What is your Recent Experience In Being Downtown?

I visit my Doctor at Eaton Centre and I haven't seen any problems getting from the parking lot to his offices.

I just bought some new specs from Eye-site Optical, on Graham. I saved a bundle dealing with Ron btw....have been for years.

I didn't have any problems being downtown.

However, I sure wouldn't be walking around the Regis with a case of beer....day or night.

When Eaton's was still here, my wife gave up trying to walk between The bay and eaton's. She hated being asked 23 times for spare change!

I remember being asked for $$ most times I was in the Eaton's area.

I seldom get asked for change. Maybe I walk too fast or look like I don't have any money.

Last I was downtown I had 15,004 of my closest friends with me. The only problem I had was waiting for a cab in the rain.

Seriously though, I've spent much time downtown in the last 5 years. I feel mostly safe. But... I can see how people can be very intimidated by many of the characters found downtown.

I don't think I'd want to be walking alone downtown late at night though. That said I have spent time in Toronto and Vancouver's downtowns'. I'd say EXACTLY the same thing...

This is largley a time and location problem. The WPS claimed back Portage Place a few years ago so a trip to the Imax is only a reasonable risk again. When they grow the balls to actually deal with this issue head on - they will make welfare reccipients account for their time - like I had to do on EI in the 80's. I pissed my pants when they called. That amounted to having to demonstrate in writing where I had applied and what the status is. There was no free long-term money. Thank god - or as a young man I may have never achieved my way out and beyond. How long will we let our elected allow this obvious problem to go unaddressed while they "study" the symptoms of status quo? We need a politician with the balls to start speaking to this and other obvious issues/failures.

If I may be so bold as to say what is on my mind here.

I feel that the reason neither the police, city or provincial gov'ts want to REALLY deal with this issue is that the majority of this issue revolves around a certain minority group. And said minority group would likely cry foul if any of the mentionned above would come out in public and admit the real cause of these problems. People would be labelled as racists and that the white devil is just continuing to keep them down and a whole bunch of other crap. Of course they would never want to admit the truth either.

In order to deal with this issue, we need to deal with the problems caused by this particual people, because whether or not anyone wants to say it, they are responsible for the majority of crime in Winnipeg and Manitoba. I would suggest that they need to work on their own issues without as much taxpayers money, however they would likely cry foul on that as well.

It's vicious circle that never ends. These people have the police and the gov't wrapped around their little fingers, and everyone knows this, and I am fricking sick of this crap and their threats and mind games.

I worked downtown back in the 70's and 80's and even lived there for 2 years when we first got married. Used to walk to work up Carlton and down Portage to Vaughan. Back in those days, there was a steady stream of folks who got off at the bus depot and headed to Main Street. There were only a few beggars and they were "regulars". Walking from Trizec to the Y, either on Portage or through the skywalks was not a big deal. Going for dinner and drinks after work wasn't a big deal, and no one was afraid to stay downtown til 8 or 9 pm.



I now work in the inner city and I would have to say I have a fair amount of common sense. I'm aware of my surroundings, I walk with determination and confidence and feel safe during business hours, either at work or downtown.



I regularly drop my son off at work or pick him up by the MTS Centre and the state of dt is dismal. I would need a pretty good reason, and a flak jacket, to go downtown after rush hour. Two weeks ago, I was going to pick up my son and was waiting for the light to change at Portage and Carlton, and witnessed at least 2, very open and obvious drug exchanges at the park in front of Air Canada. I guess the Downtown Watch wasn't watching at that time. Going to MEC is running a gauntlet of beggars and drunks. Going to Portage Place is absolutley so unappealling, I'll go hungry rather than eat in that shithole. And I always make sure I go to the bathroom before I go downtown so I don't have to use any of the public washrooms.



The first step to cleaning it up is to get the cops off their asses and out of their cars. Dump the biz patrol and get real cops that can actually do something, a much better use of tax $$'s. Put on a concentrated effort for 60 - 90 days to clean up. Cops need to whisk away the drunks and undesirables. Concentrate on evenings and weekends. Get public works to work with the program that they run at Siloam and get more people out there cleaning up the garbage, the real stuff, not the human kind, thats for the cops. Get the Chief's out there instead of them just bitching that they need new money. (Keep in mind the irony that even they want to move their offices out of downtown)

Evenings and weekends? Go on you say. You want the police to work evenings and weekends downtown? Hell they don't even respond to live break-ins any more.

The Winnipeg police are not interested in "walking" a beat despite record hirings and the largest police force per capita in Canada.

As has been said Winnipeg and Manitoba politicians (including the chiefs) do not have the nads to forcefully deal with the elephant in the room.

Maybe the Air Canada memo will finally turn the spotlight on an issue that will not go away.

grumpy old man wrote:Evenings and weekends? Go on you say. You want the police to work evenings and weekends downtown? Hell they don't even respond to live break-ins any more.

The Winnipeg police are not interested in "walking" a beat despite record hirings and the largest police force per capita in Canada.

As has been said Winnipeg and Manitoba politicians (including the chiefs) do not have the nads to forcefully deal with the elephant in the room.

Maybe the Air Canada memo will finally turn the spotlight on an issue that will not go away.

And this is what I'm hoping for. But if this isn't enough, what is? What will it take to get the civic government to take this issue seriously? I scare myself with thinking of what that answer could be. If this council really cared about their city, they would be in meetings at this very moment discussing what swift hard action needs to be made to clean up the downtown of the scum that wander the streets scaring off decent people. But not likely, as they will just come into their cozy little Main Street offices on Monday talking about how "shocked" they are.

Maybe we should fence off the North End, round up all the scum in the downtown, drop them off in the newly "gated" community and let them pick each other off, one by one. And whoever is left, we shipped them down to Manitoba's newest "gated" reserve in Roseau River and let that Fucktard Nelson deal with them.

I very rarely leave downtown, mainly to go the airport or for a bike ride to one of the parks in nice weather. Anything that is appealing about Winnipeg is downtown or in walking distance to it, so why bother going anywhere else.

Freeman, I would like you to email Mayor Katz and the Chief of Police your recommendations.

You will get a phone call from the Mayor.

I'm downtown almost once a week.

Most times, no on stops me for change. If I had more free time, I'd be downtown more often.

Maybe there is no problem being downtown??

Do you need to encounter it first-hand before making a decision? You could do some safer research by reading both the daily newpapers. But if anybody's looking for a victim experience - that can be guaranteed by spending a few hours in the dark between Maryland west to Banning and north to Selkirk. If you're looking for instant results - head straight to Aikens and Charles. Sure bet. The crap-shoot of downtown visitations is that these punks also like to visit. So don't walk alone because there's nothing randomn about their actions - they seek out opportunities like young wimps from the south or a woman or two together. The booty is only a shoulder-check away.



So when people conlude they've been downtown and they haven't had a problem - understand that it's a matter of time and chance. If you buy 6/49 tickets - know that you're chances of being a victim downtown Wpg are 400,000 times greater than hitting the jackpot. But look at the bright side - every time you go downtown - you provide the opportunity for the criminal class to hit their jackpot. I've lost two bikes (stolen through a smashed window on my SUV and also a cell phone and wallet. I also had my Portage Ave office plate-glass store-front window smashed twice - for whatever they could muster up from un-seen rooms. I could go on but I just get angry.

grumpy old man wrote:Evenings and weekends? Go on you say. You want the police to work evenings and weekends downtown? Hell they don't even respond to live break-ins any more.

The Winnipeg police are not interested in "walking" a beat despite record hirings and the largest police force per capita in Canada.

As has been said Winnipeg and Manitoba politicians (including the chiefs) do not have the nads to forcefully deal with the elephant in the room.

Maybe the Air Canada memo will finally turn the spotlight on an issue that will not go away.

I realize thats pretty radical thinking, but I guess our civic leaders would have to consult with the police union before they tell the cops to walk the beat. Much more fun for them to run around with tactical vests and AR-15's.

...and don't forget....in groups of at least 6 cops.

Jondo the area that you mention is not downtown to me. I would call downtown from Portage and Main to The University of Winnipeg. You have marked the West End to the North End.

In any case , wherever the gangs are roaming, I think what has to be done, is what they did in some cities in the USA! The police got the gang leaders together in a meeting and told them the next gang attack, you, as the leader would be arrested as having ordered the gang hit!

It worked wonders in an immediated reduction of attacks.

Lived downtown since November 1990.

At the time downtown was over-run with Aboriginal panhandlers and in general "riff-raff" (the lower class). And by over-run I mean about 12 of them at various points in the CBD, harrassing us White middle-class folk.

Two decades later, the problem of there being so much "White trash" or "Riff-raff" (is that Metis?) is still there... they're still the dominating citizenry at the Portage/Donald and near Portage Pl. buildings, on Graham Ave.

Where's the panhandlers though? Have the cops killed them or given them to the Dragons at Dulce NM to eat?

What has taken the panny's place in the CBD is an over-abundance of cops ...

You got your Red cops (from the Downtown BIZ),... you got yer Nazi Green cops who ticket vehicles and they're wantin' in on ticketing bicycles now too (they have set up their own bike racks with their own Winnipeg Parking Patrol stickers on em)...And you got yer cuuute/handsome Blue "Space Cadet" Cops who are so damned handsome I'd like to just hug them all.

Well, that post certianly makes a good argument about the ill effects of chemtrails!!

Freeman wrote:Well, that post certianly makes a good argument about the ill effects of chemtrails!!

Probably more due to radon exposure as a result of living in his mom's basement and the aluminium leeching into his brain from the foil hats he wears.

I have no issues with going downtown, spending time there going through parts of the exchange, eating at various restaurants. I like going downtown, I can ignore the drunks and panhandlers. Then again I do have the stature of an Ogre, and no one wants to mess with an Ogre.

Huh? There's lots of chemtrails downtown. They're easy to spot and you can even follow them from there all the way back to certain houses where they make and sell it. It is strange though that we can all detect them but the police seem to be unable or unwilling. Ten civilians with 20/20 vision could make a serious impact on cleaning up the downtown Winnipeg scourge in two days. Our police are either blind or their ignorance results from Sensitivity Training.