GOLD: Mayes sets standard other councillors need to follow

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It was democracy in action on Sept. 23 in St. Vital and ward councillor Brian Mayes was pleased as punch.

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His town hall drew “a bigger turnout than we planned,” and it kept growing after the 7 p.m. start time. Thirty-five or so residents, and a few others, gathered in the community centre hall on Worthington.

The session came about after I interviewed Mayes in June, about Mayor Scott Gillingham unceremoniously disinviting him from the Executive Policy Committee.

Mayes already had been vocal about the “Transportation2050 — Reimagining Mobility” plan delaying expansion of St. Mary’s Road, in favour of paying for Gillingham’s pet projects to widen Kenaston Boulevard and building out Chief Peguis Trail. I had asked him why “pop-ups” for the plan were held on under a week’s notice this summer, and how the department refused to pass on feedback from residents to councillors.

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“I feel a town hall coming on,” he said. And he followed through.

His take on Transportation2050, and wanting to gauge what residents thought, was the primary focus, and he had city staff there to present details and explain some of the rationale.

The focus and frustration about St. Mary’s Road is understandable. It’s a regional arterial route with failing grades, exacerbated by continually adding neighbourhoods both inside and outside the South Perimeter. Even though it’s already exceeded the projected volume for Kenaston that is being cited to justify rushing that project, St. Vital is supposed to wait 25 years.

“I took offence with delaying it (from 2021) to 2050, it just seemed completely political, frankly,” Mayes said.

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The number of blocks of St. Mary’s laying in the ward that could be possibly re-jigged is only a couple, but with massive new “right-of-way” housing coming, including at St. Vital Centre, St. Anne’s Road and St. Mary’s are going to be a giant parking lot. Extending rush-hour parking bans won’t solve this.

“They shouldn’t wait till 2050, it just seemed to be unfair to people in the southeast to prioritize (other projects), when we’re the ones who are going to be getting a lot more density,” warned Mayes. “We’ve already seen it in Sage Creek and Bona Vista, pouring onto (St. Anne’s).”

Mayes described the new corridor density zoning provisions as “Orwellian”, with murky definitions and no right of appeal by affected neighbours. Will 48-foot tall housing units require 65-foot wide lots, or be crammed in tighter with no parking added? And he pointed out, “The map still isn’t available.”

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Solutions for the big squeeze on St. Vital will depend on cooperation with adjacent councillors and a vast shift in perspective from the mayor and his acolytes.

A question I asked is forcing city officials to talk to Winnipeg Transit again, after I caught a remark from David Patman, the Public Works transportation manager. He said, “Transit developed their own master plan which is incorporated into this plan.”

I pointed out to Mayes that he and council were refusing the extra $105M needed for cost overruns on the North Garage replacement project. Instead, Transit is to cut purchases of articulated buses and axe all service bays.

This, I reasoned, meant the Transportation2050 document is based on service levels Transit promised, and now won’t be able to deliver due to the cutbacks.

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That’s a fair question, Mayes allowed, and Patman replied, “We need to follow up with Transit on that, that is a major change and it has ripple effects so we will be talking with them about that.”

Neither Mayes nor the staff delved deeper into the Transportation2050 details. Attendees were invited to review the display boards in the hall and read the plan online.

If people do, and pick up on how the city wants to use it to open the door to toll roads and barring gas vehicles from designated roadways, Mayes may have to hold a follow-up meeting.

The discussion continued with a lot of focus on traffic hotspots.

Never-ending construction on Route 165 (the former Bishop Grandin Boulevard) was a big topic. Vehicles ducking onto River Road to avoid it clogged the area, and at rush hour people said they can’t pull out of their driveways for five minutes.

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There’s a need for traffic enforcement on Minnetonka near the school. The new Osborne Bridge strip has become a speedway because removing the bus cut-away lane left cops nowhere to set up radar. Speeding E-scooters and electric bikes — and if multi-use paths will require speed limits — also came up. Plus, a new bus stop placed near the lights at Dunkirk and Fermor is “a fatality waiting to happen” according to a couple of residents.

The competing transportation priorities aren’t just about streets. Completing a bike lane network vies with finishing sidewalks for funding but with 82% of Winnipeggers travelling by private vehicle, the “mode shift” isn’t happening anytime soon.

City planner Alex Regiec reassured the crowd, “don’t get me wrong, vehicular movement is still critical to the city.” And Patman said he shut down urban visionaries inside the administration on one blueprint to ram through bike lanes. He told them, “That isn’t realistic, hold your horses on making radical changes. Instead, we studied it.”

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One particular issue Mayes addressed was the Canoe Club Golf Course, traffic access and egress from the condos on the site, rumours of infill housing, and the soon-to-expire lease. Being near a primary dyke will affect any plans for housing construction.

Voices were never raised and residents felt Mayes was very much heeding their concerns. Elmwood-East Kildonan Councillor Jason Schreyer dropped in to observe and as he left he told the crowd Mayes was “the city’s best city councillor.”

By holding a town hall to inform his residents about how the complex Transportation2050 plan and the density it is supposed to accommodate can affect their future quality of life, he’s certainly set a precedent every other council member should follow. Who’s holding the next Town Hall?

— Marty Gold is a Winnipeg journalist. You can find more of his work at The Great Canadian Talk Show.

Have thoughts on what’s going on in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada or across the world? Send us a letter to the editor at wpgsun.letters@kleinmedia.ca

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