This week- an overview of the growing Moving on Marion bike lane controversy, after we went back to the streets of St. Boniface to continue our investigation. Marty Gold explains – What is Moving on Marion and why should I care?
In Review: How The ‘Moving On Marion” Bike Lane Plan Was Rigged Against St. Boniface
The neighborhood around St. Boniface Hospital was left out of “public consultations” and the bike lobby is glad they were. Hear why:
The Basics:
· Bike paths and concrete bumpouts all along Marion and Goulet will cut Route 115 down to 2 lanes each.
· This will result in a loss of 99 parking spaces from Traverse (for a bike lane that isn’t in the ‘official’ Active Transportation plan), and from Marion between the Marion Hotel & Tache.
· The Open House on March 16 did not mention 99 parking spaces would be sacrificed, or the effects on area enterprises.
· Goulet will lose the priority AM bus lane, slowing bus service with no Park and Ride planned to reduce traffic to and from downtown.
· There have been 3 public consultations in the last two years. Each meeting was sparsely attended and barely advertised.
· Only 5 of the 60 residents and business owners we have spoken to, had even heard of ‘Moving on Marion’, let alone the bike lane idea.
· At each public meeting the consultants hired by the City of Winnipeg were unable to answer questions about specifics and supplied only simple- minded generalizations of “liveability”. (Reducing property taxes when the bike lane cuts across your yard? They didn’t think of that.)
In Episode 20, Marty explains what we know about the role of St. B Councilor Matt Allard, and reviews comments from his former assistant, now School Trustee, Ryan Palmquist who claimed the previous Biz Executive Director was “one of the key champions of this vision.”
He tried to dissuade the public from believing our reports or from financially supporting our independent investigation.
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The Norwood Grove Biz was unaware they were being leveraged by the consultants against the community. The Biz is scheduling a meeting to notify their members what is going on and find out what they think- a step the City conveniently skipped.
The Biz previously stated that if Marion remained a truck route, a bike lane idea was a non-starter. It seems there was a problem at the Biz and the new ED is moving fast to fix it. Kudos.
Most importantly, there’s no evidence the St. Boniface Hospital and/or the WRHA were consulted or notified of any plans that would hinder emergency vehicles and general access to Winnipeg’s second largest hospital.
Staff of the hospital, patients, and families park in this area. There are serious healthcare implications along Goulet for seniors in adjacent highrises, for health care workers attending the Access Centre, and for HandiTransit. Everyone should care that the Open House didn’t mention those concerns.
You’ll hear what Marty was told by the affected homeowners and renters, businesses and services in the Dollard neighborhood who Matt Allard has failed to represent. They complain of being left in the dark, stonewalled, told to move, and of their councilor’s silence. Our reporting makes clear, up to 90% surveyed did not know what was being planned and are opposed.
What did Coun. Schreyer and Coun. Browaty say about a decade ago about unacceptable tactics by consultants? Yet it is happening AGAIN. Will your neighborhood be targeted next?
The disarray in the Biz, combined with the lack of a Dollard Blvd. area resident group, opened the door for the “public consultation” process being highjacked by the radical anti-car bike lobby. City Hall cheats taxpayers to help them do it – while the media looks the other way.
The YouTube highlight reels are:
- Facts hidden at Saint Boniface bike lane open house
- More facts were missing at Saint Boniface bike lane meeting
- Marion Street business is kept in the dark about bike lane plan
- City Secret Revealed: Marion Bike Lanes Plan Will Steal 99 Parking Spots
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