The urban visionary crowd suffered a humiliating setback last week in their campaign to convince Winnipeg residents that a slip lane for cars is the most dangerous aspect of life in Osborne Village, and that expressing public safety concerns is fearmongering.
The Gas Station Arts Centre said no to gaslighting the public and yes to a permanent redesign of the exterior courtyard entrance to fence off the space used as part of the notorious ‘Circle” on River Avenue.
As Marty Gold explains in Episode 7, even the most left-wing arts groups find out they have to draw the line for their social activism when campouts, open fires, drug dealing, and soiled mattresses are outside their door.
“What we’re looking at is establishing our courtyard for our patrons,” said Executive Director Nick Kowalchuk. “What I want is a patron to feel comfortable.”
9.40- A man from Kitchener-Waterloo previously passed on a job offer at the Gas Station, and you’ll hear why. It wasn’t because of the slip lane.
Violent crime went up over 50% in the Village, and now even MSM is being forced to report it as the reason Starbucks- packed from morning to night with customers – shuttered their store.
Bike lanes are not going to help improve the quality of life for people who live and work in the area as long as social disorder – especially caused by homeless troublemakers -continues unchecked.
16.00 – The problems caused by homeless campers was amplified near the University of Manitoba by competing visions for- and against- public safety.
An effort by Street Links to relocate one disruptive bunch in Glengarry Park to secure accommodations was derailed by a competing organization that showed up, the Main Street Project.
While the Free Press presented it as a mere difference of approach, CBC actually provided a narration from area Coun. Janice Lukes that exposed how MSP swooped, in telling the campers, “‘No, you don’t need to go, you have rights. Your right is to stay on this encampment and stay here. And here, do you want some coffee and cookies?'”
“(We) take a human rights-based approach to supporting community members,” claimed a spokesperson, but what they mean is, the human rights of the campers.
The residents? Well, since without homeless people, MSP would lose its funding, their human rights don’t count.
“I’ve stayed indoors a lot more than I normally would… We lived here for years without locking our front door, and we don’t go anywhere without locking our front door now.”
Despite what Lukes called “astronomical” health risks, Winnipeg administrators have “no plans to make the encampment residents leave the site.”
Marty asks how long open sewage, drug use, noise and property crime near the homes of Mayor Scott Gillingham or Premier Wab Kinew would be tolerated before the encampments would be evicted.
We know the answer- and so do they.
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Following up on our coverage of the city abandoning Happyland Pool, Marty Gold wrote this column in the Winnipeg Sun on July 7 – The sad story of St. Boniface’s Happyland pool, as area residents have hoisted banners pointing the finger at the Mayor and area Councilor Matt Allard for the closure. The column has gotten a lot of attention, as have the banners.
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