Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 01, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE B1 SPONSORED BY Join our free online book club at winnipegfreepress.com/book-club Join our new book club and read with us! We are hosting intimate and fun live sessions to discuss each month's pick. CITY?BUSINESS CITY EDITOR: SHANE MINKIN 204-697-7292 ? CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ? WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM B1 FRIDAY MAY 1, 2020 SECTION BCONNECT WITH WINNIPEG'S NO. 1 NEWS SOURCE? CITY playgrounds, golf courses and sports fields are set to open up Monday, though libraries, pools and arenas won't unlock their doors just yet. Mayor Brian Bowman urged Win- nipeggers to be patient as the city re- sponds to provincial rules that will allow a variety of facilities to reopen Monday, after the sites closed to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19. Bowman said the city learned about the province's reopening plan as it was released to the public on Wednesday. "We're considering how to imple- ment this rapid reopening under very short time frames, while weighing the health and safety or our staff and our residents," he said. All city-owned play structures and picnic shelters will reopen Monday, along with skate parks, tennis courts, basketball courts, and athletic fields. People must abide by physical distan- cing rules and gatherings must be limit- ed to 10 people. Only non-contact sports will be allowed. The Kildonan Park, Crescent Drive, and Harbour View golf courses will also open, while the Windsor Park golf course will remain closed due to high water levels on the Seine River. City libraries will remain closed, however, as the city determines how to handle sites full of high-touch objects, including books. "I don't know if I can define a more high-touch area. Libraries, in (their) essence, are places that we have to be touching books, moving things. We want to make sure that we have an appropri- ate, safe plan for our staff and our pa- trons," said Jason Shaw, Winnipeg's as- sistant chief of emergency management. Shaw stressed that people who flock to sites on Monday must follow physical distancing rules and gathering limits, which he expects parents will help en- force at playgrounds. "Parents will be out with their kids and parents are going to be doing what they've always done. They'll be watch- ing their children, they'll be washing their hands before and after," he said. To assist restaurants, Bowman said the city will conduct a fast-tracked registration process for new tempor- ary patios, since the province will allow patio restaurants, but not indoor dining, as of Monday. Restaurant owners can apply for that clearance on the city's website as of today. The city will try to confirm as many approvals as possible by Monday, Bowman said. The temporary patios could last until May 31, when the city will re-evaluate them. Meanwhile, a planned Winnipeg Tran- sit service cut will take place Monday, despite the fact citizens will suddenly have more places to go that same day. The Amalgamated Transit Union Lo- cal 1505, which represents bus drivers, has lobbied the city to cancel the switch to an enhanced Saturday schedule on weekdays, as well as 253 driver layoffs. "We need the service to have the cap- acity to provide the needed buses for the influx of the public that will be tak- ing transit and will be going out to the malls and those services that will be open on Monday," said union president Romeo Ignacio. Ignacio said he fears imposing the cuts just as the economy begins to re- open will create crowding on buses, which could prevent riders from follow- ing public health advice to remain at least two metres apart. Bowman said he's confident ridership has fallen so steeply that social distan- cing on buses will be possible. "The service demands were reduced by about 70 per cent and we ultimately reduced the service by about 30 per cent, so there's a pretty large buffer to assist with the physical distancing," the mayor said. Shaw said Transit service could in- crease if needed. joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga JOYANNE PURSAGA City urges patience, caution as golf courses, playgrounds reopen W HILE some non-essential re-tail businesses will be allowed to reopen Monday, Winnipeg's malls can open only one entryway. Grant Park and Kildonan Place shopping centres, and any retail- ers that reopen, will be required to implement the single-point-of-entry policy - all employees and custom- ers will be required to come and go through one set of doors. At Kildonan Place, it will be at the Regent Avenue entrance near the State & Main res- taurant, and at Grant Park, it will be the west entrance near the Red River Co-op store. Peter Havens, the general manager of CF Polo Park, said in a statement Thursday that, "Assuming we can meet all safety guidelines and precautions, we are aiming to open the shopping centre on Monday, May 4." Garden City Shopping Centre intends to open with regular business hours, a spokesperson said. Tables and chairs will be removed from the popular food court and com- mon seating areas. Like all businesses, the city's shop- ping centres - some of the largest retail operations in Winnipeg - were caught slightly off-guard by the prov- ince's announcement this week that Manitoba will ease retail restrictions starting Monday. While small businesses face unique challenges with reopening, so do malls, which routinely draw hundreds of visitors each day. Many frequent guests are seniors. Total occupancy will be reduced by half, the province has ordered, while staff and customers must be able to keep two metres apart. Other orders in- clude no buffets, no condiments on the table, and no drink refills. The move to reopen non-essential businesses, including salons, restaurant patios and malls, is not a declaration that the risk of COVID-19 transmission is gone. "We still need to be cautious," Dr. Brent Roussin said. "I don't think there's any business that wants to be responsible for spreading the virus, to themselves or to employees." In a statement to the Free Press, Pat- rick Sullivan, the chief operations of- ficer of Primaris Management, which oversees Grant Park and Kildonan Place, said the company "fully sup- ported" the phased-in approach to the return to regular business. Sullivan said the company would take immediate action to get ready for the return of customers: hand sanitizer sta- tions will be installed throughout each property; safety signage and "visual re- minders" about physical distancing will be added. Increased deep-cleaning will be done, the number of seats in the malls have been reduced and common areas have been altered. Wheelchairs and strollers will no longer be available. Protective bar- riers will be installed at guest ser- vices and at the food court sorting station, and operating hours will be reduced. Curbside pickup spots will be desig- nated to reduce entry, and strict sick policies will be put in place, Sullivan said. Garden City said it's taking similar precautions: increased cleaning of door handles and fixtures, more hand sani- tizer, restricted access to high-touch services such as kiddie rides; some events will be cancelled. Mall tenants have the option to open, open with reduced hours, or stay closed. The potential of the new measures to be effective is up to the public. On Wednesday, Roussin reiterated that if Manitobans are sick, they should stay home. "If you're ill, you shouldn't be work- ing, and if you're ill, you shouldn't be going to get your hair cut," he said. "We're going to need to continue to rely on Manitobans to adhere to that." ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Malls, which attract hundreds of people a day, will implement a range of safety measures. Managers scramble to make buildings safe after province decides to lift restrictions Malls prepare to let shoppers in BEN WALDMAN PHOTOS BY MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The Polo Park mall has been closed for weeks as people kept their physical distance. It will reopen Monday, 'assuming we can meet all safety guidelines and precautions.' B_01_May-01-20_FP_01.indd B1 2020-04-30 10:06 PM ;