In preparation for our coverage of the community open house next Thursday evening for the proposed Omand's Creek bike bridge, Kick-FM traffic reporter Kim did what the mainstream media didn't - she went to the scene and spoke to actual residents.
Hundreds are mobilizing against the Active Transportation department's mindless kow-towing to the bike lobby in the name of "stimulus spending", that would ruin the local toboggan run, and add to other safety concerns.
This past Wednesday, area Councillor Harvey Smith told us he had no clue that the neighbourhood toboggan hill was going to be obliterated by the support pilings for a 75 meter bridge, and that he thinks the bike lobby has too much influence with city hall insiders. He's not the only one.
Kim's report:
Hi Marty
I was walking down Raglan on my way to the park when near the entrance I was stopped by a couple of people. One was a woman who is also one of the organizers on getting people out to the meeting. The couple were handing out leaflets informing everyone about the meeting taking place on March 18/10.
Laura stopped me and asked if I knew about the meeting, at that point we started chatting. I told her why I was there and she offered to take me on a tour of the park. Along the way we stopped to chat with a variety of people including cyclists.
Laura told the story of the flood of 1997 where people came to fish and when the flood waters receeded there were fish stuck in the trees. Turns out the folks out fishing had their lines caught in the trees, had to cut the lines so when the waters returned to the river, there were all these fish in the trees.
Every cyclist we talked to had the same thing to say, not one of them had a problem with diverting off the existing creek come flood season. One cyclist lives in River Heights, he comes through the park to meet with friends in the Wolseley area and they all go off together.
Other comments include
- "the money would be better spent elsewhere".
- "1 million for this? Dumb!"
- "If the government can screw it up, they will."
One cyclist (who didn't want to be named) is at the University of Manitoba, he told me that Bike to the Future would back the residents of Wolseley, however, after having read their most recent minutes of March 9/10 I'm not so sure that will be the case.
One older gentleman, Werner, has been using that park for 45 years.
Before there was ever any kind of bridge in the area, he said they would "jump over the water". He uses this park everyday, often several times a day as he walks, ski's, rides through there all the time and vehemently opposed to the new bridge. Werner stated that "it is a rite of passage for the kids to make it up the hill". He also told me that the Boy Scouts often use the area where Omand's Creek empties into the Assiniboine to launch their canoes. It is also a popular fishing spot.
He also told a story that during one of the floods (he thinks 1861) the natives used the hill as a sort of ark. It was the only place in the area that escaped the flood waters. Werner went on to say that even today everybody comes to watch the flood waters.
Laura went on to say that the residents are "not opposed to cyclists, this is after all Wolseley, but not at the expense of the landscape."
And that seemed to be the words of the day. The residents of this area would "chain themselves to trees" if construction started.
As it is, public works was already out taking soil samples to test where to put the concrete for the new bridge.
Every single person we came across had the same thing to say: they love their little glen for its natural beauty, the prairie grasses, the ducks, geese, beavers that live there. But the residents are also afraid of what a new bridge would mean for safety.
There have been numerous bonfires, bush parties etc. Seems some parents actually drop off their kids for these parties. Problem is they tend to get out of hand. Under the railway bridge it's a mess and a lot of parties.
In the park people have taken apart picnic tables, snapped off parts of trees for wood. The police and fire department are called in frequently. Laura told me that she is afraid this new bridge will bring even worse parties and problems.
One thought was if funding is available for the cadets, couldn't they be used to patrol such areas and break up those parties? It is at the point where the residents are actually considering bringing in some kind of private security, they don't yet know what steps they will take, but those parties have become a problem.
Oh,and I should tell you that (resident organizer) Chris Roe is a man, not a woman. Seems the Freep got it wrong.
Kim the traffic reporter
PS:
Marty there was one thing I forgot. Laura told me that the residents had absolutely no idea this is what was planned. They had no idea open houses had already happened for their area ie the Sherbrook/Maryland open houses. The residents had NEVER been consulted in anyway shape or form.
And man are they pissed.
