The referendum on opening Portage and Main to pedestrians seemed to dominate the conversation leading up to the 2018 Winnipeg Civic election. Many people, with good reason, argued that the focus ought to be on far more pressing problems like the growing meth crisis, crime, and our struggling transit service to name a few. Any…
In my previous blog post (here) I did my best to explain why I thought it was important to open up Winnipeg’s “iconic” Portage and Main intersection. Portage and Main, the only square that Manitoba has ever had on the Canadian Monopoly board, is in reality a blight on downtown Winnipeg and an impediment to…
Families are being torn apart, coworker is pitted against coworker, and my Twitter feed has turned into a war zone. It’s no surprise, really. If my 10 years of blogging and 5 years on Twitter have taught me anything, it’s that nothing riles up Winnipeggers like transportation issues, and opening up Portage and Main is…
Every day I drive to work. I get in my little pickup truck, fire up the 4.0l V6 engine, and spend 40 minutes expelling greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere and swearing under my breath at the boneheads I share the road with. I once was a bus rider. Even after I moved to the…
UPDATE: The Winnipeg Free Press is reporting that the cost to the city will now be $7.25 million — up $3 million over the initial budget. That means that Hydro is covering $18 million of the project in the name of infrastructure renewal. There are a few questions that a person might ask at this…
I have decided to post my impressions and rankings of each candidate. Warning: some of my impressions may be misguided. I have not been following every debate or reading every news release. However I know the names of all the candidates, and a few things about where they stand. I even live tweeted a debate…
Door-knocking is so old fashioned. The internet is where you want to be if you’re a candidate for Mayor, or anything else. It is inexpensive, has a wide reach, and can be an effective tool to engage voters. How effective it is depends on how you use it. I have devised a scorecard based on…
Today, the novel Manitoba Forward/United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg 2014 Winnipeg Mayoral Election crowd-funded survey results were released. And even though the results were already plastered all over the internet while I was still at work, I am still proud to have been a sponsor of this poll. As a sponsor I feel I should…
Brian Bowman recently made a pledge to tear down the barriers at Portage and Main and reopen the iconic intersection to pedestrians if elected Mayor of Winnipeg. It’s an idea that has been gaining momentum as the long term agreement that shut off the intersection to non-motorized people nears its end. I fully support opening…
Most of the ideas generated by the candidates for mayor in Winnipeg’s upcoming election have been fairly predictable: of course we need more openness and transparency … yes we have a problem with pot holes … But now, finally, there is an issue we can sink our fangs into: MOBILITY CHARGES It all started with…
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