Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 13, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba TICKETS START AT $29.50 BUY NOW SPONSORED BY By Paula Vogel On now to March 8 Told through music, song and dance, Indecent reminds us that love is a beacon of hope in a divided world. II II The RW tax holiday is at SALISBURY HOUSE on Thursdays! No PST NoGST APPLIES AT ALL SALISBURY HOUSE FAMILY RESTAURANT LOCATIONS VALID FROM DECEMBER 19 2024 THROUGH FEBRUARY 13 2025 -THURSDAYS ONLY THURSDAY FEBRUARY 13, 2025 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM SECTION B CONNECT WITH WINNIPEG’S NO. 1 NEWS SOURCE ▼ CITY ● BUSINESS New elementary school to be built in Waverley West THE Manitoba government is planning to open a new dual-track elementary school in Waverley West in 2027 to ad- dress growing enrolment pressures across the south end of the city. Prairie Pointe will soon be home to a kindergarten-to-Grade 8 site with both English and French immersion streams, Education Minister Tracy Schmidt announced at a news confer- ence Wednesday. “Currently, we have students — hun- dreds of students — who we are farming out to other schools in Pembina Trails, some of them down the Pembina (High- way) strip and over at Whyte Ridge,” Pembina Trails School Division Supt. Shelley Amos told reporters inside the library of École South Pointe School. Amos said many students enrolled at South Pointe will be “moving on” to at- tend classes closer to their homes when the construction project is complete. The school is anticipated to have cap- acity for about 600 students, in addition to 74 infant and preschool child-care spots. The province has selected a plot of land on Castlebrook Drive between Landover and Skyline drives. Schmidt said many young families are moving to Waverley West and ex- isting public school classrooms are ex- periencing pressures as a result. An additional school in the area will allow students to receive more one- on-one time with their teachers, she said, adding the NDP government is earmarking $3 million to reduce class sizes across Manitoba for the second consecutive year. MAGGIE MACINTOSH ● SCHOOL, CONTINUED ON B2 Rut-stration is mounting S OME West End and Wolseley residents are feeling stuck in a deep, dangerous and frozen rut because they say their back lanes ha- ven’t been cleared yet this winter. Louis Dufault took matters into his own hands Wednesday and chipped away at the ice with a pick axe so he doesn’t get hung up pulling into his parking pad. Dufault has lived on Ingersoll Street for 55 years and never had an issue with ruts in the back lane until this winter. He says cars have been getting stuck in the trenches. “It’s so slippery and deep, and if you get… stuck in the ruts then you’re really out of luck,” he said, adding that he hadn’t bothered to complain to the city even though he hadn’t seen a plow in the lane yet. “It’s a little tough, I just hope they do something about it soon before there’s an accident,” he said. The city reports it received 299 calls about back-lane conditions since Jan. 1, down from 354 calls over the same period in 2024. Lisa Campbell lives on a corner lot on Knappen Avenue in Wolseley with a lane beside and behind her home. She said the ruts are so deep she can hear the wheels of passing vehi- cles scrape against them. “It sounds like somebody’s drag- ging car parts or something,” she said Wednesday. “It’s enough to wake you up.” Campbell said she fell because of the ruts a few years ago and, as a re- sult, is extremely cautious around the exterior of her home now. City policy on snow-clearing and ice control in the city’s approximate- ly 930 kilometres of back lanes states plowing should take place after an inspection warrants a cleaning oper- ation, usually following a five-centi- metre snowfall accumulation or equivalent local drifting conditions. Between snow events, the city in- spects back lanes when it receives a complaint of impassable conditions and plows as required, but its current response time is six days. Campbell said she has yet to see a plow come down her lane. “It’s just wrecked back there,” she said. Back lanes are normally main- tained to a compacted snow surface, as opposed to bare pavement, the city’s policy says. An enhanced level of snow clearing is to be provided in back lanes for properties that have no front-street access. Generally, the plowing of back lanes is done concurrently with priority 1 and 2 streets during residential snow removal, but prioritizing some lanes over others can be done to allow for garbage pickup. During extended periods of mild weather the city may do additional clearing to reduce rutting, spokes- person Julie Dooley said in an email. Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of council’s public works committee, said the city works on a complaint basis and it wouldn’t be cost-effective to proactively clear all back lanes. “I’d like to think most people under- stand when there’s problem blockages to call them in, and then the city will go out, inspect it and do it,” she said. “It’s more cost-effective to target the complaints than do a whole city plow for back lanes.” The city spends approximately $30 million to $40 million on snow remov- al and ice control annually, depending on weather conditions, and employs road inspectors who monitor areas for problem snow and ice. The city proposed a pilot project in its 2025 budget to raise the threshold to plow residential streets to 15 cm from 10 cm, starting in October, to keep costs under control. Council’s public works committee voted unanimously in favour of a mo- tion to scrap the pilot project in Janu- ary after public backlash. nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca ‘If you get stuck in the ruts, then you’re really out of luck’ NICOLE BUFFIE MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Ruts in Wolseley and West End back lanes are making driving tricky and navigating into garages difficult, residents say. City moves to classify properties as historic A HERITAGE advocate is hopeful city hall is taking a broader look at what constitutes a heritage building. A city report recommends a foun- tain on Broadway and a former railway building be designated historical struc- tures even though they don’t fit the traditional definition. The fountain, which is on the boule- vard at Broadway and Donald Street, and the former Midland Railway Build- ing, known today as the Freight House at 200 Isabel St., don’t have the historic- al heft of other sites, such as buildings in the Exchange District, for example. Gordon Goldsborough of the Mani- toba Historical Society said the move could open the door to designate other threatened buildings that don’t neces- sarily have architectural features. “If the underlying principle is they are trying to create a system of histor- ical resonance, that’s better than what it has been,” said Goldsborough Wed- nesday. “Broadening the definition would be a good thing.” Goldsborough said it could mean a building the society wants designated — the two-storey Craig Block at 795 Main Street — may have a better chance of receiving the distinction. That building has vacant lots on either side of it after the neighbouring Sutherland Hotel was destroyed in a fire last month. “The city says there is some smoke and there is damage, so they may want to tear it down, but that building is the site of the first Black labour union in North America,” he said. “Yes, the building itself isn’t a big deal, but what happened inside it is a big deal.” Coun. Jason Schreyer, chairman of the civic historical buildings and re- sources committee, said he agrees with Goldsborough that the fountain and Freight House aren’t typical historical locations. “What he is saying is an intriguing perspective,” Schreyer said. “It makes sense… it allows for interesting things including function. “It no longer would be prioritized on architectural merits. There is some- thing to be said about that.” The committee will discuss the pro- posal next week. Schreyer said the two entities have been recommended because they are both city-owned. KEVIN ROLLASON ● HISTORIC, CONTINUED ON B2 ;