Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 14, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba Focus a13 Fofi Macii 2001 parking fines As popular As mosquitoes like a swarm of City of Winnipeg parking commission Aires sucked million from the wallets of downtown visitors last its no sur prise downtown Commerce continues to dwindle As patrons avoid the area like a Lowling Why Are we doing this to ourselves rus hour parking bans and turning designed by traffic Engi neers who want to maximize the Speed of entry and exit from the make downtown driving a not Only do motorists have to dig for coins to feed the ubiquitous meters but a ruthless ment policy subjects them to hefty fines and occasional vehicle tows and impound its hardly surprising the Park ing mosquitoes have driven their hosts to the friendlier terrain of the suburban shopping where parking is of the roughly million the City gains from its parking Street meters and the largest portion by million comes from penal take off the expense of operating these plus Over million in police overtime and salaries needed to Harvest the and it turns out the City nets Only half that this does not include millions in Tow ing and impoundment fees that Are levied on top of the is anybody willing to bet that this Small about five per cent of City revenues last is Worth the or damage rational avoidance of Down its hardly sur o prising the Park real estate Val ing mosquitoes Ems by have driven rent control and their hosts to Winnipeg Over the friendlier terrain of the penalize the Nat suburban shop sva tags Ping malls High population the dollars involved Are Small rela Tive to the payback from a downtown Renaissance of the sort now under Way in Many american but we seem to be moving in the opposite recently a but evidently proposal was floated to raise an extra a year by calibrating the parking meters to allow 48 minutes for the same Money that now buys an that almost like trying to Breed a speedier rather than creating an Agency that risks harming the Community wider interest More the City needs to rethink the parking authority idea and take a More thoughtful View of traffic and Parkin related functions in the imagine if the City were to substantially abandon the parking Revenue business and remove the dead hand of the traffic most rus hour parking bans and the notorious turning restrictions would freeing our Large police staff from the task of levying traffic it May take Day workers an extra minute to flee the Core area in their but the Trade off would Confer the Benefit of a less disrupted parking meters would return to their original role As a mechanism for encouraging turnover in High traffic not As a Revenue source to be efficiently a Large portion of the metered spaces would be converted into free two hour zones to deter on Street parking by downtown and Why not sell cheap per mits that allow year round Street Park ing to residents off downtown beaten track this would draw life Back into the area and encourage what will become a Chic residential Neighbour Hood when rent control finally the final element in a More dynamic approach would be to Recycle the Capi Tal tied up in Low return City parking garages at the Centennial the civic Centre and Winnipeg these could be sold for with revenues used to create More free parking spaces around the this would upset the transit lobby but cars Are the most convenient and flexible transport the Peoples we would give up a Small amount of Money from the carpark business in favour of a much More competitive and hospitable City councillors should think about the big picture before creating a More efficient tax collector disguised As a parking Call off the mosquitoes there Are already enough bad policies bleeding the downtown to Peter Holle is the president of the fron tier Centre for Public province has Chance to make Public school funding fair Byjah Speelman when it comes to Money for Public Manitoba taxpayers can be excused for being a sampling of Manitoba newspapers turns up headlines such As school taxpayers face grim news Winnipeg free school taxes on the launching pad Winnipeg free tax hike looms in Evergreen As provincial funding Falls Short me Lake de funding gets a failing Grade win Kler time to change the Way we pay for Public schools Neepawa sound familiar in its first two years in the nip has put million More into Public schools in in their last seven years in the tories Cut so even though theres More Money for Public some property taxpayers Are still taking a big hit in the pocket Why the answer lies in a Complex for Mula called the schools finance pro or sep for for the last nine the sep has increased the Gap Between have and have not creating huge inequities among students and tax payers across the the formula was developed by the previous government and put in place in it was designed to shrink Manitoba government funding to pub Lic the sep is layered in intricate equations 38 mathematical hurdles that control school boards entitlement to provincial entitlement if Manitoba had a straightforward Grant where the provincial government made direct payments to school boards based on real an announcement of a per cent fund ing increase in operating funds would result in every school division receiving its per but the sep Doest work that its an entitlement it ignores the real costs of students learning needs and sets arbitrary limits on what a school can get for its student a per cent Provin Cial in could mean anything from a four per cent loss to a six per cent gain for a Given depending on a number of including student through the sep funding the province in providing less in real dollars for operating Public schools than it did 15 years How can that be one of the oddest things in the formula is a concept called recognized this is where the formula recon Fol m Liberal meeting coverage insulting David Kuxhause article on the 2001 Liberal annual general meeting in Gimli Carstairs gives grits sombre talk on March 11 was ill con Cei Ved and morbidly insulting to All Manitoban who care about the future of this for 40 we have been deprived of provincial grit leadership in health and this is a Lon term disability in its worst form there has never been More enthusiasm among Young grits than there is the More than 300 youth delegates to Gimli is ample proof of that rising if Kuxhaus wants Call to arms from senator within weeks of burying senator Gildas forget grits have had More than their share of sorrow including the much missed Neil Gaudry and our David end of life palliative was the senators it was the most moving speech i have Ever the standing ovation that followed Shook Gimli Lakeview renewing a commitment to the weakest members of our society that will never be sur Chris Hlady Winnipeg a Sam Transfer is not news it is True that divisions like Morris Macdonald and red River must turn Over a proportionate amount of their special Levy to the based on the number of francophone students within their boundaries who Are attending a Sam schools divisions merger plans hit March those students May leave their res ident but so does the Cost of educating it stated that somehow the a Sam Winnipeg free press Archive the Way Manitoba Public schools Are funded needs to be changed to end inequities Between school sizes what portion of the actual costs of Public school programs will be Eli Gible for provincial recognized expenditure is built on one of them being a phantom number of the recognized expenditure for teaching staff in Manitoba Public schools for the next school year is based on 91 per cent of the salaries of the teachers who were working in in other instead of counting How Many teachers Are in Public schools right the formula takes the number of teachers that were on the books at the Start of the 1999 school year and calculates nine tenths of their the provincial government then funds Only a part of this recognized expenditure for class room materials also ignores the recognized costs for the 2001 school year Haven changed since every Parent knows the Cost of supplies has gone up since these Are just two of the ways the formula constricts funding to this scenario has been played out every single year Over the life of the theres no doubt the formula is but the intent is and the results Are As the percentage of what the provincial govern ment pays goes recognized local property taxes go is it any is Oullet on wonder property taxpayers Are feel ing the Pinch whats the Solu Tion simply the provincial govern ment must come up with a better Way to for pay for Public schools one that is fair and equitable to parents and the new plan should i shift funding away from a Hodge podge of Community Mill rates toward a Standard province wide Mill school division Mill rates on Manitoba property Range from to depending on which division you Are in and that applies to residential and nonresidential one of them being a phantom number of i make sure All children receive Access to the Public school programs and services they Parent councils Are familiar with the losses in programs and they know fundraisers Arent just for there paying for things that the Manitoba government should be Cov eight out of 10 provinces the exceptions being Manitoba and Saskatchewan currently provide full funding for their Public schools out of provincial in these taxpayers All contribute equally teachers know the current sep funding formula will continue to Widen the Gap Between have and have not no amount of tinkering will change the purpose for which it was our provincial government has the Opportunity to Correct this longstanding problem by developing a better Way to pay for Public schools one that fair to Stu parents and every child deserves a fair every taxpayer deserves a fair Jan Speelman is president of the Manitoba teachers the free press welcomes letters from they must include the authors address and Telephone number letters May be letters to the 1355 Mountain fax 697741 email Factor came As a Surprise to the Par ties Morri Macdonald has been transferring monies to the a Sam for its Small number of francophone students since it had to know that red River has been doing the same for its much larger the Only real additional Cost to Morri Macdonald after amalgamation would be the increase in its Spe Cial Levy Mill rate from its present level of to Pau Lariviere Winnipeg school teasing just the Start i want really too sure How to Start off this this letter to the you after the shootings at Columbine High school in the United states a couple of years a group of longtime friends and i sat around a coffeehouse table and we got into the discussion of this the conclusion that it could maybe even should been one of us 10 years ago in our own we were teased just because our families could not afford the latest i preferred not to Wear Nike runners and listen to Bon Jovi or the newest pop but i did not look Down on anybody who did we Are All different and have Dif Ferent Why were myself and my friends a victim of three years of taunting did i deserve to have mucus cleverly put into my hair during math class from the fellow that was sitting behind me did three of my friends deserve to have spit balls chucked at them As they walked Down the going from one class to the minding their own business by being allowing our Core selves to venture out into a world where follow the Leader is played and taught from our very i real ize we must have been testing the boundaries of those who were caught up and unhappy in their own mind of not feeling free enough to express their Core that we became their palette for taunting and i often wonder How As feeling and breathing human did not break and go on a rampage All of our i would like to believe that the ignorance parents and their children build up in their family relationships can be but it really and it is brought out into the open when the child who has been teased for finally can i blame the child i have been there and i can honestly say i cannot blame the that is where my Why ques Tion everyone asks Why he did i would like to know Why everyone is so ten years have passed since my High school i have gone through University Man aged to accomplish quite a few of my and have become partners in a fairly prosperous i guess i still March to the beat of my own my first request is to the get to know your you have no idea How important this Only when a tragedy like this occurs Are people Given a makeup but it never get out there with your meet their give them the teasers Are As much to blame As the child who is picked on who decides to grab a give your children some morals and teach them that life is not my second request is this to the ones who Are picked find someone to talk you Are not Many of us have been there and have lived through become find something positive to Excel in and go for it with Michelle Chretien Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau 7hink1n07 webcast nobody pays Sokany Content just 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