I mean, like, we don't even have an IKEA
It looks like Tom Brodbeck of the Winnipeg Sun wrote a column.
It's about the population figures from the 2006 Census that were released.
Back in March of this year.
Five months ago.
He bemoans in yesterday's Sun, the fact that Hamilton's population is closing in on Winnipeg's.
Soon our city be in ninth place.
It was the third biggest Canadian city 85 years ago.
Ouch.
Strange that someone who takes such a backwater attitude toward city issues would be sad we're not getting any bigger. Classic case of Winnipeg's debilitating we-don't-have-freeways-or-an-IKEA insecurity:
"We have wiggle room. We don't suffer from the mind-numbing congestion they do in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. I wouldn't want to be like them."
In other words, I wouldn't want to live in a growing city, but I am upset that the city I live in isn't growing. Similar to other ignorant and unrealistic wishes that come from both the right and left, and the "thinking classes" and Brodbeck's readership alike: I want Manitoba to be prosperous like Alberta, but I don't want to pay market rates for hydro; I want downtown to revitalize, but I don't want to pay more for parking; I want the inner city (slums) to improve, but I don't want property values to increase there.
There are numerous things that would help to make Winnipeg a growing city--a city, for example, where constructing new buildings along the river in the middle of the country's biggest, best historic warehouse district are not financially assisted by governments--but I don't know if this kind of insecure populism is one of them.
It's about the population figures from the 2006 Census that were released.
Back in March of this year.
Five months ago.
He bemoans in yesterday's Sun, the fact that Hamilton's population is closing in on Winnipeg's.
Soon our city be in ninth place.
It was the third biggest Canadian city 85 years ago.
Ouch.
Strange that someone who takes such a backwater attitude toward city issues would be sad we're not getting any bigger. Classic case of Winnipeg's debilitating we-don't-have-freeways-or-an-IKEA insecurity:
"We have wiggle room. We don't suffer from the mind-numbing congestion they do in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. I wouldn't want to be like them."
In other words, I wouldn't want to live in a growing city, but I am upset that the city I live in isn't growing. Similar to other ignorant and unrealistic wishes that come from both the right and left, and the "thinking classes" and Brodbeck's readership alike: I want Manitoba to be prosperous like Alberta, but I don't want to pay market rates for hydro; I want downtown to revitalize, but I don't want to pay more for parking; I want the inner city (slums) to improve, but I don't want property values to increase there.
There are numerous things that would help to make Winnipeg a growing city--a city, for example, where constructing new buildings along the river in the middle of the country's biggest, best historic warehouse district are not financially assisted by governments--but I don't know if this kind of insecure populism is one of them.
posted by The Rise and Sprawl at
5:05 PM
1 Comments:
I have an unusual request. May I use the picture of the Simcoe and Sargent on my blog? I grew up in Winnipeg in the middle 50s and lived first on Spence, then Beverley and then Simcoe, near Sargent. I'd like to put some photos of my childhood memories on my blog. Please let me know if I have your permission to use this photo. If not, no harm in asking.
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