I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read that mixed use development is the answer to the problems caused by Winnipeg’s sprawling car-oriented ways. Bloggers, editorialists and self-professed urbanists say it. Anybody who considers themselves a forward-thinking advocate of city densification believes in it. Many of these same people like to reference Jane Jacobs,…
It was the biggest event of the year. More highly anticipated than the civic election. More exciting than the launch of the Journey To Churchill exhibit. More compelling than the opening of the Canadian Museum For Human Rights. It was the release of the City of Winnipeg 2013 compensation disclosure report, and it happened today.…
As with any pillar of democracy, the first order of business pertaining to the Winnipeg 2014 civic election is selecting a hash tag for Twitter. The local twitterverse has settled on #Wpg14. It has the key elements: place (Wpg) and time (14). The fact that it pertains to an election is just assumed because nothing…
Are you tired of getting invited to parties for Epicure, Amway, Norwex, etc.? Do you feel obligated to go to them because you know the host; and then you feel obligated to buy some overpriced junk because, well, that’s the whole point of the party? I’ve never been a fan of these personal network pyramid…
As I write this, Teemu Selanne is playing one of the final games of a long and stellar career. He is a shoe-in for a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but I will argue here that perhaps a greater honour should be bestowed upon him when the time comes. Earlier today, two former…
You are probably familiar with the London Underground “tube map”. Even people who have never been to London have probably seen it in a magazine or on the internet somewhere. The iconic map designed by Harry Beck in 1931 sacrificed geographical accuracy in favour of clarity and ease of use, and it has become the…
For years Manitoba Hydro has been promoting energy efficiency through its Power Smart program. They paid for numerous TV ads, they had a trade-in program for LED Christmas lights, they sent me not one but TWO packages of CFL light bulbs, and if I stop procrastinating and finally get around to insulating my attic, they…
Retail is kind of a big deal in Winnipeg, so much so that mayor Sam Katz cited Bed, Bath and Beyond as evidence that Winnipeg was undergoing a “renaissance” in a recent address.-fp– The opening of IKEA rocked the city and everyone is exciting about H&M coming to Polo Park shopping centre. Big international or…
CTV News picked up on an amusing story that developed on Twitter Wednesday night about Manitoba Government mailer gone wrong. The interesting twitter exchange started with journalist Steve Lambert posted the following: Is this a trick question? Why does it have to be in Manitoba? Well, because … That structure in the bottom left corner…
Not long ago the provincial government in Manitoba announced an ambitious plan to spend $5.5 billion on “core infrastructure” over the next 5 years. This is the main pillar of the NDP’s economic strategy, and as such the government needs to show that it’s all worthwhile. To that end, the government commissioned a study by…
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