Bold Ideas


Opening up Portage and Main M


Removing the barriers from Winnipeg’s most famous corner would remove the psychological barriers that have seen us shrink from being Canada’s fourth largest city to its eighth.


ayor Brian Bowman has vowed to reintroduce Winnipeg foot traffic to Portage and Main, a


pledge that I heartily support. Tis iconic intersection represents the heart of our city and the barriers that were erected in 1979 represent more than three decades of decline. Are the two related? I have


no empirical evidence to back this up, but the heartbeat of our city seemed to slow around the same time. We en- tered a period of very sluggish, almost non-existent, growth as government manipulation tried to asset the path forward: the very expensive deal with Trizec being the first (it is es- timated that the enticement offered by the city equalled the investment by the company), then the white elephant that is Portage Place coming on in 1987, killing three blocks of local free enterprisers who had made shopping downtown a pleasure for a hundred and more years. During that period we fell from being the fourth largest city in Canada to its eighth, just ahead of Hamilton! Portage and Main has been the scene of


Bold Ideas Dorothy Dobbie


countless important community events over the years, from protests such as the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919 to celebrating the end of two World Wars. It is the place where we come together to express our joy. When the Winnipeg Jets won a spot in the playoffs just two years ago, Winnipeggers naturally flocked to the city centre, converging on the intersection in spite of the barricades. At one time, it was assumed that what


is now Broadway would become the main east-west thoroughfare in Winnipeg, but ever since McKenney’s General Store opened at the corner where two ox cart trails intersected, 155 years ago in 1862, the location at the end of the road leading to Portage La Prairie seems to have had a kind of magnetic force that drew traffic to it. Within a single decade, by 1872, the


intersection had become the heart of an emerging town. Another dozen years and the shape of the city to come was already evident with Portage and Main surrounded by substantial and imposing looking buildings. Over the years, the corner has had many


affectionate slings and arrows directed its way. It was labelled the windiest corner in


Opening the corner of Portage and Main would symbolize a new beginning.


Canada and it was once claimed to be so hot that you could fry an egg on the pave- ment. Tere was a postage stamp dedicated to the corner in 1974. Songs have been written about it: Blurt, a British band, has a song called Portage & Main on their Kenny Rogers' Greatest Hit album and Prairie Town by Randy Bachman talks about Por- tage and Main. Tere is even a Vancouver rock band named Portage and Main. In spite of all this, and much more, there


are those who continue to defend the bar- riers, claiming that removal would create impossible traffic jams from pedestrians crossing the street. Tis objections is self- revealing since there are not enough peo- ple on the street today to cause any kind of a problem, but the objection proves the point in that, clearly, removing the barriers is seen even by its detractors to be a magnet


for pedestrian traffic. Surely that’s a good thing for downtown. Apparently, according to several news


reports, the barrier-supporters tend to be motorists who don’t work downtown. Tat’s not surprising since anyone who does inhabit that space knows that it’s far quicker to walk half a block to the end of the barriers and dodge traffic to cross the street. Many do this. Going underground can take anywhere from three to six min- utes depending on whether you know where you are going or not. Some worry that returning traffic to the


street would hurt the businesses under- ground. Far from true, since only a few hotel guests and the workers who inhabit the office towers surrounding the under- ground mall or those who use the indoor walkway go there now, and most will con-


tinue to shop there when the street opens. If the concourse had to rely on people from other parts of the city, the shops would go broke very quickly. Removing the barriers would do so


much more than put people back on the street. Te act in itself would symbolize a new beginning where people once again mean more than automobiles. It would return to us our natural gathering place, our town square, that no other space can emulate. Far from stifling business, the opening


up of Portage and Main could bring life back to the heart of the city, stimulate new enterprises and just let us psychologically breathe again. We’d still have the option of going underground in winter. But in sum- mer, just think of the possibilities when people return to our most famous corner.


New challenges require innovative approaches to addressing crime


E


arlier this month, Winnipeg hosted the Canadian Association of Police Governance (CAPG) Annual Confer-


ence for the first time in the 29 years it has been in existence. It was great to have the op-


portunity to welcome delegates to Winnipeg, and to speak to them about police governance, policing challenges, and crime in Canada. The CAPG was supportive


of changes that led to the ci- vilian oversight of municipal polices services through the introduction of police boards, a governance model I believe is in the best interests of citizens and police services. Our current Police Board


the operations of the police service but also provide an accountable and transparent method of police oversight for citizens. Tis is important because while elected officials should be voic- ing concerns on problem areas, they should not be directing police operations. It’s important the Police


Board is the channel through which those concerns are voiced in order to maintain separat ion on operat ional matters between elected of- ficials and the police service, optically and in practice. Our police do incredibly


State of the City Brian Bowman


Chair, David Asper, is the first cit izen to be appointed as chair. He has been at the helm for over a year, and I have been impressed with his work toward ensuring our Board is on the right track. On a fundamental level, citizen oversight boards remove politicians from directing


September 2018


important work and are in a much better position to con- sider what methods of policing are effective and which are not. As set out by Mr. Asper, there


will be an increased focus for this Board on engaging with the community on how our police operate and what citizens feel the priorities of the police should be. As we found out during the recent release of crime statistics, more spending doesn’t


always equal better results. The police budget has increased every year over the last four years to its highest level in the his- tory of the city. For the average homeowner, 30% of the property taxes paid in 2018 are required to support the $291 million police service’s budget. If more resources automatically equaled


better results, Winnipeg would be in a much better position today. As the costs of policing increase in jurisdictions across our nation, we need to find innovative ways to respond to crime. Te release of this year’s crime statistics


help illustrate this. Even with the highest police budget in the city’s history, crime is trending up in Winnipeg, and it is the root causes of this crime that are very concern- ing. According to our Chief of Police, illicit drugs, specifically meth, have become a major contributor to these increases. We heard at the press conference for the


release of this year’s crime statistics that this isn’t a problem that we can arrest our way out of. Responding to issues originat- ing from within the complex web of socio- economics, family crisis, and mental health is taking our police away from their core


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activities and mandate. According to the Winnipeg Police Board’s


strategic plan, one-half to two-thirds of all calls for police are to deal with families in crisis, and individuals struggling with the challenges of mental health, medical, and substance abuse. Downloading responsibility to respond


to these issues puts tremendous stress on police resources. Addressing it requires an all-hands-on-deck response from all levels of government and organizations in our community. Collaboration between these groups will ultimately see us through to the other side. It’s a challenge cities across Canada


are dealing with. Locally, we are making greater use of downtown foot patrols, secu- rity cameras, improvements to lighting and targeting high crime areas, like the Portage Place transit shelter. Tese are examples of strategic measures that can be undertaken to complement the work done by our police and in some cases, free up resources for the police to focus on core activities. We are working to make a difference, and


it’s important we do that collaboratively and strategically.


Manitoba Post 5


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