Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 12, 1994, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press local Section Brian Cole 6977292 b1 Gordon Sinclair one More reason bus use on decline my Honda was hurrying along Avenue on its Way to an important lunch when the Guy appeared out of the blowing he was trudging along the Side of the All bundled up against the win chilled 40below suddenly he turned for a moment he looked As if he was going to put his thumb and for an instant i thought about stopping and offering him a figuring a bus would be along any i drove an hour later the bundled up Guy from Grosvenor showed up at the same Corydon Avenue restaurant i had been hurrying i thought that was he i was flabbergasted when he said and stunned when he told me what happened q q q yesterday i called Winnipeg transits Nick Lafolla to Tell him what but before i got to i wanted some general information on customer satisfaction with the ultimate i is the number of at last Lafolla Winnipeg transit carried 46 million passengers a that might sound like a until you consider in Winnipeg transit included Street cars at the 105 million the decline in transit passengers is a National trend that accelerated locally in 1986 because of the changing demographics and the trend toward working at maybe a fairer gauge of transit service is the ratio of Public complaints to Lafolla its five to six to i think its human he people Are More inclined to the actual numbers in 1992 were beefs compared to 787 but according to the number of commendations is primarily because of some increased training weve offered our the training offers the Drivers methods for coping with Job stress and handling the which brought me to the Story of the Guy on it turned out i had met the Guy on Grosvenor once at the same restaurant a couple of weeks after i apologized for not he described what happened after i drove the bus he got and he got right off it turned out that the Guy on Grosvenor didst have exact change and the Driver told him he would have to get in 40below he walked the four or five Kilometres to the that Lafolla said without the he have envelopes that riders can sign if he Calls me with wed have it checked out with the Lafolla q q q to be brutally i didst feel All sorry for the Guy on that because of where the lunch was being outside on you Orlandos sea food Grill was holding a Polar Bear promotional and i didst hear a Peep out of the Guy from Grosvenor As he passed the Frozen sipped White wine from ice coated goblets and carefully warmed his Fork so it stick to his As for exact he didst need was on the tax hike proposed by Dan Lett City Hall reporter a draft civic budget propos ing a tax increase will be presented to City councillors this City Hall sources the tax increase Likely will not spare City services from cuts or employees from possible they councillors said Little about the specifics of the draft budget but most could not hide their apprehension about having to face the Possi increase not expected to Stop service cuts ability of both tax increases and cuts to services and we have to face the Tough Deci Sions this Deputy mayor George Fraser i dont think we can avoid it any late last the City was facing the possibility of a 14percent tax increase to overcome a budget shortfall accumulated from a 1993 budget deficit and dwindling Thompson and executive policy committee asked administrators to Cut departmental expenditures by per which reduced the needed tax increase to per the sources in the last administrators were told to go Back and trim More from the budget to bring the tax increase to a More politically acceptable the sources pc members spent most of yesterday studying the draft budget and some of the implications of reducing the tax increase to less than five per Fraser agreed that in Council was Able to reduce the tax increase to per cent without making too Many difficult decisions involving layoffs or substantial service but he said he does not believe Council will have the same margin to manoeuvre this Amaro chairman of the Parks and culture said not enough was Ken free press blazing the Trail Gord Laidlaw enjoyed the fresh Snow at Wildwood Golf his own unique Trail with one ski and one foot print Hes course who had polio As a makes added steel rings to crutches to create his own ski Frozen Fountain snarls traffic intersection becomes skating rink by Doug Nairne staff reporter an 80yearold water pipe ruptured turning a Busy downtown intersection into a giant skating it was the strangest thing to see the water freezing As soon As it came out of the witness Lionel Wilson it was like a Frozen Fountain spraying out of the the intersection of Donald Street and Graham Avenue was shut Down at about 7 and remained partially closed throughout the Day As Crews worked in tempera Tures to clean up the it was a big that for said Don supervisor for water and sewer services for the it will take the better part of a Day to get All the cleanup Hutton said the troublesome pipe has been shut off and will eventually have to be dug up and it is suspected that the cold temperatures and shifting ground were responsible for the Heather spokeswoman for the Centennial said none of the water leaked into the which is located at the in but it did come in the some water leaked into the lobby but we were Able to clean it she Graham said the Library didst have to delay opening because of the although the entire sidewalk and intersection was flooded like a skat ing Graham said City Emer gency Crews quickly had the Situa Tion under by paths had been cleared for traffic and pedestrians Ken free press a fronted loader scrapes ice from the and Slippery spots were she Hutton said the burst pipe was in stalled in the Early probably Between 1910 and he said it is due for replacement along with the rest of the piping along which is of a similar a lot of the pipes downtown were put in during the Early Nineteen but they Are still in pretty Good he there really Arent that Many All things fired for bad wins goes Back to work by Aldo Santin and Brad Oswald staff reporters a University professor who slapped a student in a fit of anger says Hes Happy to be returning to class after an arbitration ruling overturned his i am glad to be Back in what i consider to be my which is Jacques Collin said the one desire in my beyond the breathing is i dont have any drive to be a Beach bum or a Fisherman or my Only drive is to be an was returned to the University of Manitoba architecture faculty with full tenure and seniority after being out of the classroom for almost two arbitrator David Bowman said Collins return is conditional fora during which time he must Stop using profanity and subjecting students to racist and derogatory in a written released Bowman said the University had not allowed Collin a Chance to modify his teaching methods before he was fired in september 1992 following a student the senior masters student complained the Veteran professor slapped him twice while critiquing his almost a year Collin was fighting a yearlong suspension without pay at the time of his dismissal after another senior student complained he had used derogatory and sexist comments in we seriously Hope the reinstatement is a successful University spokesman Bob Raeburn adding Collins teaching methods will be faculty association president Robert Chernomas said while the association didst condone Collins teaching the administration never gave him a Chance to alter his Bowman substituted the dismissal with a suspension without pay from october 1992 when coiling first suspension ended to Collins suspension and dismissal had divided the architecture where he had taught since some students found his style off Thelwall and refreshing while others found him stale and while Bowman found Collins slap of a student amounted to Gross misconduct and warranted he said the University didst give him a Chance to mend his ways because it had fired him Halfway through his Collin said he is pleased to be Back in the classroom after 20 frustrating he returned to teaching done in the last year to implement systemic change that would have provided budgetary this years budget must focus More on reorganization and Restruck he Terry chairman of the works and operations commit said Council got itself into a lot of trouble last year by introducing a number of funny Money motions to trim budget expenditures and keep the tax increase Duguid said the effect was a million deficit and added pressure on the 1994 new software Means 42 layoffs United Centre still in cards by Stevens wild staff reporter United communications will go ahead with plans to establish a telecommunications Centre in Winnipeg despite announcing 42 layoffs in a company spokesman we Are still going ahead with our telecommunications Ken Stewart said we Are go ing to hire 400 people Over five we Are honouring that commit the 42 layoffs will be among 650 jobs eliminated by United across Canada by the end of the com Pany announced there will be 21 layoffs in Mani Toba this 15 next year and six in Trade and tourism min ister Jim Downey said he saw no reason Why United would not go ahead with the telecommunications the commitment was made and we expect it to be Downey Stewart said most of the Manitoba layoffs would be among technical although there would be a handful of management he attributed the Manitoba Lay offs to the Impact of technological innovation in the rapidly evolving telecommunications service replaced new computer software has reduced the need to Send staff to visit corporate customers to install Stewart allowing United to use computers to replace analog Telephone service with More modern digital such digital equipment allows for clearer Lon distance Stewart As Stewart attributed layoffs in other provinces to unfair pricing by a group of provincial Telephone including the Manitoba Telephone we Are in a major pricing Battle with the Telephone Stewart they Are lowering their prices to predatory the provincial including were subsidizing Low rates for Lon distance Calls with Revenue from local where the Provin Cial companies still have a Monopo Stewart its been brutal for its spokeswoman june Kirby said inter provincial Lon distance rates were approved by the Federal Canadian radio television and telecommunications what Are they asking for that we should not be competitive Kirby they Are like big cry Kirby suggested that United was losing Market share to the so called who buy Lon distance time in bulk and then resell an announcement was scheduled for next week on the proposed Tele communications Centre in Winni Stewart he said the Centre will be involved mainly with customer service and that part of our business will be growing Liki he ;