Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 29, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press november 2000 local a3 City editor Steve Pona 6977292 features editor Margo Goodhand 6977292 Jeff of body Winnipeg free press from Denny Corinna Wyatt Humeniuk and their pals enjoy the Winter Winnipeg on target for precipitation average red River Levels fall the White stuff its Snow big Deal by Kevin Rollason and Carol Sanders yesterdays snowfall will put Winnipeg right on track to hit the average amount of Snow for environment Canadas Mark Melsness the Snow began falling in the area by mid afternoon and turned to a Slick Sheet of ice on streets and the perimeter Highway As the temperature fell toward the heaviest snowfall was expected to extend from Melita through Portage la Prairie and the Snow was expected to end and Between five and 15 centimetres of the stuff was expected to fall in the the area Southeast of Dauphin Down to Melita received up to 10 pm of Snow yester last night the ramp closed the trans Ana a Highway and Brandon and want expected to reopen until Winnipeg was on the Edge of the heavier environment Canada and was expected to receive Only three to five Cen amounts were expected to be higher to the North and West of the City and less to the South and before yesterdays Winnipeg had the average monthly Snow fall is 19 Melsness another system is expected it will track through the Dakotas to Emerson and up to South of Melsness the High expected for Winnipeg today is 6 temperatures will bit above Normal by the with a High of 4 c expected on the normals for the City this time of year Are Low of 15 c and highs of 6 Slick roads were responsible for numerous accidents in and around the City Winnipeg police duty Mike Rudyk said there had been 11 minor traffic accidents reported to police Between 5 and i the red River has crested and water Levels Are but the River will still be higher than Normal for the next two even theres no reason to believe flood ing is a Given in the said Steve top the provinces director of water Topping said the River crested yesterday and it has already dropped the red was feet above Normal Winter ice Levels at James Avenue yesterday morn Down from feet on the had risen to for novem Ber because Ofa combination of heavy Rains in Early november and frazil ice blocking the dam at Andrews frazil which is Slushy is rare in it was created by this Falls unusual combination of weather High River Levels caused the water to move quickly and prevented the usual surface ice cover from at the same cold weather cooled the water below creating the Slushy Topping said the province is still warning people not to go of the ice because it is still very dangerous and could be for some the ice is frazil ice and it will freeze but it is probably Only three inches thick in the he because of the High water the ice is dropping and its very sloped on the i recommend going on Tjie Topping said the situation is different along the Roseau which is still rising in the Gardenton he said theres still the possibility the Rivers ice could cause it to spill Over its Banks from Gardenton to the Village of Roseau River in the next few it will be three to four feet higher than nor Mal this he with files from Bud Robertson Homes to get second tax Cut cites draft budget features 2 per cent reduction omit downtown parking transit chief by Bruce Owen the City should limit the number of parades in the downtown so that More commuters Are forced to ride the the head of the cites Tran sit system said you should keep the amount of Lon term parking lots Winnipeg transit head Rick Borland told the cites Public works com Borland made his comments during a briefing on transits three year which includes other initiatives to get More people Riding the he said one of the major problems transit has is attracting downtown that because of the High number of surface parking lots in the with so much available theres no incentive to take the he added under plan the cites blueprint for decision makers at City Hall should be More proactive in bringing More people downtown not the four councillors on the committee accepted Borland but wondered whether restricting Daylong and monthly parking Down town might drive people and business no incentive to take committee told Annitta head of Centre venture development the Public Agency charged with reinvigorating Winnipeg Down town said yesterday discussions Are already under Way to address the overabundance of sur face or Grade parking lots in the she said 27 per cent of available land in the downtown is surface parking we have to look at creative solutions and Tran sit has to be a part of the Stenning the solution is not More surface parking she added the big reason there Are so Many lots is it costs about a stall to develop a surface compared to a stall to build a multilevel Parade and a stall to build an underground Stenning said with More leases being signed for downtown and recent announce ments of new office building and hotel construction in the the pressure is on to find a better Way to move people quickly so by Bruce Owen they dont use their one idea is a Parkland ride where commuters Park their vehicles at a lot outside the downtown and take a rapid shuttle bus the rest of the Borland added transit has a More immediate plan to get More downtown workers Riding the bus the employer sponsored bus pass pro Borland in the next two years transit wants to continue to replace its older buses with newer Low floor ones and upgrade Many of its As Well As install automated Stop announcement systems on City transit also wants to beef up its internet web site to allow people to plan out automated trips automatically finding out what buses to take to a particular destination and what he added transit fares should be Frozen for the immediate transit adult fares go up from to partly due to unforeseen rising diesel fuel another Borland is continuing discussions with the doer government to increase its share of funding for transit and Han transit so that both services Are on a bet Ter financial we wont sneeze at a tax no matter How Small it might be Canadian federation of Independent business spokesman Dan Kelly Winnipeg homeowners can expect another break on City property taxes today the second in two years when mayor Glen Murray unveils a two per cent reduction on the residential tax its the first time since Winnipeg was amalgamated in the Early 1970s that taxpayers will get successive tax reductions that Cut City Halls heavy Reliance on property win Nipges tax rate is one of Canadas this years reduction Means a Home assessed at will have its municipal taxes drop by today draft budget is the second instalment of the cites three year plan to reduce taxes and City its hoped property taxes can be dropped another two per cent in the 2002 budget for a total of six per cent Over three federation of Independent business spokesman Dan Kelly said Murray is benefiting from Winnipeg and Man Tobas Good the cites Revenue Stream has Kelly there has been residential and com Mercial so a two per cent reduction is something would really be out of whack if it was when he ran for office two years Murray promised to lower taxes by 10 per cent Over five he froze taxes in his first we wont sneeze at a tax no matter How Small it might Kelly said there is some Progress being made on property but there is no Progress on Busi Ness today business taxes again be Frozen at the 1996 level of per 7 Harry Lazarenko Mynarski said there Are few sur Prises in the million which details spending on everything from emergency services to Winnipeg were continuing to downsize City staff in consultation with the unions to make City government More other councillors and City along with said they did not want to comment at length on the draft budget so As not to steal Thunder from today Lazarenko said there Are no cuts in recreation garbage swimming libraries or transit perennial targets in City he said one controversial aspect is the proposed closing of five City fire Halls in detailed in the Tri data pre pared earlier this which examined redeploying the firefighting the five fire Halls Are 21 at Pandora and 9 at Marion 4 at Osborne and 13 at Lilac and Beresford and 19 at Lodge and the first two stations will be replaced by a new fire Hall at Highway 59 and Dugald Road and the second two stations will be replaced by a new fire Hall at Mulvey Avenue and Osborne Alex head of the United firefighters of said yesterday the Union plans to fight the closings every step of the Forrest said the elimination of fire Halls Means fire Protection in Transcona and James will be weve already Given notice to councillors you cant eliminate fire Halls and expect emergency fire and medical Calls not to create longer response Forrest said the Union is meeting school and Hospital officials in the affected areas to discuss the proposed he said the Union is also planning a robust Public information Campaign to educate Winni Eggers about whats being we will always stand up to protect the Forrest emergency response service chief Wes Shoemaker said yesterday he didst want to discuss the proposed closings until after Murray budget the draft budget will be tabled at executive policy committee at City Hall at the meeting is open to the today draft budget is tabled earlier than usual its traditionally prepared Early in the new year because Council has adopted a three year budgetary Oak Pine furniture heirloom qua 1y since 1984 1 3 0 b to hinge ave nut to Stu Smi Nunn 7749726 i solid Oak Pine dining furniture Sale open every thursday and Friday real value Quality ;