Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 8, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Brian Cole 6977044 focus Winnipeg free press a 7 August signs Are apparent that Core being abandoned shootings focus on decaying City by Christopher Leo special to the free press the shooting of two boys on the streets of Winnipeg inner City has evoked a shocked and once again the problem of crime in the inner City is High on the most of the suggested responses to the problem have focused on the Justice sys the place of aboriginal people in win Nipges society and the actual or possible role of various social service All of these avenues need to be and All of them Are helpful in understanding the problems and seeking but there is another aspect to the prob Lem that has not received attention a City planning perspective that what is the connection Between lawlessness on inner City streets and the Way we Are building our Community our neglect of this question lends a special urgency to human beings Are a violent and no one is truly Safe from violence anywhere in the outside of War no group is More exposed to violence than the residents of North american inner their exposure does not result from some inevitability of social or City it is a product of our failure to manage the growth of our Given the management practices that we Are decay is Winnipeg inner City is not yet very far advanced on the Road to ultimate but it has completed the first leg of that journey and there Are no signs of any serious attempts to turn it crime is part of that process of what Are the signposts on the Road to decay the journey begins with uncontrolled suburban growth and proceeds with further uncontrolled growth beyond the boundaries of the into adjacent Small towns and Rural in the absence of provisions for equitable Shar ing of the costs of maintaining City ser those who leave the City Are Able to Settle on a More desirable property at a saving in property they Are getting the Best of both worlds they live near the City and have full Access to the cites cultural facilities and sometimes even such City services As sport programs and Public but they dont have to help pay a cites Bills for policing and social ser even within the boundaries of the uncontrolled suburban growth usually involves Extension of suburban Infra Structure at a Cost so High that the dete where social problems lawlessness soon As shown in this recent photo of men brawling in the Middle of main Rio ration of downtown infrastructure and services ultimately becomes As a most people who can afford to live outside the inner City do pre dominant among those left behind Are the people who cannot afford to move poverty is not necessarily accompanied by social any More than wealth guarantees the absence of social prob but when a metropolitan area is divided into neighbourhoods where poverty pre dominates and others where comfortable circumstances Are the it is inevitable that there will be a concentration of social problems in the poor at the same the exodus from those areas makes it inevitable As the problems the resources for Deal ing with them will where social problems lawlessness As lawlessness la abiding people Are faced with the Hobsons Choice of becoming accomplices or thus lawlessness at about this downtown neighbourhoods begin to be insurance companies refuse fire and theft insure Banks become reluctant to lend Money for mortgages or is As far As Winnipeg has travelled on the Road to inner City it gets Many american cities have travelled farther Down the Road than and a number have reached its so we know in detail what following is a compilation of some of the Way these Are not exactly the same in every decaying but they run roughly As the spread of lawlessness in residential areas is soon accompanied by visible signs of its such As Graf Fiti and destruction of Public before Petty criminals Rule the As one walks Down the broken Glass crunches under ones drug dealers openly Hawk their along with drugs and violence comes the shared Needles that go with heroin and the indiscriminate sex that is part of the crack scene leads to a variety of venereal and to the death toll from which has become horrendous in some american inner City by this absolutely none who can afford to leave other than saints or fools Are still living in the decaying with tax revenues dwindling and potential political support for downtown services fleeing the the maintenance of even the most Basic municipal services becomes streets become destroyed Park benches Are no longer fire and police services no longer provide adequate pro buildings catch fire and Burn homeless people move with homeless people camping out in abandoned buildings More fires Are those fires threaten adjacent eventually the entire neigh boyhood is in the South Bronx in new York some former residential areas Are entirely with most buildings Crum bled to resembling a second world War bomb needless to decay in residential areas is accompanied by Busi Ness most of the former Commer Cial heart of Detroit is the buildings empty and boarded sub Stantial parts of downtown Baltimore Are the nothing As Complex As Urban decay can be traced to a single or even a sin Gle set of but there is a predictable association Between uncontrolled spread of a metropolitan area and Down town social policing and Community reconciliation Are important keys to dealing with the problems we face in downtown but in the absence of planning and land management Mea they will remain band aids on sores that Are bound to the care of the social Community must go hand Inland with measures to sustain the physical there Are Many possible sets of Mea sures that can play a part in better management of City we can look to Toronto and Vancouver Ore and Minneapolis and Many euro Pean cities for ideas that will necessarily have to be adapted to our since the problem is a metropolitan neither Winnipeg nor any other municipality can Deal with it on its the provincial government will have to be to anyone who has paid attention to the Way North american cities have devel oped Over the past there is a Bleak inevitability about the events of the past we Are part Way Down the Road to and there is no question where we Are the Only question is How far will we go Christopher Leo teaches political Sci ence and Urban politics at the University of use a Little imagination letters to the editor cutbacks to the City libraries Are unnecessary if imaginative planning is Pur just a few blocks away from the Centennial Library the University of Winnipeg Library is also suffering across Portage the legislative building Library and archives struggle for funding while costs surely it is logical to consider combining operations and reducing expensive Purchas the Centennial and University libraries Are almost interconnect the City and the University could achieve considerable savings by reducing duplication because their needs Are Centen Nial would hold books and eliminate the which also lacks shelf would hold periodicals and Stop Book Pur the University would also Benefit by identifying itself As the cites taxpayers Benefit because the Money All comes out of the same pocket despite the political Tim Ball Winnipeg recycling Choice should be trashed i am writing to express my out rage that our local entrepreneurs have once again been shut out by a Large International our City has chosen to accept a bid from Laidlaw waste sub sequently leaving red Green Box and Planit recycling aligned with Bufi out of the City sat on its hands for Sev eral years deciding what they should do while these conscientious and enterprising Young peo ple saw a need and met the majority of people who wish to Recycle Are already doing either through one of the How to reach us the free press welcomes letters from letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed address and Telephone names will be published but not All letters May be edited for style and Short letters Are less Likely to be please address letters to letters to the Winnipeg free 1355 Mountain Winnipeg r2x letters can be sent to our fax number letters May be submitted through the internet at letters sent via the internet obviously cannot be but must include Home address and Telephone three local and Are willing to pay for or at a Public Recy cling i would rather see my tax Dol which Are sup port our local companies than some Large International conglomerate to funnel most of this Money far from our local in a time when jobs Are scarce and enterprising individuals Are struggling to become our City has succeeded in Squash ing this spirit and should be ashamed of i strongly urge you to reconsider this Alice French Winnipeg Slaughter demeans All of us i recently read the front Page Story poachers kill Birds free july like so Many people i was literally sickened by the cruelty and then outraged to discover from followup articles that this Slaughter is nothing new to and that nothing had been done to prevent this latest genocide of fishing Birds and their what now were looking at the mass murder of innocent creatures in our own backyard and like so Many news stories of late it demeans us All As human to the person who has the authority Power to Stop the Slaughter forget do it theres always a Way and your soul will be to the free press please continue to keep us bleeding heart lovers of nature informed As to what is being and to the degenerates admit to yourself that what you have done has made you less of a Man or educate your self you May find youre worthy of living on this planet As the pelicans and cormorants most surely Susan Howe Deloraine hospitality is their name i would like to publicly acknowledge a rather Nice touch which the hospitality corporation of Mani Toba recently extended to several foreign visitors to our Oleander Cherkas and Igor Seletskiy from Ukraine Are staying in Winnipeg As part of a Canadian foreign Aid training course in business administration and economic and have been Here since Early their Tamara and recently also arrived to spend a Little time Here As along with Oles eighty Earold son i was disappointed to learn that they had not the resources or the Opportunity to see much of Winnipeg and its or to enjoy a night out on the i contacted the hospitality corporation and asked if they could sponsor a night out at some of the nightclubs they Ron Ledochowski came through in a big Igor and Ala were treated to a wonderful seafood followed by a series of Quick visits to seven night needless to say our guests were thrilled and very much enjoyed their night de Ledochowski Winnipeg Recycle the recyclers what is City Hall doing a possible headline in the news paper could be a Stream of win Nipges brightest and most talented entrepreneurs leave this is the result if the City councils decision to destroy the jobs and businesses of the present curb Side recyclers is any the City has awarded the entire curbside recycling business to one multinational recycling company in total disregard of All the work and time put in by the Small Winnipeg based recycling companies in the past these entrepreneurs spent Many a Long night and considerable risk in providing recycling programs when there were no other programs in these businesses provided new Winnipeg jobs and new tax now they Are All out of fac ing financial problems and on an emotional Low without any compensation of any Winnipeg City Council must Fos Ter an atmosphere of support for entrepreneurs if we Are to keep Winni Eggers in Winnipeg and not in John Orlikov Winnipeg feminists just not equipped regarding Diane Lindbergs let Ter thank goodness for feminists free july i have to say you feminists Are a Complete pain in the every feminist i have Ever met was not mentally equipped to handle the ageless i hear you rant in the at Coffee shops and in maybe we should go Back to the 1940s and 50s when people had respect for one if it were not for so Many men fighting for our Freedom in the 1940s you would not be allowed to write your letter and i would not be allowed to write this Back then men were men and women loved them for now men Are afraid to even talk to women because they dont know if their going to get a i wish you would Stop leaving the impression you Are speaking for All of you Are not speaking for Ann Mcdowell Winnipeg Beach doonesbury by Garry Trudeau ac7uauxhap for Thi Ehouse any Dupont Krzau have so what the ;