Progressive Winnipeg

"The Big Wild"

2008-07-26T19:40:00.002-05:00

Back from Dauphin for a short work-related thing. Actually I only spent a day in Dauphin, but the days leading up to it prompted so much overtime I barely had enough time to read about taserings, bodies in Lac du Bonnet, Ryan "Favre" Dinwiddie, Transit "labour disruption," and not to mention all the international news the FreeP doesn't bother to report on.

Dauphin is a pretty kickass place. As a biologist/farmer I didn't spend too much time in the city, but the rural municipality sure has a lot to offer. I can't wait to get up there again next year and be re-amazed at all the rivers, natural areas and all the wildlife that call it home.

But enough about Dauphin. One last thing, that train station is pretty sweet. The Via Rail station here in Winnipeg has it's own bout of sweetness, but the one in Dauphin is more of a traditional style railstation, and it's all fixed up nice and painted and everything.

I don't have much to blog about recently. Well, actually I do, 3 stories I'm wanting ot write about but not necessarily relating to Winnipeg. More of the environment world-scale habitat-loss shake-your-head kinds of things.

I do have one thing to note. I saw an airport ad (gosh we all love those, don't we) that said "I Want My Airport To Be World Class." Gee golly we're reeeeeeeeally shaping up to be that World Class city, aren't we.

The reason to this post/post title has got nothing to do with Dauphin or airport signs.

I stopped into MEC today to pick up a couple of non-bisphenol-A waterbottles just in case it actually is a health concern and I don't accidentally end up consuming trace amounts of estrogen.

There's a kiosk type thing with a big title that says "The Big Wild" and you can buy a pair of green shoelaces for two bucks, that goes towards something or other. I found it a bit curious and thought, well, it's probably a half decent cause, and so I bought a pair of green shoelaces.

I'd like to plug for The Big Wild and encourage you all to go down to MEC and buy a pair of shoelaces and check the site out.

They're about protecting Canada's forests and natural areas, and actually protecting them, not quasi-protection like many provincial parks across the country where logging and such is still permitted. You can sign up if you'd like and put a marker on the map of a place you feel has natural beauty or you think should be protected.

This kind of thing reminded me of Riding Mountain, which I drove through on the way home from Dauphin. I'm thinking of maybe going there and camping for a weekend in August.

But, I don't have any camping gear (!). I have a Coleman stove, of course. Perhaps somebody could help me out, any advice or suggestions on tents would be great. I'm wanting to get a tent for just two people, I'm looking at the Hummingbird H2 or H3 that MEC carries. I suppose my biggest worries are durability and waterproofness.

Anyways thats it's for now. Don't forget to drop by MEC and check out The Big Wild.

I'm Officially Convinced

2008-07-19T10:44:00.002-05:00

I am convinced that the writers and editors of the Winnipeg Free Press are social conservatives. For proof, just take a glance at the front page of today's print edition and tell me what you notice.

This cheerleading bullshit was a non issue, non story, made into one four days ago, and they WONT LET IT GO!

They insist that these pictures were "extremely candid," which, if whoever is pushing this story would type in "sexy girl" into Google, would find that our ex-cheerleader posted pictures of "candidness" that get beaten by people's pictures on FACEBOOK! You know, pictures you share with your FRIENDS! This girl's pictures aren't going to make Playboy magazine, fuck they can't even make MAXIM!

And now, what do they want? For us to turn back the clock and have fully clothed women wearing sweaters with a giant "W" on the front chanting "give me aaaaa....B!"

Four days ago, this was on the front page of the LOCAL section.

It's apparently escalated to front page news?

My non-professional advice to the cheerleading coach? Don't RESIGN! Tell the reporters of this oftentimes atrocious newspaper that there wasn't a story to tell. Tell them to piss off and go find real news to report. Like bigshots from other cities telling us our stadium plan for SPD sucks. Or the ridiculous amount of toxic waste sites in the riding of Churchill.

In other REAL news....

Again, buried in the Detour section is something that maybe should be front page news. Or at least, front section worthy. Perhaps my favourite reporter Mr Kives is onto something, is Manitoba Conservation making the lives of loggers easier and the lives of canoers more difficult?

But maybe big fat trees and pristine water don't sell newspapers. Sex sells, right?

How better to sell your newspaper than to make a non-issue out of a bunch of hot girls and put their pictures in your newspaper for as long as you can stretch it out for.

And they say the SUN is a Tabloid...

Maybe New York is Good...

2008-07-17T09:24:00.003-05:00

So maybe, just maybe, it's worth some 25 grand for this New Yorker to tell us what we already know. After all, SOMEbody needs to tell us. Apparently we can't tell ourselves what we already know.

After looking up Mr Michael Berne I stumbled upon a power point presentation that you can view by following that link.

I still think it's ludicrous to outsource brainpower. This is not a very difficult problem, just maybe we should avoid our urban planners for their opinions. Shit, did I say urban planners? No planning going on in this city, the only planning I'm aware of is how to turn inner city neighborhoods into oases for suburbanites. That, and we could keep that 25 grand in our own province, just give it to Policy Frog, he did Mr Berne's work for him already anyways.

So what's so special about this power point presentation.

Well, you don't have to wait too long for this to get interesting. On the (not counting the introductory slide) very first slide of this presentation, is a bullet point that may be worth our 25 000 dollars for Mr Berne to come to Winnipeg and tell our politicians and development corporations that:

"Revitalization planning can be very elitist."

"The people driving the process are often NOT representative of the overall shopping population."

Holy South Point Douglas, Batman!

Oh wait, I thought we weren't hiring him for South Point. Just for downtown. Looks like his words of wisdom are applicable elsewhere in our city. Isn't that what Asper, and Doer and Katz really need to hear, after all? That South Point, the stadium, the extension of Waterfront, that it's elitist, and doesn't represent the people who actually live there?

But it turns out it's Downtown BIZ that hired this guy, and I'm pretty sure they aren't involved with the Stadium. Downtown BIZ wants the professional advice for the actual downtown.

Mr Berne is probably laughing all the way to the bank....he doesn't even need to do any work, everything is in his power point presentation. And everything in it can be applied to downtown.

He addresses the "creative" and "artist" kind of aspects that would highlight an area like the Exchange, the slides with "creative/hipster niche," citing things like cheap living space and things like small live music venues and vinyl record stores.

Most interestingly, on the second-last slide, states:

"Retail revitalization almost always starts with food, drink and entertainment (e.g. restaurants, bars, live music venues)"

Like I said, he doesn't even need to do any work. He just described the Exchange, Osborne, and Corydon, in one sentence. That's the foundation. Restaurants, bars, and music venues.

What gets built on the foundation? Population. This is what Osborne and Corydon have covered, people live there. Lots of people. Red River College is going to help cover the Exchange with a revitalization project of their own undertaking.

As for stores? Trendy and edgy as I said on a previous post, but which businesses specifically? They don't EXIST yet! Leave the rent/lease low, let the blossoming imaginations of freshly graduated entrepreneurs take care of that. Sky is the limit, literally. Maybe another futon/furniture place? Independant clothing stores, like Mix Tape? A Windows/Doors place maybe that will work out good, who knows?

But are we going to learn anything?

Or every time we have a squabble about what should be done, when we have a tug-of-war of ideas between different development corporations headed by different people but ultimately serve the same purpose, will we turn to somebody from New York?

Is this guy going to rehash his power point presentation, are we going to be wow-ed by what we already know and hail him as a downtown hero? Just more incentive/excuse to look to New York every time we have an issue?

Maybe if Winnipeggers stopped looking to the sky as a world-class-wannabe city, with big giant megaprojects everywhere with enough parking space to justify our sprawling suburban desires, we could make up lost ground all by ourselves.

News Du Jour

2008-07-15T14:20:00.003-05:00

It's amazing what passes for news in this town.

"Racy" pictures of a "supposed" former cheerleader....who the fuck cares?

This damages the Bombers' reputation? How? This is a FORMER cheerleader, who may have posted pictures on (warning may be borderline pornographic) site that people looking for porn go to, that was somehow picked up by people browsing it that work for websites nobody takes seriously and is then reported in the FreeP as some kind of damage of credibility and or reputation.

How does this damage their credibility, and how does it pass for news, those are my questions.

This person takes pictures on her own time, posts them...wherever, its not like they got sent to all kinds of sports stations and newspapers to attempt to tarnish the CFL cheerleading image purposely.

And how is this any much different than a cheerleading swimsuit calendar? The outcry is because these pictures are "taboo", they damage cheerleaders reputations, but all kinds of cheerleading squads everywhere sell calendars of cheerleaders posed "provocatively" in swimsuits or other "scantily clad" garb.

If they're worried about their reputation, and be taken as a serious sport, they should be cracking down on other clubs' cheerleading calendars, and perhaps they should dance less provocatively to less provocative songs.

But...who am I kidding. That's what cheerleading is and thats what people (read: men) expect.

Quick Thoughts

2008-07-12T11:37:00.002-05:00

Two quick thoughts for today.

First....What the hell is up with outsourcing brainpower to high end firms in New York? Like we can't solve our own problems, we can't figure out which kind of businesses we should attract to the areas we want to revitalize?

We couldn't write our own provincial slogan, we can't find our own businesses to occupy vacant space downtown....why not outsource our city slogan quest as well? Does anybody really believe this guy is going to "figure out" what kind of businesses we need to attract to the Exchange District? Nobody in Winnipeg can stand up and say "this is a trendyish neighborhood, we should attract trendy and edgy businesses?"

..................

Second...I've taken an interest in the Detour section every Saturday, if only because the FreeP likes to slide in a column by Bartley Kives in the hopes that nobody will notice it. Unfortunately, this tactic of hiding his columns in a section nobody reads is a big waste because unlike the rest of the material in the Detour, Bart's Detour-columns are very good.

For the Love Of...

2008-07-11T15:46:00.003-05:00

Fucking cyclists.

So I'm driving north on Henderson towards East St Paul today, and theres a cyclist, cycling, IN THE CURB LANE.

You know, for all the support I throw behind cyclists and the countless times I've defended their right to cycle on roadways, it's fruitcakes like this moron who make me think about my position.

It's bad enough, you may take your life in your hands cycling anywhere in the city, but for fucks sakes, when there is a paved shoulder put there specifically so you can use it to cycle in a safe manner and you disregard it, you're ASKING to be running over.

Forget about that point, who WANTS to cycle....IN TRAFFIC? When you have the option NOT to?!

Yikes you cyclists, some of you make the anti-cyclist hatred justified.

Ignorance is Bliss

2008-07-11T08:42:00.002-05:00

Occasionally I read a statement by some CEO or lawyer or something that makes me just shake my head and laugh in disbelief. Today a letter in the FreeP did just that.

In defence of plastic bags

Re: Teen creates method to break down plastic bags, July 2.

While the Canadian Plastics Industry Association would like to congratulate Daniel Burd on his win at the Canada-Wide Science Fair, we are concerned about the myths that this article perpetuates. The article extols degradation as the answer to concerns about plastic shopping bags. This is wrong and will only add to the problem by creating more greenhouse gases and kill our ability to recycle traditional plastic shopping bags. It is much better to reuse and recycle a resource than waste it by allowing it to degrade in landfill.

The article perpetuates the myth that because plastic shopping bags are not biodegradable, they are bad for the environment. The fact that conventional plastic shopping bags are inert in landfill is a good thing because they don't give off methane and leachates when they are landfilled.

Plastic shopping bags are highly recyclable and can be remade into new bags or many different products like siding, decking and laminate sub-flooring. Recycling is a $2-billion market in North America. Let's work to improve plastic bag reuse and recycling, not destroy it.

Cathy Cirko

Vice-President

Canadian Plastics Industry Association

Toronto

While we're at it, tobacco companies deny that smoking causes cancer, pharmaceuticals deny their drugs are ineffective or have unmentioned side effects, and industries of all sorts deny they are responsible for contamination.

It does not surprise me that, the VP of an industry group who's total demise is on the foreseeable horizon, comes out swinging.

I would like to take the time to deconstruct this letter.

The article extols degradation as the answer to concerns about plastic shopping bags. This is wrong and will only add to the problem by creating more greenhouse gases...

Credit where credit is due, degradation is not the answer to a problem....making something like this that decomposes only proves our unwillingness to find another solution. Plastic bags don't break down? Make one that does!

But to say that it adds to greenhouse gases? I noticed HMV started using degradeable bags. Many places have adopted their own version of some kind of corn-based bag. Plastic bags are now responsible for global warming. It's not the plastic industry. Not the petrol industry that makes plastic happen. But yes, bags that degrade.

So I guess the point here is not to let anything degrade...it adds to greenhouse gases. No composting, no starchy shopping bags. Use plastic bags...do your part to curb greenhouse gases!

....and kill our ability to recycle traditional plastic shopping bags.

Recycle plastic bags? Huh? I can't put them out in my blue bin. Can you? I thought you had to go take them back to the store you got them from...that's IF they have a bag recycling program.

It is much better to reuse and recycle a resource than waste it by allowing it to degrade in landfill.

This sentence makes my head spin.

Yes, it is much better to reuse and recycle.

But what happens to most plastic bags? People hoard them. For reuse. And here's this recycling thing again...you cannot toss plastic bags in your blue bin for recycling. Recyling a plastic bag requires an extra step of taking them back to the grocery store...and an extra burden on the store, to offer plastic bag recycling.

So where do they end up? If people hoard them for use for other things, they still ultimately end up....in a landfill.

There's only one possible explanation, with billions of plastic bags floating around in our country right this second, of why they cannot be recycled conventionally. In your weekly recycling box. It must not be cost effective to do it.

The article perpetuates the myth that because plastic shopping bags are not biodegradable, they are bad for the environment.

Another head spinner. Actually, this one makes my heart sink and my stomach churn.

Ignorance IS bliss after all. I didn't even search for anything specific. Or some artsy activist photos. That's what comes up on a search for "plastic bag waste."

It might not be so bad if they weren't so mobile. But they just happen to be.

It's not that they release methane. Or whatever. It's that they end up being DESTRUCTIVE!

Come on....we've all seen photos like those. Photos of a dying animal. We've all seen the plastic bag that gets stuck in the elm tree all winter. We've all seen the hedges around shopping malls and landfills that, in the spring, are full of plastic bags that people don't bother to dispose of properly, hoard up, OR RECYCLE.

Plastic shopping bags are highly recyclable and can be remade into new bags or many different products like siding, decking and laminate sub-flooring.

Aye aye aye...who recycles plastic bags? Because you can't toss them in your blue bin, I'd venture a guess that most people hoard them. I have a cat. They are quite handy for that. People have dogs, cats, other pets. What if you don't have a pet?

Cathy the VP is writing to "defend" herself against the 17 year old kid who made the news. The article is interesting, but look what the kid has to say:

"Each time I open the closet where we keep our cleaning supplies and things like that, the plastic bags are on the top shelf and they always fall down like an avalanche onto my head.

"One day I just got so tired of it and I began to research it to find out what other people are doing with these plastic bags, and through my research I found out that we're not doing too much."

Not doing too much. Ain't that the truth.

The difference in perspective between a CEO, a VP, some PR rep, or a lawyer, and a regular person is astounding. It makes me wonder sometimes, if they believe the garbage that comes out of their mouths. Cathy the VP banks her whole defending statement on the "ability" to recycle plastic bags, which almost nobody does, and even if you could put them in your blue bin, I highly doubt recycling would increase all that much.

North America is behind in all this. No plastic bags in China. I wonder why...the millions of barrels of oil they would expend making them every year? Or did the Chinese government do a Google search on plastic bags and find the images that I just did and decide they don't want their country to end up like that? Plastic bag taxation in Ireland has significantly curbed their use.

But in North America it's a city-by-city venture. Met with backlash every time....like we can't survive with cloth bags or something. In North America, it's about convenience, and taking away something that we've always had, even though there is a viable and non-life-changing alternative is total and utter sacrilige.

I guess I'll say kudos to stores like Supervalue, who have made it a fashion trend of sorts to carry around a reusable cloth bag.

I am against plastic bags. I'm not sure if I support an outright ban, but I would totally be in favour of something like phasing them out over some period of time.

The plastic bag hoopla that goes on in the FreeP and with the councilors sometimes is a soap opera in itself. Between plastic bags and "atrocious" welcome signs, it's a wonder how they have the time to debate things like stadium proposals and bridge reconstruction.

This is something I would like to see the federal government do something on, to phase plastic bags out by 5 or 10 years or something. It's not about greenhouse gases or any bullshit like that. It's just about common sense.

Slogans R Us

2008-07-09T07:46:00.002-05:00

So, as we all know, the Mayor decided that "One Great City" wasn't good enough, and now we have to re-brand ourselves once again.

Except that "One Great City" was fine, even if we weren't that great. And we ARE a "city of oppurtunity," just look at how many blogs there are about the subject. And "centre of it all" is fine, even if the only thing we're the centre of is Canada.

Today in the FreeP they have another article about this subject and enlist experts to share their knowledge. The following quote made me chuckle:

Adopting a broad general statement won't work, he said, because it won't feel like it represents any aspect of Winnipeg. "It won't be inclusive and it won't corral anything in. The largest risk is it will be too general and lack specific relevance to the City of Winnipeg," he said. (Derrick Coupland)

Isn't that what "One Great City" is? You know, the one we already have?

I think that, the problem with a specific statement that includes reference to something local as he suggests, is that it leads us to go to people like the other expert in this article:

Jeff Swystun, chief communications officer at DDB Worldwide, a New York-based advertising and marketing firm....

"The slogan of some cities or provinces is (designed) to remind the existing population what a great place they're in, while other cities point externally to attract new people and new energy."

A New York advertising firm? Isn't that where we got Spirited Energy from....and isn't that supposed to, in a way, remind us that we have Spirited Energy? Which was totally and unanimously rejected by Manitobans.

So now that the Mayor thinks the signs look "atrocious" (I think they have that kind of...cheesy charm thing going on) and we should think up a new slogan, I say we go back to what I said about Spirited Energy: let the KIDS do it. Unlike marketing firms, kids don't empty your wallet. And they come up with better suggestions.

You shortlist the best, and instead of making a decision right away, you stick the shortlist on the ballot at the next civic election. And hey, the voting numbers might even go up for something like that. Who knows.

!

2008-07-07T17:45:00.003-05:00

I had one of those lightbulb-over-your-head moments.

Realizing that the definition of "downtown revitalization" has the characteristics of a parking lot in a big-box mega-retail hub, a la Polo Park. Or Kildonan Crossing. Or St Vital. Or Kenaston.

"Revitalized" downtown via megaproject during the day:

The stores (downtown) open, and customers (downtown visitors) flock to spend their hard earned cash, driving in from suburbia. Rona (coffee shop, newsstand) opens at 7, other stores open at 8 or 9 (Portage Place). Customers stay during the day, may catch lunch nearby during their shopping (visiting) trek at a Kelseys (Portage Place food court). Later customers in the evening may stick around and go to SilverCity (MTS Centre), and as they exit the venue, they find stores are closed. With nothing to do in a virtual wasteland of level concrete with carefully painted parking stalls (parkade, surface parking lot.) They are greeted with this image:

The image of revitalization.

Revitalization during normal business hours only.

You Don't Say...

2008-07-02T15:13:00.001-05:00

Katz suggested the inner-city revitalization project could cost the public purse considerably more than developer David Asper’s stated $40 million.

And nobody at the FreeP figured this one out?

They had to wait for a quote from the Mayor to put it in their newspaper? Crickey, what IS in it for them?

Gaffes Galore for Asper

2008-06-28T09:44:00.002-05:00

Crickey, at this pace, the stadium issue will take up an entire year of my blogging career.

Numbers do not add up and my brain cannot comprehend any of this. But first...

Today for the first time, a week later, the FreeP FINALLY publishes some opposing veiwpoints. And they aren't insignificant whiny-type concerns either, ranging from people's houses that don't exist because they are under a parking lot in the stadium plan, the issue of demolishing houses from the 1880s, and David Owen Lucas who stated "It's horrifying. Why can't a stadium go at the Canada Packers site or Kapyong Barracks or somewhere with a whole lot of space?"

Why indeed. And buried in this one at the VERY BOTTOM of the article after most people have stopped reading, as if it is an afterthought. Where is the focus article on this?

But Enterprises Riel, St. Boniface's development corporation, believes the South Point Douglas plan should not proceed any further until the Winnipeg Football Club reopens reopen the competition for stadium proposals.

Damn rights! Bidding closed under the premise that Asper's POLO PARK proposal was going to go through.

Polo Park, Kapyong Barracks which has been mentioned before, U of M was suggested on Hacks and Wonks, but no, the FreeP is buying into Asper's fantasy land.

Two things pop into my mind today as fishy issues.

1) Disraeli
2) Businesses in SPD

Disraeli

So, first we hear that it's going to close for 16 months. Then we hear that it's 160 million dollars and it's too expensive. Then we hear about Maloway's crusade and some crazy plan (that is really idealistically the best option) costing some 250 million or whatever that one was.

Now, not only are we overhauling it, but now it's like we need exit ramps and stuff. Doesn't that cost MORE? Who's going to pay for that? There's already controversy about how much a rehabilitation of Disraeli would cost, but we're willing to let that go out the window? Because of Asper's Bomberland?

So we can add that to the tab of who's money? That's right, taxpayers. Bomber fans are now paying for the rehabilitation of Disraeli. Because without it, Asper Bomberland doesn't exist.

Businesses in SPD

Now you've gotta wonder why all the businesses are more than happy to sell their land and get the hell out of Dodge. Businesses are slap-happy to take the money and run. The residents, as finally shown today, aren't, but the businesses are.

Well well thanks to Average City who I will have to add to my blogroll, we now know that these businesses, or many of them, are sitting on contaminated land. Land that, they sure as hell can't afford to clean up properly. So why not let the Asper Bomberland take care of that?

That's a no-brainer for these businesses. And then somebody buys the land. Who buys the land? The city buys the land. That's taxpayer money again.

So lets add this all up.

Gary Doer gives $25 mil.
Vic Toews gives $15 mil.
Sam Katz gives....an undisclosed amount, which would include part of the cost of tailoring the south end of Disreali (the province won't chip in for it, remember?) for Bomberland, and buying out all the land in SPD.

Although the FreeP and Asper and everyone involved are saying it's less, it doesn't seem like less to me.

Everyone is just tooooooooooo toooo happy, too trigger happy, to go and put MORE RETAIL in Polo Park. This article today even states ANOTHER 'lifestyle centre,' "Creswin would be allowed to purchase the old stadium site at fair market value, and transform that into a lifestyle shopping centre."

Here's this lifestyle thing again. I believe I blogged about that a long time ago. The real downtown, which in it's entirety should be a lifestyle centre so good and bustling with so much activity that it should make Polo Park look like a ghetto.

And what happens to all this planning that Pagtakhan keeps talking about, these plans for sprucing up SPD on their own, without the city help, the one that the councilors supposedly don't know about?

Why haven't we heard anything about that?

Where are the artists' concepts on that one, where are the plans? Some minor details? Why can't we put Asper Bomberland vs Pagtakhan SPD up on The Gauntlet? Let's see the FreeP run some fancy pictures and maps about that one, and then have a big debate over which one is better for the neighborhood.

I'll end this post with a golden quote from Gary Doer.

"It's not just about football fans. People ask, 'What does it mean to me?' It means you are going to have even greater access to your river."

Mhmm. 'Cause that's what we're all concerned about, access to our river. Urban revitalization? Nah...access to our river! Access! Access! Access!

(crickets chirping)

2008-06-27T14:02:00.006-05:00

That is after all, the sound that will be heard on many a summer night after all the urban renewal happens in Point Douglas.

Now, I've stared long and hard at this, as the text is kind of difficult to make out.

It composes of parking lots, greenspace, parking lots, and retail. And a hotel with a waterpark. Cut out the greenspace and holy shit, it looks like POLO PARK!

I have to ask the question: WHAT will this do for "urban renewal." And another question: What IS urban renewal, according to Sam Katz, Gary Doer, and David Asper. If their vision of urban renewal is "it looks nice, there are some trees, ample parking, and big-box corporate retail outlets that suburbanites like to shop in," then I'm turned right off.

I don't like this proposal one bit. Any "renewal" will be strictly new buildings: the stadium, parking lots and hotel. I doubt, 110%, that this neighborhood will increase very much in value, or that it would become a bustling pedestrian centre.

And now, from blueandgold.ca, we have this letter that Mr Asper wrote.

Within the new space to the south of the new Higgins will be a new 30-40,000 seat stadium with a $30 million budget increase to $150 million. For fans, this will result in everything originally proposed and more.

So now he's spending more. And the idea is that the Polo Park site is...what, too expensive? He's seriously increasing his funding here for this stadium idea, isn't it CHEAPER to build at Polo Park?

Oh. Ho ho ho.

This is my favourite quote. Because Asper uses these two words that I absolutely LOOOOOOOoooooooooove.

*drumroll*

We are also looking to construct a nearly $70 million resort featuring an indoor/outdoor waterpark with retractable walls, a hotel and related amenities. This would be a world-class downtown tourist attraction created by the design team responsible for Disneyworld, West Edmonton & Niagara Falls water parks.

WORLD CLASS!

Did ya hear that? World class! World! Fuckin! Class!

We can add this to all the OTHER world class attractions soon coming to Winnipeg that will help drive urban renewal and downtown revitalization! Now we will have a WORLD CLASS Upper Fort Garry interpretive centre with over 400 000 artifacts! We will have a WORLD CLASS museum that draws 570 visitors per day! We will have a WORLD CLASS water park and hotel!

People will come from ALL OVER THE WORLD to visit UFG, and then go to the museum, and then take a slide down Mr Asper's WORLD CLASS WATER SLIDES!

Mr Ledohowski's water park doesnt have a chance, nobody will go there, his isn't WORLD CLASS! It's DOOMED to fail!

To help move fans about on game day, we would acquire a Disney-like fan tram system to efficiently move people to and from their vehicles on event days.

There's that word again. Disney. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers Disneyland Stadium Fantasy Land Extravaganza in the World Class Point Douglas Neighborhood of WINNIPEG.

Tram system...isn't that like...rails? We can give a rail-transit system to accomodate Bomber fans but we can't fix the Transit system we have now? And my tax dollars are going to pay for it? Hey...I bet those trams have AIR CONDITIONING!

The thing that bothers me the most about this whole plan is what happens to the existing stadium site, Mr Asper gets it.

Because, it makes too much sense to build the new stadium there already, and give him a bunch of taxpayer money to do it. So instead, we'll just hand him the land on a silver platter so he can develop it into MORE RETAIL (holy fuck, after that happens, Polo Park can separate from Winnipeg and become it's OWN COUNTRY!) to "subsidize" cost of running the new urban-renewal stadium in SDP.

Well one thing is for sure. I am not sold on this plan at all.

I don't think it will bring urban renewal, I think it will stay as an urban wasteland that suburbanites use approximately 10 times a year.

For the last however many years we couldnt get ONE water park, and now we can have two.

According to Pagtakhan, SPD was already planning to improve their neighborhood on their own. So what happens to their ideas and plans? The big bad stadium is going to come through and they'll have to play to Asper's and Katz's terms. Whatever they have planned will be replaced by Starbucks, Old Navies and Moxies.

The extension of Waterfront is the biggest pipe dream going on in this city right now. IT IS NOT FOR THE LAYMAN. Therefore extending it into SPD, the "new" waterfront will not be for the layman either. It will be for the "young professional" making six figures. I believe this is called "gentrification," and I am far from the first person to say that and I will be far from the last. It is a word perhaps Asper, Doer, and Katz should familiarize themselves with, and compare it to with who the residents of SPD are now.

If urban renewal is done for the "benefit" of SPD, it would not include a stadium, retail outlets, parking lots and water parks. It is done for the benefit of the Bomber fan, who does not live in SPD.

And lastly, again, day in and day out, the FreeP does not seem to present any viewpoints like mine, as if their reporters are brainwashed. They even make it seem like this is a for-sure-for-sure-for-sure deal, and that Polo Park isn't in the running anymore.

Polo Park is in the running. Apparantly. I hope Mr Asper reads my blog. And all the other blogs.

Put it in Polo Park, dammit. We don't need a stadium and water park to spruce up SPD.

Another Letter....and Sam, Seriously? ....Really?

2008-06-27T07:56:00.003-05:00

Another letter to the editor in the FreeP. Hey, me and this guy could probably be friends:

Urban renewal seems to be the driving force behind this idea that has literally come out of the blue. It has been proven time and again, however, that megaprojects do not work to accomplish this aim. When Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton was built 30 years ago in a rundown section of town, it was hailed as the catalyst for renewal in the area. It didn't work. Closer to home, the MTS Centre was also touted as a project that was going to revive a moribund downtown Winnipeg. Four years after its opening, the same buildings that were boarded up across the street from the arena when it opened are still boarded up and downtown reverts to a ghost town 45 minutes after any event lets out.

Rod Gray

*applause*

And on a related note, there's this one today which has me epicly baffled:

Earlier this week, Katz said the football stadium-based redevelopment of South Point Douglas would finally provide the city a chance to properly plan the neighbourhood.

Earlier this week? Did I miss something? Maybe I did, but whatever....if the Mayor thinks the only way to "properly plan" a degraded neighborhood is to put a stadium there for all us rich folk to go to..yikes. Wasn't this the neighborhood where the woman wasn't allowed to put up her coffee shop? It may have been North Point, I'm too lazy, but the point still stands. The stadium is an EXCUSE to "properly plan" the neighborhood, not a CHANCE. We've always had the chance.

Why do we have to "plan" the revitalization of these neighborhoods, and downtown? As if there has to be a carefully crafted scheme or else nobody will attempt anything. If The Man doesn't put in some big redevelopment plan, then nothing will happen. Thats sad.

So, in today's world and the way things work, another Osborne Village, another Cordydon, another Exchange District, couldn't possibly exist.

How could they? They are:

1. Devoid of ample parking (which is always such a concern for some reason)
2. They have no big-box corporate retailers (which is what will no doubt be the "retail" part of the SPD stadium idea)
3. No big-name investors (does Asper have anything in the Village?)
4. No stadium or arena (because apparantly you need something big for people to have reason to go there)

Big box retail and government megaprojects. True signs of a progressive city.

Letter to the Editor

2008-06-26T15:32:00.002-05:00

So stunningly correct and concise, I just couldn't resist copying it to my blog. In case you live under a rock, or for some reason don't read the FreeP or check the "opinions" section online, here it is.

It is interesting to note how careful your editorial is concerning the building of a new football stadium to replace the relic at Polo Park Shopping Centre. You suggest, quite accurately, that if the taxpayer is going to invest $80 million in public infrastructure, they need to be assured that they get the most "bang for their buck" that will uplift the community and contribute to its overall well-being.

Now I wonder why the same concerns were not expressed at the time the MTS Centre was built on Portage Avenue. You suggested that the public believed that it would help revitalize the downtown. The Save The Eaton's Coalition did not believe that building the MTS Centre would revitalize the downtown, and just look at what's happened. The downtown is worse off today than it was six years ago. The Red Apple store just closed this week, leaving yet another empty storefront, drunks and addicts still accost people while walking down the sidewalks and there are very few people downtown at night -- except, of course, when there's something on at the MTS Centre.

But to suggest that the new facility was still the right thing to do, particularly when the alternative was an empty, obsolete building, is wrong. The Save The Eaton's Coalition argued that the Eaton's building should have been restored for historical purposes and redeveloped into a multi-use facility, including retail and commercial space, and condominium housing that would have contributed to the revitalization of the downtown.

Nick Ternette

Winnipeg

Well well, thank you, Nick.

Again, I wonder what the Free Press has going that makes them oblivious to the epic non-renewal trends megaprojects create. Makes me wonder if they have some sort of vested interest in these things.

Also, I've noticed, that (correct me if I'm wrong) nearly everybody the FreeP has contacted in Point Douglas for comment, has been either in favour, supportive, or overwhelmingly supportive. As if they are trying to spin it to make the rest of us think that everyone in PD thinks a stadium is fine and dandy. I don't believe that...there's got to be SOME amount of resistance to this thing. I wonder just how selective the FreeP is being on this one...

No Shit, Sherlock!

2008-06-25T15:49:00.004-05:00

Air Conditioning makes taking transit "cool."

Note to Gerbasi:

The amount of fuel spent on AC would be negligible in comparison to the potential amount of vehicles removed from the road if Transit were done right.

Gerbasi wants the 70 mil "rapid" Transit corridor to go through, for better Transit, to reduce sprawl, but would like to see all new buses go AC-free to save on emissions?

Here comes my "Transit as a private business" plight again. No private company running a fleet of busses would have them heat-less OR AC-less. That's just bad for business. Do cabs have AC? Limos? Customer shuttle vehicles?

Why should Transit riders have to swelter away on a jam-packed bus in the middle of July?

At least the Mayor knows emissions caused by AC are irrelevant.

This is a no brainer.

The Gauntlet

2008-06-23T21:05:00.001-05:00

Well well. Now I don't know what to think about this stadium. A million questions now arise.

Is it in Point Douglas? North Point? South Point? Somewhere else? Are there any more "artist's concept" drawings that we don't know about? 25 000 seats? 30 000? 40 000? Where the fuck do we park? Is there a water park? Where's it going? Polo Park? Downtown? Point Douglas? Is the FreeP lying to us again? What are they trying to accomplish here? Will somebody please show us their hidden agenda? Is Asper the good guy? The bad guy? Is Toews the bad guy? Is the FREEP the bad guy? Did they create something that wasn't there just to create controversy? Sam Katz and Gary Doer don't really think this will bring urban renewal do they? The FreeP doesn't really think this will bring urban renewal do they?

? ? ?

Okay so now they want to put this stupid water park idea back in Polo Park. I only say "stupid" because, the only time this stupid water park idea was ever GOOD was when somebody had the bright idea to turn the Old Barn into a water park extravaganza. But SOOOOOOOMEbody had plans for a village-style lifestyle-centre all-the-rage retail mecca instead.

? ? ?

Why do I get the feeling that this whole Stadium thing is going to be the next Upper Fort Garry?

It's like a big choreographed ballet about where this thing is going to go, how much Asper will front, whether or not it will have a dome (dome...who the fuck are we anyway...TORONTO?) and how much money if any at all Toews decides we should have.

Put it all to the Barber of Seville and we've got ourselves a musical, folks.

? ? ?

And now we come to the gauntlet.

Maybe this piece slipped under everyone's radar, while we were all busy being more than entertained by the flurry of Stadium stories and controversy.

And now...for the title of Poser Renewal Hero! (Had to throw that one in just for you, Hack)

Red River College VS Stadium downtown/Point Douglas

RR College: Renovates and restores historic buildings.
Stadium: Demolishes historic buildings/sites (see: Rise and Sprawl)

RR College: Creates a need and desire to stay downtown.
Stadium: Duration spent downtown is equal to the time of the game.

RR College: Works with community.
Stadium: Expropriates people's land.

RR College: Increases permanent residency downtown.
Stadium: Increases vehicles from suburbia downtown.

RR College: Gives back to community.
Stadium: Sits empty unless there is a home game.

You decide who the Poser Renewal Hero is.

Any more I should add?

I'd really appreciate it if politicians and the media stopped touting these megaprojects which seem to come up every couple years as some kind of open-net-goal for downtown revitalization or urban renewal.

All the while ignoring the true heroes of downtown development. The two post secondary education establishments, for example. The stadium, the arena, they get publicized like a celebrity in a tabloid, while the people doing the real work go, relatively speaking, unnoticed.

When will the Free Press wake up and smell the coffee about downtown revitalization and urban renewal?

DIDN'T WE LEARN ANYTHING?

2008-06-21T09:22:00.002-05:00

Holy fucking downtown renewal batman!

What is WITH these politicians?

I'm looking at YOU Gary Doer. And YOU Vic Toews. And YOU Sam Katz.

Stadium downtown anywhere = COMPLETE WASTE! Government megaproject justified in the name of URBAN RENEWAL IS BULL!

There IS no urban renewal. Didn't we LEARN THIS already? Given Portage Place? Yeah how's that goin' for your urban renewal? MTS Centre? Yeah I see people FLOCKING downtown for that one! WRHA? Lets-knock-down-historic-buildings-to-build-a-glass-box?

Where does a stadium fit in? How many games is it good for? NINE GAMES A YEAR. Moving it downtown in the name of mutli-use and covering it with a dome, what, oh, here's my favourite, this fucking WATER PARK idea. You know, the water park everyone in Winnipeg will go to once, and then after it's first year everyone will say how it's run down, dirty, cheap, a cess pool they dont want to take their kids to.

Oh but you say we can use it for other events! Well then what in the hell is our convention centre for? What's so wrong about a new or rehab-ed convention centre with a hotel attached to that? How bout all those COMMUNITIY CENTRES, Sammy?

Oh I know. I know. I get it now.

I get it.

The only reason this is even being considered. Is because. Mr Asper. Can't get the boo-fucking-hoo money from The Man. So he changed his proposal.

Wow we could have called THAT one eh?

So instead of building a super kickass non-dome monstrosity of a structure on the existing stadium site, he had to change it to include things like "community involvement" and "multi use" and cover it with a dome, so you could use it year round, and put it downtown somewhere and stick in those two words that every fucking politician in this province orgasms over.

URBAN. RENEWAL.

And urban renewal in Point Douglas is like...MULTI orgasmic! Because everyone's hero CENTRE VENTURE "...views the south side of Point Douglas as a natural extension of Waterfront Drive." So I guess all our condo owners on Waterfront will just, you know, stroll down a few blocks to the new stadium in Point Douglas.

Does anyone, besides Centre Venture, Gary, Vic, or Sam, or anyone who makes less than oh I don't know say $100k a year, think Waterfront is GOOD? When I drive past those condos I don't see it as "renewal." It's poser renewal. I don't feel a vibe. I don't feel like I'm a part of some bigger movement.

When I go to the MTS Centre because I got free Moose tickets, or to see a big rock concert, I wonder if Gary Bettman will ever move past the "it's too small" argument. I go strait home after the show, I don't stick around...for what, to wait in a ridiculous line to go to the Tavern? When I go to Portage Place I wonder how they ever let Mcnally Robinson go. I wonder if anyone actually goes to see those indie films or to the Imax.

I wonder just what the eff these projects are doing to "revitalize" downtown or what they're doing for "urban renewal."

I wonder if our politicians actually believe they are accomplishing that. Or if they turn a blind eye once it's done and nothing happens? We all know what comes out of their mouth after the term "urban renewal" is bullshit, as if the only reason they say it is so they can get their little pet project underway. So they can expropriate some people's land in the name of urban renewal, knock down some historic buildings and build a glass box and put their name on it.

Urban renewal is like a crusade. The crusaders don't realize how much harm they're doing. They think they're helping people.

This article is by Bartley Kives. The same guy who gave us this piece DENOUNCING government megaprojects in the name of urban renewal!

When will we ever learn....it seems like Winnipeg is destined to continue looking to the stars. Making our city into some grand epitome of the prairies. To make ourselves feel good about our city, proud of our accomplishments. We get excited for new government megaprojects to help us realize this pipe dream. But they don't help us. Not one bit.

And we don't help ourselves. We elect nincompoop politicians who share the same ideology, looking to the stars. And this is what we get for it.

Stadium Commentary

2008-06-20T09:04:00.005-05:00

Iiiiiiiiinteresting.

Other possible locations -- including the parking lots south of the Winnipeg Convention Centre as well as Point Douglas -- are now being looked at as a way to make Canwest executive David Asper's dream a reality.

So we didn't learn anything from the MTS Centre, did we?

There are 2 things wrong with the Convention Centre area:

A) .....So we didn't learn anything from the MTS Centre, did we?
B) We can clear surface lots downtown for a stadium, but we can't BUILD APARTMENT BUILDINGS ON THEM?!

There are 3 things wrong with the Point Douglas area:

A) So we still haven't learned anything from the [insert government megaproject to improve area but fails miserably]
B) Nobody who can afford a Bomber game wants to drive to Point Douglas and leave their car there.
C) Rise and Sprawl is my hero. (why can't I link to his individual blog posts?) Oh well, the post is "One cannot care for streets they've never walked on, part II" (dated March 19) which includes this link.

And lastly there are 2 things wrong with NOT re-building on the same Polo Park site:

A) The only thing that will replace it is MORE RETAIL! That's what's replacing the old Arena site, and the stadium lot, which is RIGHT BESIDE THE ARENA, will ultimately have the same fate. What DOESN'T Polo Park have?! Shit, we might as well rename "St James" to "Main Street" and turn "Ellice" into "Portage." Cause, let's face it, nothing happens downtown but Polo Park is the place to be! Retail! More retail! Mall! Oh, oh oh village style retail mecca!
B) For the above reason, Mr Asper lands himself a spot on the "Greatest WTF moments in Winnipeg history" list. And there's some pretty bad stuff on that list. Wouldn't want to tarnish our reputation now would we?

Bike Paths....On Paper Only?

2008-06-19T15:41:00.002-05:00

I was driving down Roblin yesterday, and noticed city workers painting cycling symbols in the curb lanes every 200 metres or so.

Is this what passes for a "bike path" or "bike lane" in Winnipeg?

Thing about this case on Roblin is...the curb lane hasn't changed. It's not any wider. There is no dashed line indicating some kind of breathing room for a cyclist. There's just a symbol of a cyclist. Is this supposed to make drivers more attentive of cyclists?

Given that the curb lane hasn't changed, I would think not. There's not more or less room for a cyclist than there was before. It's not any less dangerous for a cyclist than it was before. It's not in the slightest bit easier for a cyclist than it was before. Just a little bit of new paint.

What were we spending...3 mil on bike paths? Is this part of that funding? Signage on a roadway that hasn't changed? That hardly qualifies as a bike lane. Maybe it does in Winnipeg.

Absolutely Unthinkable. Unbelieveable. Sickening.

2008-06-16T18:33:00.004-05:00

This turned my stomach so much that I'm actually going to have to wait a bit before I can comment. Otherwise what will come out right now will be total gibberish.

Now that I've waited, time to express my thoughts.

You know, you talk about climate change. You talk about C02 emissions. Press releases and rebate programs and education programs about how to cut your energy use. How to leave a smaller carbon footprint.

But that's just a small portion of what's hurting the earth. The rest is what we aren't supposed to know about. Oil sands. Clear cut logging. The smelter in Flin Flon. Chemical dump sites. Mine tailing ponds.

What is shocking about these stories isn't the fact that they're dumping this horrible stuff. It's how EASY it is for them to do it. The shocking part is how, as if, the rules don't apply to these companies. As if they are exempt from responsibility and exempt from red tape, as if they can bypass or bend rules and regulations to do whatever is cheapest for them, while deflecting any blame about any kind of fallout or obvious side effect.

I mean, look, right from the CBC article. They're doing it already, before anything has even happened:

But Steve Robertson, exploration manager for Imperial Metals, told CBC News the dump site will be sealed and that the economic benefits of the planned Red Chris mine will be enormous.

“This is a project that can bring a lot of good jobs, long-term jobs, well-paying jobs to a community that desperately needs it,” Robertson said.

Oh, the SPIN! Oh the environment will be carefully managed, don't worry! JOBS! More jobs! Economic growth! Prosperity!

I bet their half a billion dollars, that Steve Robertson would not fish, camp, or buy a cottage within a 100 km radius of any mine tailings pond.

What makes sense about dumping toxic metals into a pristine habitat? The very habitats that filter our air, our water, and the very habitats that supply us with all kinds of natural resources, be it fish, game, or lumber? WHERE'S GARY DOER NOW?! Our environmental SAVIOUR! (busy planting TREES?! taking old cars off the roads?!)

Talk about shocking. But again, that's not the shocking part. This is:

...the Federal Appeals Court reversed the decision, paving the way for federal officials to declare lakes to be dumps without public consultation.

That stinks to me. My holy-fuck-o-metre just broke.

Oh, you guys need a tailings pond? Yeah no problemo. STAMP! There you go, have fun mining!

"It's totally bizarre for the federal government to come here and say that this Y-shaped valley up here is no longer a fish habitat, it's no longer sacred headwaters, it's just a waste dump site.” Jim Bourquin

No consultation. No nothing. I thought this was CANADA! You know, the country with all the treeees an the pristine waaaaater and the beautiful moooountains and the vast praaaaairies and the pretty snoooooow.

We're going to have to re-brand ourselves. We're just as bad as everyone else. Canada is dirty. It's fucked up. Oh sure, the people care, we do. Just check any of the 500+ comments on the CBC site. But the government doesn't give a fuck. Pollute the lakes, crickey, Lake Winnipeg is atrocious and the government just TALKS about cleaning it up. About doing something, taking action.

There isn't even a consultation BOARD or anything. It's like getting a permit for a "new" tailing LAKE is as easy as a phone call. Poof!

"...eight lakes are going to be subject to being put on Schedule Two, which is just about every mine that is going ahead this year is looking around, looking for the nearest lake to dump its waste into.” Catherine Coumans

“It's easy enough to consider just one lake as just one lake, as a needed sacrifice, right? But it's not one lake … It's a trend. It's an open season on Canadian water.” Chad Griffiths

Exaaaaaactly. It's nice to know our governments stick up for our health. For our water quality. Like Chad said, it's one thing to say, one lake, as an acceptable loss. But this many? And at this much ease to get a permit for this kind of thing?

And everyone now should be aware of how important water quality is. It's RIDICULOUSLY important. Dumping raw sewage into the Red doesn't seem so bad anymore does it? I'll take raw sewage over heavy metals anyday. Privatization of water has been brought up in many places. The soaring popularity of bottled water. And the ever-popular joke of the Americans taking over Canada for our water. LET THEM COME! They'll find out it either has raw sewage in it, chemicals, or heavy metals from tailing ponds.

I'm sitting here trying to find something good about the tailing process. It's pretty difficult. I figure, I shouldn't try and spin it so much my way. But there really isn't much good to say about this process. The best I can find is that, in some cases, tailings can be re-processed. That seems pretty good to me, a bit of product recovery. But dumping tailings into a lake isn't going to allow for that to happen....the tailings would just be too spread out, not concentrated enough.

Common minerals and elements found in Tailings

* Arsenic - Found in association with gold ores
* Barite
* Calcite
* Fluorite
* Radioactive materials - Naturally present in many ores
* Mercury
* Sulfur - Forms many sulfide compounds / pyrites
* Cadmium
* Hydrocarbons - Introduced by mining and processing equipment (oils & greases)

Common additives found in tailings

* Cyanide - as both Sodium Cyanide (NaCN) and Hydrogen Cyanide (HCN). Leaching agent.
* SEX - Sodium Ethyl Xanthate. Flotation agent.
* PAX - Potassium Amyl Xanthate. Flotation agent.
* MIBC - Methyl Isobutyl Carbinol. Frothing agent.
* Sulfamic acid - Cleaning / descaling agent.
* Sulfuric acid - Used in large quantities in the PAL process (Pressure Acid Leaching).
* Activated Carbon - Used in CIP (Carbon In Pulp) and CIL (Carbon In Leach) processes.
* Calcium - Different compounds, introduced as lime to aid in pH control.

Not only do they dump mercury, various acids and potentially radioactive material, but other compounds have to be added to neutralize the "bad stuff." Ending up turning into a big wasteland akin to a liquified Brady Landfill.

And just remember, next time you're at the lake, sipping a cold beer while looking across the pristine water to the opposing shoreline, that the lake may not be safe. No public consultation is required. Ways of life, fishing/tourism, even cottagers may be affected by whichever lake is next on the commandeering list.

Spirited Energy:

2008-06-13T09:09:00.003-05:00

...Now two things in a row that I said a long time ago that people might just be starting to come up to.

First, Greenwashing. Now, kids for slogans!

One of the Letters to the Editor in that oh-so-memorable edition of the Free Press with the full page dedicated to Letters on Spirited Energy was mine. (I don't think I went on the record about it on this blog...I think I started Progressive Winnipeg well after Spirited Energy came up.)

Unfortunately the only copy of the letter I have now is the one that was printed. But the part that got edited? Was about how a "slogan" should have come about. I said, hold a contest. Across all elementary schools in the province. Say you want a new "slogan" and "brand name" for Manitoba, and award 100 grand to the school with the best idea, and maybe a few runner-up prizes too.

You can damn well guarantee that it no kid would come up with "Spirited Energy," cause kids aren't stupid. The stupidity is clearly onset later in life.

These kids come up with "Flatlanders" which is not only better than "Spirited Energy," but if it had won my contest idea, Manitoba would have saved over 2 million dollars (accounting for maybe a million on advertising over a few years), and would not have had to outsource BRAINPOWER to New York.

All the problems with Spirited Energy would have dissapated. Instead of people not knowing what the slogan meant, not being able to identify with it, thinking the logo looked bad, or thought the commercials on TV were ridiculous, we would have something at least moderately comprehensible. And all the bru-ha-ha about 3 million dollars wouldn't have happened, because, we wouldn't have paid a New York firm some 1 million + dollars to think something up.

And besides, what better way than to get the kids involved. They like it here, they're energetic and full of ideas and whatnot, and they probably understand what this province has to offer better than we do.

AND..AND...this would have been major PR for the NDP PR machine. Front page picture with a bunch of kids and a giant cheque ceremony for the winning school...Instead they smeared their PR, spent way too much money, and now have a giant debacle on their hands.

And said debacle-ing and smear-ing continues.

5 Million Greenwashing Strokes...

2008-06-13T08:53:00.004-05:00

Hey, I think I said this 8 days ago. Whaddya know...proof! Or...is the Free Press just slow?

"Instead of going up, the number of trees being planted is actually going down," John Gerrard

Eric Reder, campaign director for the Manitoba Wilderness Committee said that if the government was serious about protecting the environment it would restrict a larger portion, such as 50 per cent, of Manitoba's natural wild-lands from being logged. Right now, nine per cent of Manitoba's forests are off limits to logging companies.

"Planting trees is just a PR gesture, that's what the NDP is good at." Eric Reder

Re-Direct

2008-06-10T22:37:00.001-05:00

Distracting Miss Daisy: Why stop signs and speed limits endanger Americans.

Faaaaaan-tastic read on psychology of traffic.

Food for thought.

...... crickets chirping

2008-06-09T15:02:00.001-05:00

Un. Fuckin. Believeable.

Kudos to The Hack. He called it.

"Hypermiling"

2008-06-08T08:59:00.002-05:00

Hypermiling: to drive your car in a manner such that you exceed expected gas mileage.

I've been doing this for years.

A (unwanted, but unavoidable) trip to the car dealer a few years ago, when the mechanic was talking to me he mentioned that because of what was wrong with my vehicle, I would notice a drop in gas mileage. I said I find that hard to believe, and when I told him how much I get per tank, he was shocked.

Rightfully so, afterwards I discovered that I was exceeding the expected mileage on my little Hyundai by 100 kilometres.

Basic hypermiling practices include driving at or below the posted speed limit, anticipating stops by coasting to red lights and reducing acceleration on inclines.

More advanced hypermilers boost mileage by increasing tire pressure and turning off the engine or switching to neutral while coasting.

Note: this is ridiculously easy to get into the habit of doing if you have a standard, manual transmission vehicle. Neutral is your friend.

I shift at 2000-2500 RPMs....which means I can click into 5th while going a mere 60km/h. I coast regularly, if you pay attention while you drive you will notice when a light a quarter mile or more away turns red, or can at least anticipate what's going to happen when you get to that intersection.

Another benefit to driving like this is wintertime driving. This is inherently much more safe, as you rarely run a risk of rear-ending another vehicle because you're anticipating the next half mile or more of driving.

Aside from things like this, I still can't wait to sell my car and move somewhere downtown. Many, many reasons, first and foremost, I hate driving with a passion. I hate having to watch other motorists all the time because you can't trust them, I hate how people's attitudes change on the road, I can't stand how people don't know how to use a merge lane, read posted signage, or have the mental capacity to realize that yes, there is a stop sign in 100 metres and yes, all 100 of those metres are pure ice, and yes, you may just destroy this poor student's Hyundai because of your lack of attention. Never mind all you yuppie girls who feel the need to not only talk on your cell phone, but yes, text while you drive. Aside from driving-generated stress, I pay 1300 for insurance, 1000 or more for gas a year, plus repairs and oil changes, brings me to about 3 grand which might even be enough to cover rent if I were to go halfers with a buddy.

Anyways back to "hypermiling." It's not for everybody....if you are one of those stressed out, crazy, untrustworthy, ignorant drivers, then it will probably be difficult to adopt a passive and "gentle" style of driving.

And in Winnipeg? Who am I kidding....I just eliminated 98% of Winnipeg drivers for contention of the "hypermile" style in my last paragraph.