown Fort William in particular has progressed quite a bit over the past nine months.

[wags_in_the_peg]

Go Manitoba Go!

from cjob.com
Wpg Entering Positive Hiring Climate
An employment outlook survey suggests we're moving into a positive hiring climate for the second quarter of 2009.

Manpower's Regional Director Susan Wright-Boucher says 17-percent of Winnipeg employers are poised to hire, while 5-percent are expected to reduce their workforce. The rest are holding steady. However Winnipeg's second quarter net employment outlook is down considerably from the same period last year.

Nationally, Western Canada and the Atlantic provinces are leading the way in hiring expectations.

[viperred88]

old news is newer news I guess.

its slowly getting there at a snails pace but it don't help when the city does a half ass job in cleaning up downtown, and making it destination place.

I know this is ridiculous but about over inflate the lot taxes in the residential neighborhoods downtown and build some mix income apartement blocks. This would sure get rid of the people who live in house they don't pay for and care for. And make housing downtown more attractive.

Originally Posted by Only The Lonely..

Core isn't a full retail district yet: BIZ study

By: Geoff Kirbyson | Winnipeg Free Press - March 10, 2009

MORE restaurants, grocery stores and sporting goods outlets are required downtown before it can be considered a full-service shopping district, a new study shows.

The report, based on nearly 1,250 person-on-the-street interviews with downtown employees, also found additional security measures are required because many people, women in particular, feel considerably less safe once the workday is over.

Stefano Grande, executive director of the Downtown Winnipeg Business Improvement Zone (BIZ), which commissioned the study, said his goal is to provide its 1,400 members with as much information as possible so they can provide the right type of retailing mix to the 57,000 workers who call the central business district home from 9 to 5. The data will also be plugged into its downtown retail attraction and retention strategy, which will be unveiled within the next three months.

"We really want to help our business community get a handle on who these workers are, what their income is, what they buy or don't buy downtown and what they'd like to buy downtown," he said.

A quick snapshot of respondents shows 72 per cent of them earn more than $50,000 in annual salary, 65 per cent have about 30 minutes of free time over the noon hour and the majority of their food purchases are made at breakfast and lunch. Half of the respondents said they shop on their lunch break while a quarter of them said they shopped multiple times a week.

Grande said a significant opportunity exists to target post-work meals, either in restaurants or the take-home variety.

Jino Distasio, director of the Institute of Urban Studies at the University of Winnipeg, which interpreted the results for the Downtown BIZ and helped design the study, said with Manitoba Hydro opening its new Portage Avenue headquarters, which will be home to 2,000 workers, plus a number of smaller companies relocating downtown, a first impression is key.

"We need to expose these new workers to the many services available downtown and make it a positive experience for them. It might help fill in some of the vacant storefronts we see as well," he said.

Distasio said he expects retail activity will also be given a boost when the downtown walkway system is completed, giving shop owners year-round exposure.

Scott Jocelyn, president of the Manitoba Restaurant Association, said while he can't see a void of a particular type of restaurant in downtown Winnipeg, he's confident demand could sustain more eateries because of the continued high level of activity at the MTS Centre.

"We have a nice mix of restaurants already. From quick service, such as A&W, to high-end, such as Hy's Steakhouse, to independents, such as One Night In Bangkok," he said.

Grande said one of the ongoing challenges is combatting the continued perception that downtown is an unsafe area, even though it is home to just one-tenth of the city's criminal activity.

"More police foot patrols would address this immediately," he said.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca