Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 28, 1988, Winnipeg, Manitoba Give generously to the kidney foundation of Canada Winnipeg free press March 1988 pages 1724 expo86 site still awaits an Tempo Korry free press workmen poised to reshape downtown my wac new i by Barbara Robson at the the downtown Winnipeg my Owca building is about an Inch All that anyone can see of apart from the 75yearold Vaughan Street Shell of the former Myca is a thick sheaf of architects they Are Laid out on a table in a second floor my Owca office in a ramshackle build ing opposite at 290 a Model costs says Alan the 44yearold chief executive officer of the amalgamated Agency for men and that by Way of explanation As to Why the y has no perfect wooden rendering of its future sometime Early this the my wac will grow heavy construction equip ment will move in at the rear of the externally elegant Vaughan Street which closed its doors work out dozens of construction workers will begin to raise a metre addition to link the old Down town Myca to the nearly new por Tage place by november that and another metres of renovated space inside the old y should be ready for together they will give Winni Eggers from toddlers in two daycare centres to senior Citi Zens who seek help in managing their grief at the loss of a and an estimated fitness keen aged somewhere in Between a new place to drop work linger for awhile and build new Whirlpool As the plans of the Winnipeg architectural firm of Mcfeeters have the downtown my wac will have two swimming pools one a shallow Bottom 10bylometre Pool where Young children will learn to swim and handicapped adults will work out the other a five Lane 25metre Pool where swimmers will do a Whirlpool will be at Pool Side for those times y members would rather soak than Massage rooms in place of the rundown former y and the Webb place Owca which was sold to the salvation army last the new my wac will also offer both sexes a two Lane indoor run Ning four Ball two Squash a a weigh training a fitness Centre and Gener outsize locker areas outfitted with steam suntanning Massage showers and grooming the main Entrance to All of that will be Down a corridor at the West end of Portage place malls second where pedestrians now choose Between the Walkway to the Bay and the one to one Burpee stands outside the y due for a the new y Centre will feature two swimming Entrance to the Structure will be from the second floor of Portage place As Canada the investors group during those hours when the mall is a second Street level Entrance on Vaughan will be says Bur fundraising to pay for All those the y Board has about 18 months to raise million from Good corporate foundations and others willing to acknowledge with donations that Winni Eggers de serve those very Good the figure does not take into account another which is to be developed in the already the Core area initiative program has promised the Sale of Webb place has netted million and a fundraising Campaign that has been under Way for almost four years has brought in the original y erected in 1909 after a hugely successful fundraising Campaign by the cites establishment was designed by the new York firm of Jackson and Rosencrans along with local architect the main Entrance Way featured a pair of roman doric columns up a flight of was a Large reception room with a fire place and beyond those stairs was the first gymnasium in the City and what Burpee thinks May have been Winnipeg first indoor swimming on the floor of that the famed toilers basketball team came the old y was not Howe for the cites youth or its ath its first purpose was to give in four floors of Resi to Young men who came by rail to 1 the y leaders were i concerned that the men would get caught up in the Les desirable elements of the Community along main says it was a very Chris Tian the one doubt Board members had about the Vaughan Street y was that its site was too far re moved from the cites Over the years the organization has assumed different the amenities in the original build and bowl ing allies nonresident Young people to the now theres a Small club of members who have used the Centre for More than 50 Burpee in the Bowling alleys gave Way to locker space for business men who wanted a noon hour a run or a in the the youth programs waned As Branch plants sprouted in the sub services for disabled Day care and programs for seniors took their Beds lost of All its Many the one that will be notably unfulfilled when the new my wac reopens is the one which first fired its con there will be no room at the y for we consciously made the Deci Sion that we did not want to pro vide accommodation for people who were travelling through our or coming to our City for a Short period of and could Well afford to pay for a hotel or Motel said but As the Vaughan Street and Webb place centres were 260 Beds were Many of them used by other City agencies As places where people in crisis might stay for now theres a big shortfall in the Community of shelter for unemployed Young the disa bled and people on social Assis Burpee but the y could merely give them a bed and was frustrated by a shortage of Money to give them counselling or other forms of help they might need to get them Back on their so it got out of the business now the y expects to draw members who will use the Centre at least three or four times a the majority will be 30 to 45 years of age and Well Able to afford a annual fee for a single adult Mem a recently completed Independent conducted by Laventhol and Horwath management con suggests the projected number of users might be on the conservative the backed up by inter was one of several Grap Plin Irons that accompanied the million in government another is the rider that the North Portage development corporation and Cadillac Fairview developers of Portage have the right to approve or disapprove of the building materials to be used on the exterior of the addition that will link the old y to the the exterior of the 75yearold Brick building will be and depending on the color Choice for the the metres of Brick and Glass will look to All outsiders As an Extension of the old or an expansion of the support expected theres no doubt that the development corporation and Cadillac Fairview Are anxious for us to proceed because they see us As a complementary item in their says everybody said the mall itself would not be Able to do what it set out to do without build ing up the housing and the institutional component around nor will the y be Able to do what it expects to do without the million it seeks in a fundraising drive that has just Burpee is optimistic that when the Campaign team Calls on corporations and individuals who previously indicated another million will be the bal Ance will he when a 40member team approaches other groups and foundations and plans a mass Appeal for Public already 620 companies and individuals have made not Small donations by any Mea he to specials depict lighter Side of soviet life Rogers much like us by Stephen Advokat Knight Ridder newspapers the americans Are com the americans Are com american television pro that coming to Russia to do specials about the soviet Union like they have never done under the glasnost conscious Rule of Mikhail specials about soviet life have become Fash not so much specials about eco nomic systems and political Ambi specials about what the so Viets like to want to watch on what Rock music they gone Are the video stereotypes of Bearline russian bureaucrats and truck driving women in in their place Are images of sexy circus maternal hosts of childrens program and brightened kids Whu could As easily have grown up around the wheat Fields of Kansas As in Gorky National for exam recently presented inside the soviet a hour Long Spe Cial Complete with skilled Aerial affable clowns and sexily Clad acrobatic on March mister Rogers took his neighbourhood to Moscow to the set of Good Little a primetime childrens pro two Days Tatiana be Host of Good Little visited Rogers special on March webs in Atlanta launched portrait of the soviet a seven hour panoramic View of the soviet Union that was years in the Abc Anchorman Ted Koppel devoted a hour on night line to soviet television lbs blocked out an evening of prime time programming to present seven Days in its own Over View of the soviet lifestyle Phil Donahue did a weeks Worth of talk shows in february from Moscow and and even the Cable to music aired a special on pop music in representatives from the net pcs and Cable say they Hope to broadcast More specials about possibly As Early As May or june to coincide with the Reagan Gorbachev Summit in in some these new views of the soviet Union have mirrored Western weve had mail in which kids uniformly said they soviet Chil Dren seem to be so much like says Fred Host of mister Rogers misleading says Robert senior executive Vic president of Turner broadcasting they Are human beings jus like we and 90 per cent of their problems Are similar to our these new can be As misleading As the russian stereotypes of if you think All of a sudden the soviet Union has changed and everyone wants to become just like Michael that says Jonathan assistant director of the Averell Harri Man Institute for the advanced study of the soviet Union at Colum Bia University in new one of the nations leading institutions involved in studying soviet they Arent like they dont want to be like and critics have suggested that the spate of Russia specials presents an americanized View of the soviet Union meant to Lull the United states into a false sense of Security and possibly television producers say the spate of soviet specials is the result of an increased openness that makes the country More accessible to Western news they also believe a mystique shrouding the soviet Union makes these pro Grams appealing to a curious american i believe there is a keen interest on the part of most americans in How other people says Lane lbs executive producer or seven Days in 1 think that is nowhere More acute than in the Case of the so there were probably a lot of misconceptions about the people probably More about the govern 1 thought what we did Best was to take viewers into the slice of life pieces in the soviet superficial critics disagree one is struck by the superficiality of the reporting going says Reed chairman of accuracy in a conservative watchdog organization in one of the things people who Are doing these things have to by care Ful about is that they Are riot being used by a soviet propaganda and information the people under Gorbachev Are much smarter in Public relations than their predecessors have they producers go to Moscow where they have greater Access Ihan they had and there is a tendency on the part of the people in the Media to think there is a fundamental change underlying this diary in Public ;