IKEA in Winnipeg

AGEsAces wrote:

Electrician wrote:Are the same stats predicted for the Winnipeg location?

Nobody knows for sure...they won't show us their business plan .

Are they also asking for over 100 million of tax payers money?

Nope, only about $18 million.

grumpy old man wrote:Nope, only about $18 million.

And I bet IKEA will receive way more visitors....

But will they stay as long there?

Maybe not stay as long, but they'll be back week after week after week.

Here is a comment by Paul Rutherford (Winnipeg Sun) that so profoundly hits the proverbial nail on the head. It is something that has been driving me to distraction and something I've ranted on many times in this space.

When the doors opened at J.B. Mitchell School Wednesday, giving Winnipeggers a chance to see and comment on the plans for the city's 350,000-square-foot IKEA store -- plus a massive mall project -- it also kicked off the official start of Winnipeg's anti-development season.

Residents here are notorious for nitpicking at major development projects that will see the city move forward and be economically strong -- so much so that many developers have flown the coop rather than put up with the whining.

How did Winnipeg become this Winnipeg? Why must we so strongly oppose seemingly every single proposed development?

Winnipeg has to change this mindset if she is to grow. We simply cannot allow us to stagnate further.

IMHO...

We also could not simply allow developers to build wherever and whenever they want. Its called publice consultation, people have issues... listen to them and perhaps come up with solutions to the issues.

"allow developers to build wherever and whenever they want." Ummm who is suggesting that?

Name one development that has arisen in Winnipeg that has had NO public consultation? Just one.

Failing to enforce or adhere to Plan Winnipeg, "the city" needs the public to hold the feet of the developers to the fire, for without doing so, we would have utter chaos.

Somehow, we have gotten onto a system whereby the developers ask for more than they should, and the public counters with restrictions, and we finally end up somewhere in the middle, but usually with a screwed up project.

Hey. But that's Winnipeg.

Also, since we really don't have a lot of stuff happening, anything that does come up produces an atmosphere of urgency, which leads to bad decisions.

I thought it was Winnipeg policy to have the public pick the area that a store can build in, choose the mechandise that they can sell, the retail price points, the colours, how many staff, how much to pay the staff, the hours it can open, when it has to shut for local holidays, the outside material and colour of the store, the type of lighting, and now the biggest problem is the noisy roof top air conditioners,and the fact that there has to be an underground access for construction and deliveries to keep the noise down.
The whole idea of public input to a development is so stupid, in my opinion!
If the developer said we do not want to hear anything about trafffic and the new complaint, noise, that would end that discussion!
What is important?
1) jobs in building it
2) jobs to run it
3) income for the city in taxes
What have I missed? There was an interview with an old Baba, who lives on Kenaston, and she was concerned about the noise from the roof top air conditioners of the IJEA building that was going to be 1 ile from her apartment!
That says it all!
New business has nothing to do with the public in 99% of the time!

Rosen. Haven't you figured it out yet??

That meeting wasn't an exercise in asking for public input, a consultation process...it was to tell us what we are getting.

A 1.5 million sq. ft. mega center that will dilute Polo Park, St. Vital and all other shopping centers in Winnipeg.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-tuxedo-yards-the-challenge-41251432.html

The stack of paper reports and documents made available in advance of the single hearing scheduled for public review of the project indicates that much careful thought has gone into it over a long period of time, all of it, unfortunately, behind closed doors.

...the hearing is overloaded with far too many complex issues -- rezonings, variances, agreements and studies (20 not counting sub-agreements) -- to be adequately and critically reviewed in a single day. This public review process is woefully inadequate for a project of this size, one that will affect development and transportation planning forever.

Overloaded? Would not other large projects have a huge pile o'paper (studies etc.) to look through? Is this development any different than any other in terms of consultation and planning?

It's been said this is the largest retail development in Winnipeg history. Who would expect the data to be contained on the back of a napkin?

Is the process itself flawed in Winnipeg? How should this process manifest itself? Is a single day too little? Should we open the process up to two days? Three? How much time is enough?

Or are the city and the developers trying to scam Winnipeggers?

A 1.5 million sq. ft. mega center that will dilute Polo Park, St. Vital and all other shopping centers in Winnipeg.

Is this a problem? How many stores are going up here? 100? 200? 6?

Will the one proposed hotel make all other Winnipeg hotels no longer viable? Will the business park bankrupt dozens of other business parks?

WTF are we afraid of in this city?

That's the whole point.

A few days to digest and comment on a project of this size is nonsense.

It wasn't a consultation...it was an announcement.

Okay. Answer the question. How many days is right?

grumpy old man wrote:

A 1.5 million sq. ft. mega center that will dilute Polo Park, St. Vital and all other shopping centers in Winnipeg.

Is this a problem? How many stores are going up here? 100? 200? 6?

Will the one proposed hotel make all other Winnipeg hotels no longer viable? Will the business park bankrupt dozens of other business parks?

WTF are we afraid of in this city?

Questions questions questions....shut up and drink the fcuken cool-aid.

...ironic that you have so many unanswered questions???

How many days is right?? Who knows...who says there has to be a deadline?

We have elected officials looking after our needs. Why do we need a meeting at all to hear the negative nannies bleat about noise, traffic, green , not in my back yard? All that has to be done is give an e-mail address, a mailing address and a fax # for complaints to the review board.
Let our elected officials look after what they are being paid to do!

Exactly. We have to shut up and take it...without the KY.

Shut up? WTF?

You can't make baseless accusations that the sky is falling and ignore the issues.

Whatever.

That is one lame ass debate. Why do you bother?

Well...if we speak up, we're called negative nannies, ranters, old foggies with no desire to "move forward" (whatever the fcuk that really means) and are generally cast in a bad light. Hell, we damned if we question anything.

And, let's face it...this is a done-deal, perhaps with the odd little thing to change, but in general...over with regarding if or not.

Then don't bother eh?

I asked some questions to understand where the line is. The meeting was an introduction. The time allowed is only a day?

What is the answer? Quit bitching about the fait accompli process or add to it.

You're damned here because you present reasons why not and won't debate why. Typical of how brodbeck debates.

Hey chilax. I'm all in favour of Ikea moving here and think this is a great project.

However, it is typical of the way things are done.

Waverley West comes to mind.

What that started out as and what it is finishing as are two totally different things. But the process was the same as this.

That's what I'm against...the backroom bullsh it that goes on.

Would someone please list reasons to object to this project?
Please leave out too much noise. too much traffic(I agree that route 90 sucks)
I believe that when someone complains that trucks delivering goods at night time will keep them awake with the back up warning noise going (that was in the paper),would be looked after by having the developer have a berm or trees or a band playing, or a regulation to take the truck out of reverse ! lol
Why the hullabaloo about a store coming to Wpg ? I do not get it??

Tuxedo Yard is about 200 - 300 stores I thought; not just the one Ikea store.

I'm not a retail analyst, but anyone can tell that this will have an effect on retail here in the city. Just what the effect will be, is the question.

Perhaps by diluting the industry, it will lower prices and make the commie bastards work harder for our business. That would be welcome eh?

I believe the entire project included a very small handful of VERY BIG SUPER BOX stores. Maybe six??? There was a drawing link posted somewhere I'll try to find it.