The wholesale destruction of the Archwood and Dufresne neighborhoods in St Boniface – the small residential communities north and south of Happyland Park – by a proposed Marion Freeway was averted in 2015/16.
So instead, city bureaucrats have resorted to a new tactic – incremental erosion of the area through budget cuts, even while the City trumpets the massive infill development at the Canada Packers site across Archibald.
In Episode 29 you’ll hear about the devastating and cruel decision to demolish the outdoor pool at Happyland Park, despite support for the neighborhood from the Manitoba Metis Federation and the infill project leader.
Marty Gold tells about the pleas of residents, who even offered to raise the $82,000 cost to keep the pool open.
The concept of a new aquatic centre near Provencher Blvd. far from Happyland Park means one thing – no relief in the summer for the poor and working class losing their pool, because it will require paying to get in.
As a councilor wrote, “The Mayor has provided each of the fifteen councillors with a piece of his approximately 1.27% operating property tax increase, but it is chump change if one wants to provide children with pleasurable experiences.”
We put the failure of St. Boniface Councilor Matt Allard to save the pool under the microscope. Under his watch, and his extremist focus on “climate change” and bike lanes instead of real issues affecting residents and businesses, the Marion-Goulet corridor continues to decline into becoming the North End of the South End.
City Council chose to undermine the biggest reason families use Happyland Park. It appears to be part of a larger plan to kill the park and force out the working class and seniors- and as one resident told us it’s “Creating a city people aren’t going to want to stay in.”
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27:33 Part 2 – We review the fiery comments from Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt after Wednesday’s vote, where he decried “a mean-spirited budget, with attacks on working families and their neighborhoods.”
“Had we not made the investment in Transcona by building the Transcona Aquatic Park, they would have tried to close that former old outdoor pool too, but now it’s just too popular thanks to the reinvestment.”
Hearkening to a prior era when “we had at City Hall strong City Councilors”, Wyatt also took a shot at the current crop including Allard:
“Former Councillors would have stood up and fought for their communities, instead of the group we have today who rolled over today in the face of the cuts being made in the budget and to their communities.”
We also have some insight from Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie about the trade-offs councilors have to make with pools, splash pads, and being outside of the controlling bloc at council.
Episode 29 concludes with interesting feedback to our analysis of Wab Kinew’s Gaza Gambit, and a renewed push for our fundraising drive as we pass the halfway point. We have $1800 to go – please
Marty Gold is committed to investigating and reporting on the serious concerns in our neighborhoods, bringing forward the stories MSM can’t or won’t to ActionLine.ca and forcing those issues onto the civic and provincial political agenda. In that way, we earn your support.