Umm...Rapid Transit (Would it be a Winnipeg forum without this thread?)

because what we have there is certainly more appropriate for Winnipeg ( a rusty bridge) , compared to high-end Tuxedo condos!


Part of the charm Rosie. After all the BDI is a smashing success because of the foor bridge, imagine, building condo's over there, or how about the bridge to St. B from the Forks, would be great to see Condo's over that span. Yes, its an intriguing idea for those that live there, but i dare say, the visual pollution of the structure wouldn't appeal to many.

Only in Wpg does having cars on the street work as a reason not to have a new construction project. lol
Pavola, my house was 3 houses west of the St James bridge and I was in favour of this project. No parking for cars was not a reason, there was parking, all looked after by the architect, and increased traffic by planes? That is a new one on me. We have the City approval and the Federal approval, and who managed to get the NDP to sit on their butts?
What a great idea by an architect to convert a rusting eyesore of a bridge, and a unique project to boot.
Noise complaints from who? Certainly not the condo people, an the plan was to have these condos sound proofed .

The visual pollution of the rusty structure is exactly what we have today, and exactly what Winnipeg deserves to have, except City council approved this innovative project.
Council is plenty experienced at hearing from the negative nannies. At that meeting there was one Wellington Crescent homeowner on the east side of the bridge, a designer himself, that argued the visual look of the project would be terrible for him!
I walked over to his house and the bridge couldn't be seen from his house.
Livio, all of Wpg is visual pollution, with our do nothing, no vision, not in my backyard complaints about everything.
Who has decided that this was visual pollution?
Where does it say in any City Hall projects, what visual pollution is?
Not a bona fide argument!
The Museum is visual pollution, as the building doesn't look boring , like the rest of Wpg!

Visual pollution if you have a 4 or 5 storey condo spanning a river....kinda like a big ole train got stuck and won't move again, well, untill the foundations shift

That wasn't the case in this project at all. You did not see the project then, because the development did not become much taller a structure than what was there, possible a few feet.
Look at the arguments that are being listed:
no parking,
too noisy,
too tall
too much traffic on the street
All of the above are referring to problems that the owners would be worried about, and were all provided for in the architects plans.
The NDP have been successful in preventing a project, that was approved by council to move forward, from getting anywhere!
The architect Katz, a former resident in Tuxedo has moved to the West coast, although I believe that he may have retired, but this project would have been beautiful, in my opinion, and you know what Livio? I saw that rusted out piece of crap for 19 years from my living room window, and you know what, that was visual pollution, and I did not realize it! lol

Winnipeg- "come here for the cheap projects", and stay for the visual pollution! I love that saying.

Visual pollution, sounds like a good name for an Arts museum.

Well rosie, I'll take your word for it that it was beautiful. Have not seen the renderings nor was i too involved in the discussion....i guess at the time , i just said to myself, what a dumb idea and let it go at that.

So you were arguing about a project with no information?
Good one!

Not arguing with you, i just think its a dumb idea.

Take any bridge anywhere in Wpg, one that overlooks a river, and imagine condos looking out both sides over the water way.
I cannot think of anything more beautiful !

well from the perspective of the owner its introiguing as i said. but to the rest of the population it may look odd

That is the problem!
Everyone and their dog, who have nothing to do with a project, goes down and complanes about the traffic, the noise, planes flying overhead (Pav gets the award today), the not in my backyard, and it will look odd, or it has visual pollution (your words), when all that should happen is can it be built , and let the consumer decide if they want to live there.
Condos ovelooking a river view! Wow, where do I sign up??
Not in River Heights, overlooking the beautful Assiniboine River!

As someone who grew up and spent time in his youth on that bridge plus walked across it god knows how many times . Where were the cars going to go and then the real fun one , how were the Fire Dept to put out a fire they could not properly approach . Also the noise in these so called condos would have been unreal due to the traffic going over the bridge above . Fine it could be done but do we need another white elephant in this city . Should have been part of rapid transit along with numerous other ROW that have been lost .

Heh...you may be on the wrong side of the fence on this one Liv...I too, think it was a good idea to build condos on the bridge.
1. unique use of an old bridge
2. increased revenue
3. parking on site was established
4. low enough for the airport authority
5. woulda' looked cool

rosencrentz wrote:This is why winnipeg is such a dump. Nothing gets done because the full time NIMBYs won't let anything get done.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/A-bridge-without-direction-68543262.html

This is ancient news and there have been many proposed residential projects come and gone since then. If you need a thread on failed condo projects maybe start a thread on that instead of polluting a rapid transit thread.

Yes, exactly Rosen. Start yer own thread on condos on the bridge. No need to screw up this rapid transit thread.

BTW, I believe Katz (and the Mayor's Office) is in the process of working with one of the rail-transit companies for a quote on some LRT vehicular equipment.

There must be another thread around on rapid transit? Why is the City planning a $2 Billion expense to get people from point A to point B 6 minutes faster? Talk about misuse of funds. We couldv'e had 3 roads repaired and have the buses drive on the damn sidewalk!

How about a Rapid Snow Plough.

rosencrentz wrote:There must be another thread around on rapid transit? Why is the City planning a $2 Billion expense to get people from point A to point B 6 minutes faster? Talk about misuse of funds. We couldv'e had 3 roads repaired and have the buses drive on the damn sidewalk!

Sarcasm or not, I'm glad mindsets like yours are slowly fading into obscurity.

As we get closer and closer to December 21 2012, a little over 12 months from now, I am beginning to wonder what's going to happen and what destiny lies ahead...

The current 'path' might go something like this...

The 'rapture/asension' happens about 1 year from now... Several Billion of us Earth humans vanish like in the Bible. We are taken not to Heaven (with a life review and such), but are taken to the 5th Dimension... In the 5th dimension humans can travel by teleportation, by thought, to anywhere they want... and not have to use 3rd dimension travel like bicycles, trains, planes, boats, cars, etc...

Back in the 3rd dimension the New World Order begins... the biggest Holocaust on this planet begins with the people "left behind" ... those who could not express unconditional LOVE and some of those who of higher vibration who CHOSE to stay behind to help those others to raise their consciousness.

With that, for me an LRT/Subway is quite moot in the 3rd dimension... Will it really matter at this point, if there is to be a 'soul harvest' in the near future?
If 3rd dimension Winnipeg were to be nuked or destroyed in some way...who would be left to ride the Wilson subway then?

For me, I'm ready for such things as Interstellar Space Travel (I'd love to live and work on a starship).

If we really want rapid transit, sell the buses to the drivers and make transit private.

Soon, drivers will be speeding along to make sure they're there first.

The rest will work itself out.

I've said it before, but I wish they would stop branding this as "rapid" transit and instead use the term "mass" transit. Winnipeggers are way too fickle about the word "rapid" when it comes to anything really, so instead let's call it a "mass" transit system, where the real goal is to get more people out of their cars and using transit.

Calling it "mass transit" would not allow for the additional cash to be thrown away....and besides, it would piss off some Catholics.

JTF wrote:Calling it "mass transit" would not allow for the additional cash to be thrown away....and besides, it would piss off some Catholics.

I still say there would be way less people bitching and complaing when using the term "mass" in comparison to having something "rapid" when "I can get anywhere in the city in 5 minutes or less blah blah blah". The true purpose of this kind of system is to reduce the amount of cars off the roadway for less congestion, escpecially in growing cities like Winnipeg.

Nope. As much as I hate to say it, us Winnipeggers are not happy unless we are whinging, bitching and complaining. None do it better. And if we are not whinging, bitching and complaining about things we are whinging, bitching and complaining and taking personal shots at people that choose to look at the world from a glass-half-full perspective.

Mary Krismas.

No no...they've tried that approach...now they're on to saying it's "rapid" to get new customers...it's all about increasing ridership by telling folks they'll save 4 minutes (4 minutes faster than the regular bus that is.)

JTF wrote:No no...they've tried that approach...now they're on to saying it's "rapid" to get new customers...it's all about increasing ridership by telling folks they'll save 4 minutes (4 minutes faster than the regular bus that is.)

Yeah, but how are the bus drivers gonna be able to go fetch their lunches at McDonald's???