Developing Feelings about Downtown

The influence of opinions on our city’s core

Nicholas Friesen

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past 10 years, you’ve probably noticed that downtown Winnipeg has been working on boosting its ‘street cred’: 62 new developments have been built from 2010-2013, more than two billion dollars has been invested since 2005, and a million visits to the MTS Centre have been recorded annually, according to the Downtown Trends Report.

Kate Sjoberg is a board member at the West Central Women’s Resource Centre and the John Howard Society, has served as Executive Director of Spence Neighbourhood Association, and also instructs a course at University of Winnipeg in the area of Urban and Inner City Studies.

“I think that there’s a general sense in the city that the image of downtown is changing,” she says. “The addition of condos and the changes in the general look of the area has lent itself to the idea that ‘something is happening downtown’ and there’s a ‘change in energy’; all those booster statements are being used.”

As Winnipeg’s SHED (Sports, Hospitality, and Entertainment District), downtown is successful in drawing people out from the suburban areas for an evening about town; however, after their night out they quickly migrate back to their homes, jamming up the traffic down Portage Avenue.

Dr. Jino Distasio is the Director of the Institute of Urban Studies at the University of Winnipeg.

“This is just the pattern of cities, not everybody is going to live downtown,” Distasio says. “In different nodes of any city, you’re going to have ‘draws’ that pull people in; it might be a retail draw, like an Ikea, or a power-center type of environment, such as Polo Park…but Downtown areas are always draws.

“The idea is that we want to grow our downtown population, and we know that over the last five years the downtown population has been slowly increasing, mostly because of projects focused on condo ownership.”

“Incrementally, we are seeing an upward trend in people considering downtown as a place to live, as a result of of increased economic development and a concerted effort to attract tourism, along with social reform,” says Ross McGowan, President and CEO of CentureVenture Development Corporation.

A lot of money and time has been invested into the downtown core, all in order to make a fresh and affluent crowd want to live there; yet, there is this residual sense of unease that people have about downtown, which might be contributing to what is keeping people living in the suburbs.

I think it’s important that the perception of downtown, and any part of Winnipeg, be one that is positive. At the end of the day, why would we want to see any area of our city challenged by a negative perception, whether it’s the downtown area or not.

Dr. Jino Distasio, Director of the Institute of Urban Studies at University of Winnipeg, about the public’s opinion of Downtown Winnipeg

Jason Syvixay is Managing Director of the Downtown Winnipeg Biz, the “friendly and hardworking host that improves the perception of downtown,” according to its website.

“The only thing keeping more young people from living downtown is the availability of affordable housing, more cool retail shops, and a grocery store,” Syvixay says. “This has been our advocacy focus. The baby boomers are calling the shots and they will eventually figure it out. Let’s invest in places first, and then we can pretty up the sidewalks.”

“They’ve tried to make downtown feel safe and appropriate for folks coming from other neighborhoods, that’s a very clear intention,” Sjoberg points out. “However, downtown also happens to be the place where homeless people have traditionally lived.

“There’s been effort to show the work going into reducing the safety risk that is thought to be presented by those who are panhandling, or are intoxicated. Unfortunately, the label of ‘safety risk’ is applied to an entire group of people, which is unfair. It also sidesteps the fact that we have a homelessness and poverty issue in this city, and over time the civic government has stepped away from actions that take some responsibility for those issues.”

What is proving to be hard to gauge is whether these improvements have truly changed people’s general attitudes towards downtown Winnipeg for the better.

“What we’ve seen in the last eight years is a range of who’s contributing to downtown, still with a lot of public money being pumped in through different initiatives,” Distasio remarks. 

“What we are seeing for the first time in a while is more privately led projects - buildings like condos and office towers - that are coming at a faster pace, which is encouraging, but whether that has translated into a marked change in the broader perception of downtown Winnipeg, remains to be seen. I’m not entirely convinced.”

“It’s too premature to provide a definitive answer regarding people’s attitudes,” McGowan says. “As we work closely on projects, evidence would suggest that we are moving in the right direction. There is no quick fix and we will continue our efforts to create a climate that attracts investment and to support a welcoming environment for visitors to downtown.”

“A person’s attitude about downtown is a reflection of their attitude about our city, and how comfortable we are with ourselves,” Syvixay notes. “This can either be something incredible, or drag us down to mediocrity. The downtown is the face of this opportunity, and Winnipeggers need to pay attention.” 

Whether good or bad, it’s hard to argue that the opinions of the population have little to no influence over the shape of our city’s core.

“People need to take pride in their downtown,” McGowan says. “Atitudes and perceptions can certainly influence and make an impact when we are attempting to build trust and confidence about the progress of downtown revitalization efforts.”

Distatio possibly sums it up best with a positive spin.

“I think it’s important that the perception of downtown, and any part of Winnipeg, be one that is positive. At the end of the day, why would we want to see any area of our city challenged by a negative perception, whether it’s the downtown area or not.”

Part of the series: The Urban Issue 2014

Published in Volume 68, Number 25 of The Uniter (March 27, 2014)

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