Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 20, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba Focus a15 Winnith in i Jini 2001 it is a tinder Box and potential fire trap with no Lon term Eaton building simply too costly to save with All due respect to those who wish to keep the Eaton building the old Queen As a born and raised win nip Egger who has developed and restored buildings from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island in total value in excess of i am the past president and general manager of the dutch company that originally invested in Canada More than million of private shareholder Money to Pur Chase and redevelop All of Eaton downtown Winnipeg property assets excluding Only the old store itself when Eaton closed out its catalogue and create what is still known As Eaton place otherwise it would still be a vacant i feel the Public is Only receiving part of the real Story about this old the Eaton store is an old Wood Frame and Wood floor building Only Clad in whereas Eaton place the old catalogue build ing is structural steel and con Crete with a floor loading capacity of 175 pounds per Square this is Why the dutch company would not Purchase the Eaton store building in it is a tinder Box and potential fire trap with no Lon term the arrangement Eaton had with the City for renovations to the old store which occurred weekly was they did not have to take out building permits every time they desired to do some this would have been cos pro hib Tive and a Long they took out one licence per year and did As they wished with their own electric on a general Gen Clemens no As a the building now is nowhere close to meeting building plumbing is old and electrical is probably unsafe and the Wood Structure is not near code and would Cost a Small Fortune to fireproof and be upgraded to achieve a useful economic the idea As set out by University professors who never have to justify a Bottom line to their while a Nice pays no attention to if the building was redeveloped or restored where would the required Revenue of approximately million per year just to cover the debt service come from plus the operating costs of another million or More per this cannot be afforded by apart ment movie restau who normally can pay Only about to per nor by already heavily subsidized cultural the economics just do not and will never All kinds of potential uses Are Good ideas Only if the rents or incomes can be achieved to support Eaton place was a Challenge and it had a better base to build from than this old tired it would require Over million per year just to sustain it even with no upgrades or citing College Park and Queens Quay in Toronto is forgetting that both these projects went through years of hard times and never made a return for their original investors in could not for Many years even give their space millions of dollars were lost on the initial investments until the City and projects even the Toronto taxpayers lost i suggest people Check their Winnipeg does not need More retail of any theatres will not survive in any City Centre in there Are lots of better buildings for apartments than a Box with Little Access to and we have lots of cultural space and Art for this we Are this is a Wood Frame tinder Box with a bit of Brick Good memories yes to move on you bet lets get known for our future looking concepts and for our and Bury the we should feel proud that private vestment is at the lets not kill our will not have another Chance in the Economy of today or the near future to do any at Hamm Winnipeg All kinds of potential uses Are Good ideas Only if the rents or incomes can be achieved to support charter school Competition can improve All education the charter school movement continues to rack up an impressive record of improvement to Public while Many see them As private or Independent charter schools in Bona fide Public funded by government but granted the Freedom to operate outside the traditional Public they Are governed by a charter that sets out Clear goals and objectives for the usually focused on academic a common misunderstanding is that these schools Are allowed to Cher Wypick their in they must take All a recent Frontier policy forum co sponsored with the faculty of Educa Tion and Johns featured a remarkable Man the associate director of the Canadian charter school Centre in Henry Zon Deryan spoke video and interview available at about Albertas very preliminary Experiment with Public school the Only place in Canada where 10 have been and Laid out an extraordinary zooming ahead at the school where he is the Princi called the foundation for the future charter the kids Are zooming ahead in test the province mandates that at least 15 per cent of Public school students achieve an excellent but Zondervan charges Are approaching 85 per in each Calendar the students Are covering on average Neanda half Grade this Means that by Grade they Are achieving Scholasti Cally at the equivalent level of Grade 12 in the regular Public Natu thousands of parents have their children on the schools waiting list for and the school is Why the stunning Success its due to the flexibility allowed in the Char Ter school All students can Zondervan All Stu dents can get an a Grade with proper teaching its a matter of getting the barriers out of the charter schools Are More responsive to parents than traditional school they have More Freedom to Damian Dovar Oanes associated press the number of charter schools in the United states is such As this one in los innovate with to hire teach ers and Reward them for results and to allocate resources outside the bureaucratic Maze that characterizes the regular Public it is no coincidence that teachers in a perform manc focused charter school system earn More than their regular system a German Ludger Woess Mann of the Kiel Institute of world has published an analysis of educational efficiency in 39 coun he shows although the Price of Public schooling accelerated quickly in most developed countries Between 1970 and the average performance of pupils remained con Stant at in we spend seven per cent of our Gnu on Educa Tion highest in the g7 nations while the performances of our students is mediocre according to a recent report by the Council of ministers of Educa Tion and statistics High acad Emic the study depends on close attention to test school control Over staff and teacher discretion Over teaching methods and com petition from private this description nearly mirrors the charter school Model in Joe Nathan pioneered the first one in Minnesota in and 10 years later have opened their doors in 38 states to half a million Why Are they so popular a Hoover Institute task Force on k12 education Points the Finger at the oddity of pub Lic schools with High costs but poor student the Hoover group encourages educators to identify the Best practices and helps parents choose the Best Zondervan experience in Calgary confirms this As does that of state after among the latest to report Are Florida and where charter schools have demonstrated Strong gains in test uninterested Manitoba Public school establishment remains utterly uninterested in the it has resisted such progressive ideas As performance and concepts like Merit to be fair in any process and rules count More than the on size Fitall theology has other besides High costs suffocating regu school boards prone to learning fads and teachers tightly controlled and suppressed by overweening when Public schools try to be All things to All they fail in their Core Good teaching and High student in the american eco nomic review published labour Force and the growth of which confirms the results of earlier such the amount of Money dedicated to schooling is much less important than the Content of the countries that stress High academic standards grow More quickly than those who simply toss More Cash into the in other if we want to main Tain or improve our Standard of Liv weve got to have excellent Competition from charter schools will help make that Peter Holle is president of the Frontier Centre for Public d see to t h i 1w him must include the authors name address Telephone letters to the 1355 Mountain fax 697741 email Letterson Reepes do we condone extermination the question might rightfully be asked what peace in South Africa you refer to in your editorial Africa giant june White South african Farmers now officially have the most dangerous More so than the Security one in eight have been Many of whom were brutally among the victims Are the women and How does this in any Way detract from Nelson Man Delas Virtues during the presidency of some party members called for the annihilation of this minority from Public platforms with hate slogans of kill a Farmer and one one they remained party members throughout his entire the ensuing statistics Bear witness to the Why did Mandela not admonish his party hate speakers was his silence interpreted As condoning would a similar oppression of North american minorities when murdered and bludgeoned in their own Homes at this rate be regarded with equal indifference or is Canada a society where truth does not prevail Over political correctness in View of the mounting losses suffered by this minority while Canada remains in what should con temporary observers that canadians effectively condone this extermination Jurgen Bekker Winnipeg Dyer attack lacks evidence Gwynne Dyer ought to present one socialist idea that Ever worked before he dismisses Dyer views the United nations environmental agreements As some sort of Panacea for the there Are some of us who understand that the in is simply the biggest planner that the world has Ever the plans change but the planners Are All the said Ludt wig von Mises in his Book human for which he won a Nobel peace the interventions of the state Are directly responsible for the fact that the lights Are going off in California As we they never did get the lights turned on in the for Mer soviet the Public owner ship of All properties left the biggest manmade environmental disaster the world has Ever known in soviet con trolled the question i would like to ask Dyer is that if he is so sure b Jorn Lomberg is wrong in the ideas presented in the Book the sceptical envy Why is it he resorts to add Eminem attacks of Cleaver idiot rather than debase the ideas presented Why Doest Dyer present the advantages of Central planning to the environment in an East West Ger Many comparison Chris buoys Winnipeg Alcock opposes economic help i read with great interest the article about my Reg Alcock questioning the usefulness of Western economic a government Agency that has helped to build Western Canada Over the last 11 it is curious that Alcock seems to be the Only Liberal in Canada who is opposed to a government Agency that promotes Small and medium sized businesses and helps to build stronger communities across Western rather than working for his con and using Western diversification to help his Alcock seems Happy with Alliance style i must also state that i am disappointed in Reg Alcock referring to we employees at Best Bureau cratic paper a very rude especially near National Public service i Hope Alcock Doest need favours from the paper pushers anytime Janie Mack Southport photo radar is important re backlash feared Over photo radar june i cant believe our govern ment has no regard for the people who Are killed by speeders and red Light my pet Peeve is the Drivers that zoom by me i am a Speed limit Dri ver at speeds of 70 or More Miles per this happens on City they Are Seldom the police cant be everywhere that Why the photo radar is so Rube Cohen Winnipeg Job equity detriment to some what happened to the Best person for the Job in two weeks i was told in you have to be on Al or eligible for Al to qualify for this you must have written on your resume that you Are or we have called you Manitoba i respect the employ ment equity but what happens to people like me who spent seven years in have two degrees and have to work three Par time jobs just to make a Little Money to pay off their student Loans help Sheri Ross Winnipeg Blair didst match Thatcher Success your item on the British election stat former tory prime minister Margaret who never enjoyed the kind of Bac Toback Suc Cess that Tony Blair has in Thatcher led her conservative party to three successive majority governments and retired prime minister Blair has a Long Way to go to equal John Daniel Lees Steinbach doonesbury by Garry Trudeau ;