Have vision, will govern

Community members and organizations weigh in on Katz’s downtown work in the first half on his second term in office

Mayor Sam Katz has big plans for the downtown—but says the areas might not be right for everyone. Mark Reimer

Say what you like about Mayor Sam Katz, but the man has a vision for the city.

“I see Winnipeg as a city where people of all ages want to live, work and invest in. Winnipeg is open for business and we need to get that message out.”

Getting the message out involves bringing in new life to the city’s downtown core area.

“Downtown is the heart of the city, the problem with it is that we don’t have enough people living there.”

“What we need downtown is affordable housing to attract people, and the amenities people require. Access to services of all sorts are needed before people will come.”

We may need more people, yet Katz is skeptical about pushing for a large move downtown.

“I’m a firm believer in the thought that people should be allowed to live wherever they want and that living downtown is not something that everyone desires or can accommodate,” he said.

Stefano Grande, executive director of the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ, offers reassurance to the mayor’s sentiments. He said the last four years brought an additional 700 residents, 3,000 office jobs and $1 billion in investments to the downtown.

Living downtown is not something that everyone desires or can accommodate.

Sam Katz

“Can we do more? Absolutely. Emotionally, we all want downtown to succeed, but in reality this doesn’t happen overnight.”

Yet downtown development doesn’t just end with injecting traditional capital.

According to Kate Sjoberg, executive director of the Spence Neighbourhood Association (SNA), restoration and preservation of the old should sometimes come before new projects of “downtown revitalization.”

“These are not the projects that are going to offer the things that communities like Spence need,” she said. “There are things that this city needs to be doing, the city could spend this energy on building on and investing on basic services that we need.”

“Improving and building the West End Library, Sherbrook Pool: it means investing in a lot of the services that already exist in the city.”

Sjoberg believes downtown improvement is a concern for the entire city.

“The problem we are seeing here is one that people in the suburbs see as well: If you don’t have relative access to public services or if these services are underfunded, then it becomes a much larger issue than downtown development.”

Katz’s idea for downtown development also involves the famous rapid transit system. This $327-million project was officially started this year with the announcement of a new bus and bicycle corridor from The Forks to the south end of Jubilee Avenue.

According to Katz, rapid transit is more than just a means of transport, but a way of bringing development and unity to the city.

“I want rapid transit going east, west, north and south. This way we have the opportunity to create more hubs, around which we can build housing, creating communities and revenue in the form of property taxes.”

“If we do this properly, the rapid transit system could end up paying for itself.”

Elected for the second time in October 2006, Katz remains optimistic about the second half of his term. Environmentally friendly “green rooftops” and “tackling the gang problem” are also on his to-do list.

But Katz’s ultimate vision remains “ensuring that young people stay, and are attracted to Winnipeg.”

Mayor Katz gives his State of the City Address today (Jan. 29).

Published in Volume 63, Number 18 of The Uniter (January 29, 2009)

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