Last updated Mar 08/10  

Wind From The South
by Jordan Van Sewell

The following articles were written by well-known artisan and South Point Douglas resident Jordan Van Sewell and published in our community newspaper, The Point. Jordan's articles provide us with the unique perspective of South Point Douglas.

 Enjoy!

Articles are posted in chronological order - #1    #2    #3    #4    #5    #6    #7     #8    #9    #10    #11

Wind from the South - #1
By Jordan Van Sewell

It’s April. The river has broken up and the giant pieces of ice have just stopped their yearly sojourn prattling past my house like a symphony of breaking chandeliers. This ribbon of ice winds through the South Point and on around the bend. North through North Point Douglas, a distinction forgotten once it gets to Hudson Bay.

Can we hope the river’s spring cleansing that carries the debris of a long and cold winter will also remove our worries of the 21^st century? Not going to happen!

Let me instead try to focus, maybe even come to understand, what’s going on in my neighbourhood, South Point Douglas. Let’s see …They (meaning them) have finished their condominiums on Waterfront Drive. Hey, with more to come!

However, few lights come on there at night, mostly because speculation buyers never seem to live in the neighbourhoods they like to change. Is it like any pyramid scheme where someone’s left holding the bag? It won’t be them! Please let us hope that it’ll be lit up like a festive seasonal tree and that the next commerce push to advance that neighbourhood comes in the form of convenience stores, shops, even trendy boutiques at this point. Anything to bring people out, walking around, just like in a neighbourhood.

 Also the city appointed an agency of architects and associates and granted them “special powers”; not like Power Rangers on T.V. or those rangers that patrol the streets of downtown as special constables. These powers surveyed our thoughts at meetings. The participants are still talking about it. No one has found any evidence of implants.

They say, regarding outstanding concerns (call them fears) of some past improvements over here that point to unprecedented development and also change. Oh wait! That’s the same thing. Specifically, riverbank stabilization from the last century (1998-99), infrastructure upgrades in the nineties along Higgins, and how about the mystery gated condo community on the Point proper? They are saying a change can be studied and tweaked before it happens. The future can be moulded into a commodity that you can control. Or something like that. I really didn’t get it all. Crazy talk. There’d been a lot of artists invited to that meeting.

For the twenty years I’ve been here nothing much like this has happened. So to hear that maybe money, and bags of it, will march down Higgins Avenue is pretty exciting stuff. It must be hearing about $$$. Sure, there was a grassroots clean-up when I moved here in the late 80’s. Last century stuff! A sweep more than a clean-up, enough to make it a pleasant-enough, thankfully forgotten and undiscovered place to live. So now my little dream of the future leaves my tiny paradise intact and unchanged. I can go ahead and wish in one hand and spit in the other. See which fills first. Again, ain’t going to happen! That future is much like it had been in other times.

Forty years ago I worked at the C.P.R. Station as a red cap. Seemed appropriate. Higgins was abuzz. International traffic was being processed through the Immigration Building east of the station and another traffic type was checking bags at the Royal Alexandria to the west. Don’t even get me started on the other period hotels. There was lawn bowling up Higgins. Many stores and industries were operating full-tilt between Main Street and the Louise Bridge. You could buy a gun at the McLeod’s and the freshly-minted Disraeli Freeway—the freeway—great words.

Two decades forward and a lot had changed. Everything was literally gone. Now these last two decades have taken most. Three major fires and a couple of controlled explosions did the rest. The only changes where land was allocated for something big have failed miserably. The Point Douglas Yacht Club was bulldozed to become an inaccessible and little-understood boat launch. Nobody there. The once enterprising Capital Lumber on Higgins is gone. Now diesel trucks from Direct Transport idle 24 hours a day where once stood neatly piled rows of freshly milled lumber, the fresh-cut spruce scent replaced with wrenching diesel stink. Where neat homes once stood, unkempt debris is now the order of the day.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not looking to wallow in nostalgia. It’s a weak argument. Let’s instead develop a plan to avoid repeating again these costly setbacks to real progress. Let’s develop stewardship that halts the demolition. Build that. If this “commerce” that’s coming this way wears a compassionate coat, has a vision and dream that all can share, that would be a very beautiful thing. Man, that sounds like communism or at the very least, a messiah. I’ve said it three times now in these few paragraphs—ain’t going to happen!

So the question I still can’t answer is asked again. What’s going to happen? Here it is! There’ll be some good, some not so good, and the rest will be other. Let’s hope there’s enough for everyone.

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Wind from the South - #2
By Jordan Van Sewell

Some of the people I’ve been talking to have remarked they haven’t been sleeping well lately. Sleepus interruptus. There’s nothing worse. I’ve told them what I know. Apparently in the olden days before light bulbs and clocks, people sleeping out of doors awoke in the middle of the night as they tended their flocks. Maybe they were woken by wolves or the stirring of their animals. This would give them an opportunity to unscramble their day and reflect on the issues of their day. By the time that they fell back to sleep everything had been sorted out. Resolved. When they next awoke in the morning it was a new day. Not so easy in today’s world. The issues are just too complex.

For instance, take the old Able Wholesale building, currently owned by Imrie Demolition. Gee, not very good stewardship. We all heard what Russ Wyatt wanted to see happen there. Eyesore! Well, Russ don’t live here, do he? Let’s try to forget the fact that it was already burned. Wayne Imrie wanted to rebuild it into a retail/loft space. Very downtown. The city said, through Plan Winnipeg, that there was no provision for this in their, well … their plan! They are Plan Winnipeg, after all. Just down Higgins the new seniors home is just about ready for occupancy. Within a very short distance, the seemingly identical plan (makes things nice) is kyboshed?  I (and this is only me talking) think maybe Imrie’s plan didn’t jive with the kind of plan (land designation) the city has in mind. I’ve rattled these decisions over in my mind until I can’t sleep at night! Now I’m wishing and hoping that the city will come forth and let South Point Douglas know where we are going in the 21^st century. Until then, pleasant dreams.

 PS: It seems that camp sites are now available on the banks of the Red River between the Ogilvy Oats site and the toboggan slide on waterfront drive. Book early. These seasonal sites are filling up fast.

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Wind from the South - #3
By Jordan Van Sewell

Boy! What a difference a month makes! On my last outing at the paper here I was pondering the future of our neighbourhood, a popular pastime on the South Point. Not much has changed. I am still wondering about the future of our ‘hood. There was a small tremor on the meter, a bump on the road that for the time being seems to have passed. What in dickens was that all about? We were slapped around like little rubber duckies unaccustomed to white water and high waves. The newspapers had pictures of some magical land right out of Disney. They were saying that these pictures were to be our neighbourhood. There was a new stadium with shops and boutiques, bridges and new roads. In my yard the bed of irises and the fire pit would become the site of pre-game tailgate parties. A wondrous parking lot would replace our home and the entire street would be gone!

There was a suggestion that the long arm of commerce was arriving on a golden horse and that condos and a new community were on its heels. There were meetings. David Asper met to reassure the folks of Point Douglas of his plan. Gary Doer met with the artists. Pamphlets and petitions went out. Every single day the press, the T.V. people and a parade of concerned citizens descended on the neighbourhood. Everyone wanted to know!

All the jugglers and the players had determined that South Point Douglas was a desolate blight that needed a makeover. The conclusion stood that redevelopment, revitalization would bring it into the 21^st century. I made the suggestion that there was already great value to the area: the value of community, the value of neighbourhood, the value of principle, and the value of lifestyle. It was really easy to put that on a real estate sign and set it out in front of our home. After all, money talks loudest.

Now we are living the aftermath. Anti-climatic, really! We can get back to work again. Did the protest do anything to sway the decisions of those with decision-making power? Maybe, maybe not. Will there be future encounters with the world of change? I hope so. Can we go on in our little bubble without the threat of the outside coming in? No! Now we can begin to make headway on realizing our own dreams for South Point Douglas, including the gradual addition of community-building construction and rezoning to accommodate this progress. Then when the next someone marches in with the next bottle of snake oil we’ll be able to say, “Thanks, but we’ve got our own.”

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Wind From The South:  New Developments in South Point - #4
By Jordan Van Sewell

As I walked to my voting station at Princess and Higgins, I had no idea that I’d be waking up under the same conservative blue skies the next day. Who can predict these things? It had been predicted that we’d be the home of the new stadium. That didn’t happen. So any buzz on the outcome of the federal election had to be taken with a grain of salt.

What I did see as I walked west was a surprise and a delight: neutral blue sky and work going on everywhere. The Casa dos Acores of Winnipeg (Azorian Hall) next to the only remaining Ogilvie Oats building has a brand new coat of stucco on it. No longer the corporate headquarters for the oat industry, the building now comes alive for celebrations of all kinds. It’s a happening place. The Ogilvie building is astir with talk of near-future development. The Braunstein Block (once a butcher store) has a brand new owner. This block is the one that may have inspired the Gustavo da Rosa design of the wedge-shaped Winnipeg Art Gallery. The owner is talking about a total refurbish and get this, retaining all of its original splendour. What a concept! Talk about building Bridge-man!

Oh yeah, how will that new Disraeli look? Ah, we’ll still be looking up at it. The grass recently planted at the Neeginan Centre is up and green. Across the street the old Hungarian Hall, most recently an upholstery shop and vacant, will soon be home to a new day-care center. The outside of the building is almost complete with new siding. The lot next to Vernaus Autobody has had everything including the derelict vehicles removed from it. Thunderbird House is looking quite dusty and forlorn. It’s been suggested there’s bad mojo on that corner. I don’t know much about that. The Aboriginal Centre is providing good vibes. That and a great breakfast/lunch spot.

The word at city hall seems to coincide with what I was seeing as I walked west. The community committee has met and determined that rezoning for the South Point is the direction to go. They have it in their ‘plan’ for 2008-2009. Now that’s good news! The word on that must have gotten out to all those people making and talking improvements that I saw in the neighbourhood. That fiasco with the stadium was a wake up call for us all. Do something now and avoid allowing a greater power to snatch it up.

I wish I could report further on some other ‘building’ issues, but I don’t have the answers. Like, will Imrie now be able to realize the completion of his Able Wholesale project? Will the environmental cleanup happen on the south Point proper? Who will do an immediate cleanup on the abandoned provisional summer camps between here and Waterfront Drive? It certainly isn’t the romantic shantytown we’ve heard about from the depression era. And will Herman ever clean up Joe’s property? These questions will be answered…eventually. It is nice to know that it’ll happen regardless of the sky’s colour. As sure as the sky is conservative blue, for now.    Welcome back Pat!

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Wind From the South - #5
By Jordan Van Sewell

The Louise Bridge is a beautiful structure. The second oldest span in the city, its use to move cars through Point Douglas has come to an end--agreed. City plans to replace it with a four lane structure in 2015 have been announced--bad idea!

The initial promise and purpose of the Disraeli Freeway was to move cars from downtown, over Point Douglas, and onto Henderson Highway. It’s been doing that well. Recently, thanks in part to the stadium controversy, due attention is being paid to Point Douglas. Any plans for the future of this prize area cannot be determined on a primary 20^th century concern, moving cars and trucks. This is outdated thinking.

Probably ten thousand vehicles go down Higgins each day, just passing through. Direct Transport is a marshalling yard for inner city deliveries from off-loaded semi trailers. Relocate that operation and we have the potential for a burgeoning 21^st century model community. Close the Louise Bridge to cars and keep it open to pedestrians and cyclists with activated gates for real emergency vehicles. Then the city could realize this goal of a very desirable community.

Picture this:  Higgins becomes the natural extension of Waterfront Drive, meandering-- yes, meandering--down to where Sutherland meets it. Bicycles and pedestrians can then cross the beautiful and historic Louise Bridge. This bridge will serve that type of traffic for another hundred years without much attention. Now we are heading back up Sutherland towards Main Street. Many options here--along Rover (the dyke road) and going up to Pritchard or Burrows perhaps.

Now we are about $30 million ahead because we needn’t recreate another Riel Esplanade, this one connecting Annabella to Brazier St. in East Kildonan. Remember, we have the Louise Bridge, something we could never recreate. The money saved goes toward widening the Disraeli, thus keeping its mandate on course. Those cars previously passing through Point Douglas now pass over. On the north end the cars traveling east exit towards Nairn on a designated one-way street – Midwinter? Cars coming from Nairn travel a one-way to Henderson, perhaps Roche or Johnson. By the time they are above Point Douglas they’ve spent less time and gone through fewer traffic lights than the outdated route through the Point. Recall that Redwood to Nairn and Archibald to Provencher also access downtown.

The only property expropriated is Direct Transport.  Maybe it becomes the new Manitoba Filmstage?  Okay, the Direct Transport Film Soundstage (branding of course).  No communities need endure horrific traffic problems and our eyes focus on the future when fewer cars and more public transport are the norm.

Is this possible? Absolutely! The requirement is to get our heads around the idea that the auto will not dictate the look of our town. What an opportunity this presents to have a community built on the needs of its residents. Imagine Higgins as a passive avenue flanked by shops, houses, multi-use structures, orchards, green spaces and considerations to location along the river. It would take vision and cooperation to make this happen.  Surely that’s possible! What could happen on this new extension of Waterfront Drive?  What would the final “look” be? I don’t know. I’ll leave that to the dreamers.

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Wind From the South - #6
By Jordan Van Sewell

You know that feeling you get when you go to the Red River Ex or take in a time share presentation in a foreign country? I’m not talking about a warm, fuzzy feeling but rather a gnawing gut feeling that you’ve been had. I’ve got that feeling. I’ve had it for some time. In a quest to alleviate and overcome this sensation, I sat down with our Mayor Sam Katz, our M.L.A. George Hickes, our councillor Mike Pagtakhan, and an entire host of hired facilitators and authorities on the subject. Oh, the subject is Point Douglas, North AND South!

We do have a secondary plan in the works. In the meantime decisions are being made and tenders will go out very soon to get moving on the Disraeli Bridge and also a pedestrian/cycling bridge that may or may not be attached to the proposed bridge. Hey, that’s great! If this means that any plans to save or to convert the Louise Bridge to a pedestrian/cycling corridor are gone then that’s not good. It’s bad! If “P3” plans mean charging ahead, then that’s even worse. Tail wagging the dog?

A community committee meeting will be held on March 10^th at City Hall to discuss and hopefully stop this hasty process. Be there! Yeah, we need bridges and pedestrian/ cycling corridors. We need them with good lighting. We need recreation centers and housing. For sure, we need to get the trucks out of our neighborhood and designate truck routes other than through the Point. Most of all we need to do this in a thoughtful manner that is respectful of those stakeholders who will be most affected now and beyond the politics of the day. This is what the secondary plan will do, right?

When you are invited to sit at the different tables dealing with these issues, you need to know who is setting that table and whether all the other parties know what’s on the menu. If you end up as a rubber stamp or feeling that a limited process is complete before the sandwiches even arrive, then what’s it all about?

A month ago I was thinking about this as I looked down from a Mexican rooftop. I was watching a colourful little bird being stalked by a cat. I was helpless to do anything and yes, the cat did get the bird. Is this now being played out in our neighbourhood? There’s a process going on here, and we’re in the middle of it. It’s the 21^st century and the opportunity for a model community is real. Like the shell game or the trickster taking my money at the carnie, however, I have entered a deeper state of confusion. For now I am keeping my hands in my pockets and my eyes wide open.

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Wind From the South - #7
By Jordan Van Sewell

We've all heard enough in the way of grand schemes to enhance the life of Point Douglas. I know I have. Please, let's not revisit the stadium debacle and no more talk about a gated community on the Point. Let's leave aside the idea of putting a cycling/pedestrian bridge to cut another swath through our neighbourhood next to or attached to the failing Disraeli Bridge. I like that freeway. Where else in the city can you drive so far without seeing a traffic light? Here's a plan that like so many other ideas has zero careful consideration or ultimate outcome in mind as components in its execution.

How about this? Let's cut a channel in the Red River from Waterfront Drive to the end of Pritchard Street! Then we are out of the city's hair. We're an island. They'd no longer need to consider us at all. We could continue to develop the secondary plan (it's good), but now it would have the distinction of being the primary plan. That even sounds better.

We already know how to dig ditches in this province, and people like them. We have the award-winning Floodway as evidence. It works! Point Douglas Island ... Isle Point Douglas. Yeah, we'll need a few new bridges, but alternative ideas to save the millions of dollars in new spans are not listened to. Apparently there's big money out there to pay for these conveyors of cars. Let's get in on that. Saving the Louise Bridge for more contemporary uses hasn't flown -- er, floated. This new island could then secede from the City. How could we pay for and sustain it?

Here we go! Tariff incomes from freight trains moving down the CPR mainline and revenue tolls from the cars and mostly trucks passing through or over our little community would go towards financing our endeavours here in the Point. What about garbage pick up, you say? As I look out at the ice and high water heading downstream the solution seems obvious. Already there's all description of garbage floating by. That's it! We just head down to the majestic Red and toss our trash in. It floats away or sinks; either way, no longer our problem. It's a time-honoured tradition.

Madness? Absolutely! What better time to launch an insane scheme such as this than right now. Today! Our riverbank has been considerable altered by the spring floodwaters. When the waters recede (and they will), we'll be left with a sparkling new topography, a clean slate. We could maintain water levels on the Red to accommodate year-round activity. There a unique idea, control the Red: boating in summer, skating and ice fishing in winter, dragon boat and 'duckie' races. We could also find things to do on the other 360 days of the calendar. I still like the green 'model community' idea with orchards along Higgins Avenue and hey, throw in some market gardens to further enhance our incomes and identities.

What about a greeting posted on all entries into our new island sanctuary. We could post these signs next to the toll gates: Point Douglas -- Hell AND High Water.    

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Wind from the South - #8
By Jordan Van Sewell

I have come up with some real gems when exploring solutions and alternatives for our community. Who could forget the brain wave of trenching out the Red River to create an island-- pure gold! The idea of Higgins Avenue being reconfigured as a meandering roadway flanked with orchards and multipurpose Euro-style buildings—priceless! The Louise Bridge without cars and trucks--unbelievable!

Let me just say that I have sat at meetings with senior (they don’t come any bigger) politicians representing the city and the province and that my suggestions for the neighbourhood pale in comparison to ideas brought forward at those tables. How about the notion of the Point (currently under change of ownership) being designated as a provincial park? What about a Manitoba Hydro geothermal plant (it hasn’t worked elsewhere yet) in South Point Douglas to heat and cool the new construction that is coming?

It’s not just refreshing to listen to elected visionaries share their ideas, it’s inspiring. Whenever I’ve presented ideas like the moat, the orchards, or the ‘history bridge’ as components to creating a model, progressive, 21^st century community I am viewed as a bearded freak living in a tiny fantasy world. Wait! I am a …

To hear lofty proposals from bona fide officials reassures me and the community that we’ve got something going here and that it’s not going to go away. This could mean that the new optimism prevalent in South Point Douglas may manifest as the new jewel in this prairie crown that we call home.

However …and there’s always a caveat, always a rub. How to you get the feds, the province, and the city to all sit down and nod in agreement? They did it at the Forks. Look at the Disraeli debacle. Not good. The city jobbed out the studies needed to go ahead with this project, the pedestrian bridge and the improved traffic lanes. There was no consensus. The process was completely dissatisfying and some think the outcome flawed and tainted. What are we getting? I still don’t know.

It seems that getting these things done once they’re in motion doesn’t get any easier. Perhaps the summary of the secondary plan and the emergence of the South Point Douglas Residents Association can help make further sense of it. I personally look forward to reporting in the next issue how many of these dreams move closer to happening.

Welcome back, Steve Wilson. What was that all about?

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Wind from the South - #9
By Jordan Van Sewell

I sat down with Ross McGowan at Centre Venture last month. When I stood up it’d been concluded that including South Point Douglas in the jurisdiction of Centre Venture Corporation (CVC) would be a really good thing. Readers may recall some of the past accomplishments of this organization. There was for instance, that little thing called The Forks. This would be a natural fit for the area and CVC mandate, enhancing the diversity we’ve talked about over here. This would include housing and businesses co-existing in harmony in the universe. Come on! It’s the fortieth anniversary of Woodstock after all. Councilor Pagtakhan heads up the Centre Venture board. I’ll be lobbying Mike to get us on course. Now that we have a full slate on the newly minted South Point Douglas Residents’ Association, we can sound our voice together to direct our goals for the area. 

Someone who introduced themselves as ‘Anonymous’ suggested that the done deal on the Disraeli is not such a done deal. Everyone will recall the frustration that came from the charade, er, charrette with regards to the possible configurations of bridges, vehicle, cycling, pedestrian and otherwise that would further dissect our communities. I remain a total fan of the Louise: the Historic Louise Bridge Walking Bridge and the Waterfront Drive continuation down Higgins and up Sutherland to join Main Street somewhere around Redwood. 

I now sit as co-chair of the Residents Association over here. Joanne Vanderhorst is my wife and co-chair. Surely this doesn’t look as handing gravy to my spouse. The fact that these are not paid positions is revealing. It remains important in a town like Winnipeg that nepotism and awarding paid positions to friends never enter into the mix, because everyone eventually knows the situation. It’s a bad thing. 

On a pleasant note, King John is doing a number on the coolest building to escape the demolition frenzy in the South Point. The emergence of the Braunstein Block on Higgins is something to watch for. I know John will set the benchmark high for both restoration and reuse of one of our few remaining historic landmarks. 

Can anyone make sense of where the Provincial Park for the Point stands? The other 3-P--we were caught off guard and completely unprepared when the announcement appeared in the Press. This great idea, as put forward by our Premier, seems to have been totally lost. It’s a shame. My imploring letter to the editor to keep the momentum on this going never made it to publication. Seems it was beat out by the letter of appeal from the little girls wanting a water park like Ottawa has. Ah, those little scamps. So now the best of the grand ideas to come our way--from putting the CPR through here to the stadium thing (can’t leave it alone) … seems like it’s gone. 

Let’s get it rolling! I don’t know exactly how to go about it. It is after all the fortieth anniversary of Woodstock. Did I mention that? So let’s do what they did. Let’s kick some hippies’ butts. Sorry!! Now, that I’ve assumed the position of co-chair, I must remember to temper my views to create a better fit in the mainstream. Like that’ll happen.

Wind from the South -  #10
By Jordan Van Sewell

Well, it’s done. Congratulations to our new premier. Greg Selinger is a man well-known to the streets of our city and the concerns of our province. He worked the North End for years and was instrumental in developing Whittier Park, that great green space at the mouth of the Seine River and just across the water from our own proposed site of the Point Douglas Provincial Park.

Everyone should check out the location. The southern half is behind a locked gate; however, through the trees you can see the smokestack and the buildings that comprised Gateway Industries. The rest of the land adjoins the Louise Bridge and the former Point Douglas Yacht Club. Beyond that is more evidence of failed technology and abandoned industry now brightly painted with shake cans by graffiti artists. One can begin to wonder just how a provincial park would look and just what purpose it might serve. If the park went on to include both sides of the Red with a connecting foot bridge, we could really have something: a designated park from the Provencher to the Redwood bridges.

Plan Winnipeg is having a stakeholders gathering on October 24^th to discuss the future of parks in the city. We have a lot of wonderful green spaces now. Both Assiniboine and Kildonan Parks define Winnipeg, and it’s difficult to imagine our city without them. We also have Inkster Industrial, Moray Industrial, and Fort Garry Industrial Parks. These are less green and serve a different purpose in my understanding of parks. We also have a skate park on Sturgeon Road and a world class skate park at the Forks. We even have auto parks where you can buy a car. I guess swings and a slide no longer define what a park is.

Can a park be of benefit to our community here? Absolutely! Hey, it’s already a shade of green space down at the site. Currently it has limited use, mainly riverbank fires provisional campsites. It seems occasional litterbugs (a generous word) still use these areas as a dumping ground for their refuse, a modern nuisance grounds.

So what will this park look like? Maybe I should temper my enthusiasm. Skeptics say it’ll never happen. The ground has to be cleaned up, and that’s a big job. The City and the Province must work together. The decision makers must see the value of considering this park in the context of what is all around. The Disraeli Bridge design and the future use of the Louise Bridge must be considered. That’s an even bigger job.

What about a living park that reflects the needs and the future of the area, a park that has orchards and gardens where you can watch things grow through the seasons … and then eat them. What about housing and business? It’s necessary to alter our understanding of how a park looks and serves. The 19^th century that provided the design for parks as we know then is over. The 21^st century has different needs. Is it still a park?

Further to the September ‘Wind From the South’ column, Centre Venture Development Corporation was established in 1999 with the initial goal of steering the rebirth of downtown. It’s an advocate and catalyst for business investment, development, and economic growth in downtown Winnipeg. It develops and implements strategies to identify and capitalize on economic, physical, and social development opportunities. For additional information, check out the Centre Venture website, www.centreventure.com, phone 954-7733, or drop by their office at 492 Main Street.

Wind From the South - Shed Living at its Best - #11
By Jordan Van Sewell

Back in the nineteen hundred and seventies I worked as a brakeman on freight trains in Saskatchewan. We’d roll through towns that still held evidence of the Depression. The cabooses I worked and lived on came from the nineteenth century. Those times are gone.

My closer inspection of these prairie towns revealed a subculture I’d never experienced. It was shed living at its best. Whether it was a farmer whose family had moved him into town or a remittance man whose disgrace elsewhere had brought him to hide out in a small town, the result was the same. They could continue to live independently with dignity.

About the same time in history you could walk through Watrous, Saskatchewan and experience a shtetl you might also have found in prewar Romania. Rows of tiny little houses, most used seasonally, offering everything from a massage to palm reading or tinctures and poultices to heal or to aid a condition.

Winnipeg’s North End had the same thing going on. Immigrants (weren’t we all) would build a shed on their residential lot. When good times rolled in, a ‘proper’ house was built in front and the shed became the back porch, the summer kitchen. For some newcomers the promised prosperity of the new country never materialized and while their neighbours’ homes grew in size, theirs did not. Typically these small shed homes never changed, and there are surviving examples throughout older Winnipeg neighbourhoods as well as most prairie towns.

More recently I’ve witnessed an alternative variety of homes in Mexico. People there build to their own means. It’s good. Separate residences can be built onto existing homes. It could be for a returning or aging family member or to accommodate newlyweds. All of these examples offer a sensibility that coexists within the community, an element that describes and defines a good human condition.

So what about the needs of our community? How can these anecdotal tales pertain to our situation? We certainly don’t want to return to the problems of former rooming house models that we’ve only recently turned around. The ‘market’ has been describing the near-future in which smaller condominiums will be desired--smaller in both square footage and price. This will be welcome and may work, but not right here, right now.

I am proposing a model not that different from what that guy was doing over on Horace Street in St. Boniface and similar to what Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys lives in. Of course a little tin garden shed is inadequate and unfit. Prefab units can be built off-site, trucked in, and hooked up to the grid in existing backyards in our community. There’s no assurance they’d come with the same compassion and responsibility that Bubbles and the Horace Street tenants enjoyed. That is something that society needs to learn.

I understand these models have been called ‘granny shacks’ or something similar. A project like this would offer a number of things--first, a residence for those currently without homes or in a transitional state and those who don’t want to go to a large, impersonal facility that is perhaps dangerous and inhumane. Second, the owner/host/landlord/sponsor has both a charge they are responsible for and a modest supplementary income from their new tenant. These relationships strengthen and diversify our community.

We need to turn some things around here. We’ve got to involve the marginalized and include them in our future. Society should be inclusive. Let’s preserve something that will remind us we’re social animals. Hey, let’s call it preservation. That’s what I’m talking about.  ♦

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