More on the St. Annes widening

There are a couple of follow ups to the previous post that should be mentioned.

The first is that Mayor Katz is now considering letting go of the Civic Environment Committee. Perhaps city councillor and Mayor yes-man Gord Steeves is relieved there will no longer be a conflict of interest in chairing a committee that made reports against suburban sprawl while cutting the ribbon on new sprawl at the same time. Phew, no more pretending to care about Winnipeg's environmental and financial sustainability anymore...

The second is that, according to the Corners page in the Winnipeg Free Press (which appears every Wednesday), the $3M for the St. Annes road twinning was paid for by the developer of a strip mall built along that stretch. But the City (you and me) will be paying them back in 2008, as well as paying for the repairs the road will need in the coming years. But who knows, maybe by 2008, Winnipeg will be so awash in extra cash because of the widened tax base low-density suburban development gives us, and by not having to pay for wasteful things like Civic Environment Committees.