Author: Admin

On October 22 vote for Councillor Ross Eadie

“The North End and West Kildonan need a City Councillor who is active and engaged. Ross Eadie is that City Councillor.” – John Loxley, Luxton resident

 

A Strong Voice for North Winnipeg

“When you see a City Councillor on an extension ladder fixing the Bell Tower on Selkirk, you know he has special abilities. But that’s just Ross.” –Arthur Gunn, Selkirk Avenue BIZ

 

RE-ELECT COUNCILLOR Ross Eadie

“I see Ross everywhere. At community events, on the bus, and on the streets. It’s great to know my City Councillor is not afraid to hear what the people think.” – Sid Bloom, West Kildonan resident

 

“There may be a mess at city hall, but there’s one thing we can count on: Ross just works for Mynarski.” – Sel Burrows, Point Douglas Activist
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My Six 2014 Commitments

Streets and Infrastructure

We need to increase infrastructure renewal on our streets, backlanes, sidewalks, parks, community centres, and other facilities for youth and seniors.

During my first four years as Councillor:

• 22 city blocks renewed, 16 since 2013 under the local street renewal fund,
• 6 backlanes totally reconstructed,
• 14 streets in fair condition protected with TBO, a type of asphalt that makes streets last longer,
• 18 community facilities renovated or upgraded,
• 16 parks and tot lots upgraded, and
• 7 schools received city money to add event signs or improve green areas for play and learning.

In my next term, I will continue to:

• work for renovations and upgrades to community facilities and parks,
• vote for local and regional street funding to double the renewal of city blocks along with backlanes and sidewalks,

• pressure the city administration to improve pothole and other street maintenance services while we wait for renewal to catch up, and

• push for the Chief Peguis Trail extension.

Fair Taxation

I will keep on working for adjustments to the reassessment process. We need fairness for residents who live in older neighbourhoods where property taxes continue to rise faster than in the suburbs. (Please see the Times article at http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/times/Tax-problems-in-low-income-areas-254394211.html
for examples of the problem.)

Crime Reduction

The Winnipeg Police Service has started on the right path. We cannot only police our way out of high levels of crime, so I will always advocate for more prevention resources. A Prince Albert model – the Block by Block Initiative – requires that stronger non-police organizations address the many issues of struggling families. When agencies engage the whole family they have a better chance at success.

To make people more secure in their homes and on the street increasing foot patrols from the current two officers is important, but we should also utilize Police Cadets and the North End Ambassadors.

I have been inspired by my experience working on neighbourhood safety strategies. I am certain that residents organizing and acting together make our community a better place to live. Citizens on Patrol and the Power Line are examples of efforts that are working.

I have also come to understand that a gang exit strategy, like the one developed by the Gang Action Intervention Network (GAIN), is needed in Winnipeg. With the cooperation of other levels of government we can get this done.

We have many youth activists in the North End who work to improve life for their peers. I will continue to listen to them and make initiatives like a Bar Watch work in Winnipeg.

Pride of Place

I will work on initiatives that help strengthen the pride we feel for the North End and West Kildonan. With a few extra tools we can fix up our homes and clean up our streets.

An anti-litter campaign is a good start. As part of the Selkirk Avenue BIZ, I will continue to coordinate a street maintenance crew.

The Merchant’s Corner project on Selkirk is a great example of creative urban renewal. I will work to ensure that more good ideas are advanced throughout Mynarski Ward.

Accountability and Transparency

I have always condemned the culture of secrecy and conflicts of interest at city hall. I will work with the new city council to implement my recommendations for improved access to information and a new code of conduct.

Traffic Safety

I will keep working for safer streets for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists through better street design and enforcement at pedestrian corridors.

I will continue my work on accessibility for persons with disabilities and seniors to ensure they can move around our city safely.

Together we can make a difference!

“Hey councillor, there’s too many cops!  Just witnessed two officers arrest a young man already on his knees while six more officers came running in to the situation.”

The Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) is a reactive service often required to deal with violent situations.  WPS and its chief recognize it cannot solve the crime by themselves.  Proactive prevention services need just as much effort.  My view is the WPS cannot inheirently deliver direct prevention services requiring the City to examine other means of crime prevention to aleviate stress on the WPS resources.

Prevention requires the participation of all levels of government, social service entities and local people.  This update will be spread out over two Mynarski Ward updates.  First I will address police related efforts, and then, the next update will focus on Community Services.

The quickly rising, $175.798 million property tax supported police response budget makes it difficult for the City of Winnipeg to fund prevention services in our neighbourhoods.  The WPS spends $3.301 million on direct crime prevention programs.  The community policing budget is $20.224 million – not prevention.  However, community policing is partially about working with organizations in our neighbourhoods.  Both these property tax supported budgets are in addition to the response budget.

A pilot program aimed at prevention called North Star” at RB Russell high school was started by the Province of Manitoba and Winnipeg School Division.  Details go beyond this update, but you need to know the WPS is directly involved along with Child and Family Services, social service providers, and families.  Education is prevention, and I strongly agree attempts must be made to keep youth in school.

Arson has been a big problem in the Mynarski Ward.  The Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service (WFPS) budgets $996 thousand on education programs which include the Fire Stop Program”.  The WPS community policing officers can work with the WFPS to get into schools to do arson prevention work beyond dealing with individuals refered to Youth Fire Stop.

During my day to day work in the Mynarski Ward, some of the following organizations I work with have community policing officers in attendance providing support:

North Point Douglas Women’s Centre safety strategy meetings

Indian Metis Friendship Centre annual WPS feast

North End Cummunity Renewal Centre AGM and North End renewal strategy

William Whyte Resident’s Association arson and other neighbourhood consultations

The WPS bring women to shelters due to domestic violence. The justice system makes people involved in crime attend addiction centres right in the Mynarski Ward.  Both types of facilities have prevention components.

There are many other organizations doing prevention work in the Mynarski Ward and across the city.  Many do not receive direct City of Winnipeg support.  In the next update, I will examine the Community Services related budget of $42.242 million.  Much of what Community Services spends is generally for everyone’s recreation and leisure activities.

Reflecting on my work activities with the Selkirk Avenue BIZ and surrounding neighbourhoods this summer, it upsets me that littering in the Mynarski Ward is a disgusting big problem.  This poor attitude occurs in both the North End and West Kildonan.  People need to have more respect for how other people’s and their neighbourhoods look.  People’s yards and homes need to look good as well.  It is very difficult to solve problems of crime and poverty when there looks like there is no hope.

A number of people complimented the work on Selkirk Avenue and surrounding neighbourhoods, but many of the student workers are off to college and university.  This rant brings me to difficult cases of homes and businesses looking hopeless.  The City cannot directly force someone to do something.  Inspections, orders, and fines or fees don’t seem to work for some people.  Residents call my office in frustration, but there is little that can be done aside from enforcing by-laws.

Councillors receive monthly 311 reports.  Besides garbage system and bulk dumping complaints, by-law enforcement issues are the largest number of cases in the Mynarski Ward.  Renters, landlords and home owners are all part of the problems in this 311 category.  What used to be called “community health”, now called “by-law enforcement”, is made up of a number of Neighbourhood Livability By-law and other by-law infractions related to housing as follows:

“Exterior of Building” – eaves troughs, siding, fascia, shingles, steps and hand railings, in disrepair or partially finished.

“Interior of Building” – faulty plumbing, mold, broken stairs, broken windows, and heating in bad shape.

“Miscellaneous Concerns” – anything not covered by the other categories.

“Yard & Accessory Buildings” – over grown grass, weeds, bushes and trees; collections of scrap; sheds and garages in bad shape; and general garbage all over the yard.

From January 1, 2013 to August 31, 2013, 2,173 by-law enforcement service requests (cases) were called in or e-mailed by residents’ associations, business improvement zones, renters, neighbours and the city councillor and his assistant.  This spring By-law Enforcement blitzed two problematic neighbourhoods to get people to clean up their properties – both business and residential.  While not all of the service requests came from this blitz, there have been 1,663 “Yard & Accessory Buildings” cases for eight months.  There should be no need for this many complaints.

Please remind your families that littering is not acceptable, and spread the word that our neighbourhoods can be great places to live if we all take responsibility for our place.  The following is a table of all the complaints related to housing for the first eight months of 2013.

Community Health / By-law Enforcement Complaints in Mynarski Ward
					May				Total
Housing Complaints:	94	109	116	332	465	455	300	302	2,173
Exterior of Building	8	11	18	40	40	36	18	25	196
Interior of Building	46	33	34	23	24	24	30	23	237
Miscellaneous Concerns	8	6	9	10	14	12	14	4	77
Yard & Accessory Buildings	32	59	55	259	387	383	238	250	1,663