Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 01, 2013, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE B1 CITY & BUSINESS CITY EDITOR: SHANE MINKIN 204- 697- 7292 city. desk@ freepress. mb. ca I winnipegfreepress. com THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013 B 1 A ND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT... Between the traffic jam leaving the stadium and the train wreck he's been witnessing inside Investors Group Field, one of my long- suffering Bomber- fan neighbours is almost ready to give up on the season tickets he's had for decades. " They've taken the football out of me," my exasperated pal remarked sadly on the weekend. Not so quick, Bomber fans. I have a happy Bomber story to relate, one that harkens back to the team's storied past. With a twist of the present. Biff Fliss is little known today, but he has one of those unforgettable football names. Biff was a bull of a Canadian fullback who played for the Bombers from 1948 to 1953. At least that's what I pieced together from a Free Press archives search. He was on the same teams as three legends: Jack Jacobs, Bud Grant and Tom Casey, and fellow Canadian stalwarts Nick Miller, Bud Irving, Harold " Hal" Neufeld and Paul Cholakis, among others. In a Free Press feature from 1949 - a thumbnail called Know Your Bombers - Biff was described as a 6- foot- 2, 235- pound " Man Mountain" who was a " powerhouse on plunges." Today, Biff gets around in a wheelchair and resides at the Middlechurch Home. Naturally, given Biff is an old Bomber, and Middlechurch was opening its refurbished sports- themed lounge last week, the home turned to the Bombers for some support. Eventually that support would come from Roy Rosmus, the- co author of Quiet Hero: the Ken Ploen Story , and a group of Bomber alumni who heard about Biff being there - not from the Bombers, but from Rosmus and others. So it was last week they showed up to celebrate Biff, a guy who last put on a Bombers uniform 60 years ago. While they were there for the festivities they were introduced to some other former athletes - from curlers to hockey players - who now share a home with Biff. Bomber board member and Hall of Fame player Trevor Kennerd was one of the visitors, and he brought one of Biff's former teammates, Bud Irving, who is in his mid 80s, but still keeps early morning office hours at the D'Arcy & Deacon law firm. Two of Biff's other former teammates, Nick Miller and Harold Neufeld, were there for him, too. As was another Bombers off- field great; 91- year- old Gordie Mackie, who was the Bombers athletic therapist for more than a decade, during much of the Bud Grant Grey Cup era. And then there was the always- classy Joe Poplawski, who gathered some " stuff" from the Bombers and brought it for Biff and the sports lounge. As for Biff, he looked spiffy in his Bombers jersey. And happy to be with his old pals, again. I don't know if Roy Rosmus and the alumni being there means anything to disgruntled Bomber fans like my neighbour, but to me the band of Bomber- brothers spirit Biff and the boys represent is what being True Blue is really all about. Stand by your teammates. And your team. . . . THE TOM AND LARRY UPDATE... It's been a few weeks since I wrote about former radio partners Tom McGouran and Larry Updike wanting to get back together. This week I emailed Tom for an update on reaction to the column and how the job search is going. " We've had a tremendous response," Tom wrote. " Everywhere I go people say they saw it and ask where we're going to be. To that end, we have been in contact with all the companies in town and are awaiting meetings, etc. A lot is on hold till the Bell/ Astral/ Pattison station sales are final. Very excited to get back on the air." . . . LOOKS LIKE SOMEBODY IS READY FOR HIS CLOSEUP... Last week I was telling you about my six- year- old grandson Jacob's role as the body- or photo- double for Connor Corum, the child star of a film being shot here called Heaven is for Real . But I've since learned the director has also given Jacob a couple of speaking parts in the movie. So Wednesday, I texted my daughter on the movie set, where they've been spending most of the summer, and asked Erin how he's doing with all the hours he's putting in. " He is enjoying it very much," Erin wrote. " He said he wants to do this again." But next time, Jacob told his mom, he wants to be " the actor." Do you laugh at that? Or cry? For now, I choose to laugh out loud. gordon. sinclair@ freepress. mb. ca A lesson in True Blue brotherhood GORDON SINCLAIR JR. Biff Fliss in his ' Man Mountain' days. E XCHANGE District residents are upset they're losing their decadesold street- parking passes because the area is booming. The Winnipeg Parking Authority has confirmed this week the annual parking passes - which cost residents $ 25 a year to park free at meters or in oneand two- hour restriction zones in the city - is being scrapped at the end of August for residents in the Exchange District to encourage more parking turnover in the area. John Giavedoni, president of the Residents of the Exchange District, said the parking- permit program has always given area residents the first priority for parking in their area of the downtown. " Why are we being treated differently than residents who don't live downtown?" Giavedoni said on Wednesday. " The only difference from other areas is we have parking meters downtown and others have a sign saying there's a one- or two- hour parking limit. " They basically are saying we don't want residents to park on the street downtown." Exchange District condo owner Justin Friesen said he will consider moving elsewhere in the city - and he knows he is not alone. " This is ridiculous," Friesen said. " It totally contradicts what the city is doing to get people to live downtown. There's so few people living downtown I don't understand why they don't keep the parking permits in place and just raise the price. " I really don't understand the rationale behind this. It puts more pressure on me to consider getting a house and move from the downtown." The city's parking authority began consulting with residents and business groups in 2011 about parking problems in the Exchange District. Randy Topolniski, chief operating officer of the Winnipeg Parking Authority, said 130 residents will lose their $ 25- per- year passes at the end of August because more turnover is needed to aid businesses, cultural institutions and educational facilities. " It's not discouraging people ( from living there)," Topolniski said. " You have cultural, education, residential and businesses. I think this mostly is supporting the balance between all these groups to help the area become an extremely vibrant community." Topolniski said area residents were given a year to look for alternative parking. He said the city is setting up a pilot project that will cost residents $ 100 per month to get two hours of free parking each day on secondary streets in the area as well as overnight and long- term parking on three streets with underused parking spots. But Giavedoni said those streets - Alexander, Pacific and Galt avenues - are farther north than most condo dwellers are living. " They are also dark - I wouldn't leave a vehicle there at midnight and walk here," he said. Giavedoni said previous the parking authority head, David Hill, always told him how the parking permits helped area residents by allowing them to access areas of the Exchange with their vehicles the same way residents in other areas of the city do. " David Hill looked at the parking pass as being a positive for the area," he said. " It allows us to frequent places in your neighbourhood and not pay attention to meters." Brian Timmerman, executive director of the Exchange District BIZ, said the shortage of parking is hurting area businesses. " We found the streets on the east side of the Exchange were running at overcapacity and filled 100 per cent of the time from morning to midnight," Timmerman said. " The chances were slim of you finding a spot on the street if you wanted to go to a business. Residents would leave a car on the street for a week and the spot would never become free." kevin. rollason@ freepress. mb. ca Downtown car permits pulled City revokes parking passes for Exchange residents By Kevin Rollason MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS John Giavedoni, president of the Residents of the Exchange District, is upset the city is scrapping the parking- permit program for area residents. 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