Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Chilli Chutney Brings Street East Indian Kitchen to Kenaston
Sunday, May 28, 2023
May Long Weekends
There is meaning behind both day although a lot of it seems lost in the rush to get to campground or beach.
Given geography, it might have been better for each country to exchange the week. Canada’s May 24 is often three different weather events over three days from snow, rain to sun. A week later might at least drop the snow part.
As for the U.S., they seem to have a lot of severe late May weather. Still, the general feeling is that the weekends are the kick off of summer as school age kids have that last weekend before most end school in the weeks ahead.
Travel is usually required. And barbecue and family often a must. As my dad was a teacher, the Victoria Day weekend was a getaway to either Grand Forks or Fargo. We didn’t get as far as Minneapolis except when travelling in the longer summer break.
Others in Manitoba took the time to officially open the cottage if it hadn’t been open already. As mentioned the weeks leading up to the May Long could be fabulous or terrible. A cottage weekend on Victoria could be three days of cold rain playing cribbage, trivial pursuit or puzzles. High speed, cable and satellite are more recent cottage attractions. Still, not every cottage is so equipped.
In Winnipeg, those remaining in the city made a sci-fi weekend a main attraction. And it should be pointed out that not everyone travels. For university and college students, it is a busy work weekend.
However, for our family, it was a chance to be in a pool, shop at stores not yet arrived in Canada and watch more TV channels and programs than we thought possible.
For Canadians, the Memorial weekend in the States meant the kick off the Hollywood blockbuster from the mid 1970s on. This weekend, of course, is Disney with a live version of The Little Mermaid.
But it also means seeing channels with Memorial Day programming. This means movies about war, many WWII movies. The second war is as important to Canada as it is to the States and Hollywood made a few films with Canadian angles. However, we did not have the industry then that we do today. Nor do we do nearly enough Canadian stories for the big screen. Blackberry this past month in the first in a long while that we have seen.
Still, the two weekends represent family, friendship and a chance to do something we don’t do nearly enough, get together and share something in common.
Saturday, May 20, 2023
The Portage Place Proposal
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
Office/Warehouse Conversions to Apartments/Condos
Warehouses are not the only buildings being converted to residential units in Winnipeg and around North America. Office buildings are being converted or adapted to apartments and condos right in the city. This is a good thing but its only now gaining steam, Just as it took the Exchange District many decades to see warehouses adapted, it is a slow process to get offices converted. The Ashdown Warehouse and Prairie Housing Co-Op in the 1980s were but the first although many arts studios in the area have always doubled for apartments even if not lawfully zoned that way.
It is difficult to create connectivity between living units spread out as such. They grow organically with some economic supports. They trigger further developments such as Waterfront Drive which is probably Winnipeg's most successful new downtown housing development now into it's second stage. Just prior to the pandemic, the entire downtown was starting to show the vitality that gave people real optimism about where things were going. In 2023, it has been a slow process recovering. A lot of projects have taken a few years to build and are just leasing or selling now.
Above, the former United Growers Grain HQ which once housed 450 head office worker was converted over to a residential/office mix. The 433 Main Street location is a classic example of newer offices being adapted over rather sitting with a swath of unleased space. Office space is still used for the Passport Office but everything above the offices is now apartments. The company that did the Main Street conversion Alston is also converting over part of the offices at 175/185 Carlton. The picture up top is that building which has been part of the Lakeview Square office complex. Sometime this year 72 residential units will be built.Lakeview by the Convention Centre was one of the first mixed use facilities in Winnipeg and one wonders why it was not replicated more often after it was built in 1974. Even today, it has two residential towers, five office buildings and Winnipeg's largest hotel all connected via skywalk to the convention centre. Two of the low-rise officers that are adjoined are being converted to residential units. They should be right at home with the two other residential towers there. No changes are likely for the restaurants that have been there there for decades such as the Ichi-Ban.Sunday, April 30, 2023
Portage and Main Redesign
Monday, April 24, 2023
Charles Adler Returns to Winnipeg as Free Press Columnist
His longest turn was 17 years in the key morning slot on CJOB where he ruled the ratings. In 2015 though the station lost overall first to CBC and laid off people. It seemed a good time to go himself. The Jets 1.0 had left in 1996 and without a major league sport (aside from Bombers and Moose), they focused on their strength in the mornings and Adler came in to replace the legendary Peter Warren.
Warren had been in the job from 1971 to 1998 as an investigative reporter and broke stories his entire career, It was a hard act to follow even for an Emmy awarded broadcaster. But the ratings held for mornings even without the Jets back till 2011. But chaos in the radio world has been going on for decades. It is possible to make money in it but media empires routinely try to brand everything to squeeze out even higher margins. Eventually, people leave that mediocrity. And it leads to a shuffling of the decks. Winnipeg radio stations often see whole teams swapped and a format change to something called Bill or Sue that is being done in every other city. TV networks in Canada brand everything Global or CTV and try to erase any sense of location. CBC itself is repetitive in a one hour broadcast whether it is local news or national news.
That is not to say there are not great reporters or great reporting happening. There are and there is. There are quite a few who come and go. Oftentimes I wonder about the sausage making of who gets hired, retired or moves on. We don't have much in the way of media analysis here at a granular level. The Free Press publisher does do some informational posts regularly but mostly on data collected by the paper. Sometimes about personal things or upcoming stories.
In choosing Adler, it appears there are three regular male political columnists. There are two guest political contributors, one male and one female, who appear less frequently. There are two indigenous columnists, one male and one female, who often write on politics but not always. There is a sports columnist. There is one female general columnist.
There are special sections columnists, freelance ones and syndicated ones as well. The biographies give a general idea of what areas reporters and columnists write about. What would be clearer might be a publisher to explain how the newspaper works and why. Or editors explaining. A general wayfaring would be great. And I don't mean this to be critical. I mean this as a guide as important as an index listing. The reason I ask is because I'm not sure the mandate of the main columnists? Is it city hall, the province, the Feds? Do they have free reign?
I remember when I first heard Charles Adler in 1983 when he was at CKY Radio. The station actually had a news desk back then and he was news director. All of them covered sports and Jets were starting to be part of the daily conversation. But news was also covered by radio, TV and print journalists. It was possible to get a range of coverage from a variety of sources in a variety of mediums. It was the time of no Internet or Smart Phones. Adler was there a while but it was a time when people moved every few years. Eventually, Adler too was off to one of several locations until the pinnacle of radio jobs became available in 1998.
Peter Warren's decision to end his career at CJOB probably generated applications for the job from all over Canada. Spending 35 years at a job as highly rated and as compelling was rare even for the time. A lot of elections federally and provincially were probably won and lost in Winnipeg ridings because of his leader interviews. Who wouldn't want that type of stage or platform? So many great journalist and anchors have gotten a Manitoba start or have been part of the local excellence for years.
It was no wonder Charles Adler wanted the job and continued to have it from 1998 to 2015. CJOB burned through so many people in the 2000s. Being part of a corporate empire meant counting every penny to pay for massive debt for every acquisition. Meanwhile, CBC Radio which runs without commercials, largely stuck to its knitting with local and national coverage that reached number 1 overall in Winnipeg. Adler, could have likely continued for more years at CJOB but the layoffs in the station and sister stations but have felt toxic and sickening.
Adler, moved out to B.C. where some family was and continued to do work for Corus broadcasters in western Canada in different capacities until 2021. Geoff Currier took over and worked many years until retirement when Hal Anderson took over. Oddly enough, both radio hosts after Adler ran for city office.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that CJOB that many of the broadcasters at CJOB come from admittedly conservative backgrounds. Adler himself has admitted he was a paid member Conservative until Harper. He has probably been more forthcoming than some who came after him but CJOB has never been a FOX acolyte. It has right of centre hosts for its news shows or hosts who are straight news. Lately, they have been more light information which has seen them win one ratings period against CBC but not the most recent one.
Adler defended the CBC is one of his more recent columns when talking about his dad and his appreciation for the network. He mentioned as well that he would have likely voted for Kevin Chief had he been the leader of the NDP. We know he endorsed Glen Murray last election. We are not likely to see that type of column from Tom Broadbeck or Dan Lett who will write opinion but not endorsement.
It remains to be seen where Adler takes his column. And it is curious to what the expectations are from Free Press management and editors. To the present Conservatives, it probably doesn't matter. They do not like any kind of media as pointed out by Adler. He noted that Filmon and Doer both regularly spoke to media and they expected their ministers to as well. The present elected officials not so much.
There have been quite a lot of reporting changes at the Free Press. It sometimes pays to have a veteran presence to give context to what ahs happened in previous years. Goods as some reporters are, having institutional knowledge is effective in contrasting present issues.
Friday, April 21, 2023
Pierre Poilevere To End CBC If Elected
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
David's Bridal Goes Bankrupt. May Close all 12 Stores in Canada
It is unclear why the company with a rebounding wedding market is struggling so badly. It is another example of a U.S. company that might close their Canadian unit with no attempt to find a buyer in Canada. This was how Sears did it in Canada and so many others.
David's Bridal has been in Winnipeg since the early 2000s when Kenaston Common was built as the anchor Costco went up. With a jeweler in the same cluster of businesses, it seemed a can't lose location for a bridal shop.Tuesday, April 18, 2023
New Hampton Inn By Hilton to Open Fall 2023
The old hotel with the Rib Room and Tivoli Cafe was a popular destination for the business and lawyer crowd for years. The hotel was originally built in 1959 and had additional floor built in 1960 and for a time had 96 rooms. It also had one of the first patios and a swimming pool. Built as a motor hotel, it served the car traveller coming to town for leisure and business. In 1960, Winnipeg's downtown was hopping with business, shopping and entertainment.
Above is the supplied picture of what the new hotel will look like. It is not the only hotel is progress right now. It seems that work by the Sandman has been going on for years. The Windsor, the Pembina and the Cambridge all gone. The Marlborough is for sale. If one had to guess, it would not be too far fetched to think it might be a candidate for conversion to apartments.Sunday, April 16, 2023
George's Burger and Subs Coming to Tuxedo
Tuxedo Village Restaurant has had a few owners over the years. River Heights and Tuxedo suffer from a lack of restaurants. Lots of houses but not a lot of places to hang out, talk with folks and get a meal from breakfast to dinner. The closure of the Sal's where the present Liquor Mart is was particularly effective in removing a place that seniors to students used 24 hours. While I agreed a liquor store was well suited for the mall, Sal's disappeared. The nearest liquor store prior for River Heights and Tuxedo was some blocks away.A Timothy's and a Starbucks are opposite each other on this stretch of Corydon and of course there is Rumor's which has been around since the very early 1980s. However, a family restaurant is something every neighbourhood needs. It is tasty, covers the whole day for offerings, isn't overly pricey and knows the whole family. A lot of families drive out of the neighbourhood to find that because it isn't in their area.Tuxedo Village Restaurant was that place for many years. With the big grocery across the street, recreational facilities next door and the intersection of Tuxedo and Corydon right there, it was and still is the perfect location. Passing from owner to owner, it ought to have been an institution to last decades but alas, it wasn't.