Oakland Raiders Versus Green Bay Packers August 11, 2019

There will always be controversy about this game in Winnipeg where Oakland Raiders played Green Packers in Week 3 of the Exhibition Season for ticket prices that even the more ardent fans in the U.S. would have rejected wholeheartedly.

Me above. This fall I'm working on no sugar drinks. I started earlier this year just to be overwhelmed by my mom's heart attack just as I had shed some weight in the four weeks before. This fall I am now having to re-locate my business after 12 years in the same spot. Wish me luck.

In any event, I enjoyed the game despite the 80 yard field that Green Bay insisted upon and the pulling of 33 of their players to sit out the game. I had free tickets with my brother and family as a result of work done last minute to assist the game getting done.

It seems no NFL teams should be criticizing Winnipeg's field when Oakland's has looked like below for years.

For the middle of August it was not a blazing hot day or even amazingly bright. IG Field can be a steamy sweatbox in August for Bombers game. I went to the game with my brother and his girlfriend. The road was not nearly as crowded as it would be for a sell-out game though. A lot of tickets went out the last day or two but no one knew what attendance would ultimately be. My brother below.

Despite the high ticket prices people were festive in various NFL jerseys with both lots of Green Bay and Raiders wear being worn.

Without first comment, the rest of the pics that day. I had a good time even no regular players played and the field was short and there was no additional NFL experience such as a tailgate party. But then, I didn't pay hundreds of dollars.

How to Act During an Attack

It happened Edmonton, it can happen anywhere. It happened in Ottawa. It can happen anywhere.

I'm no security expert and not a member of law enforcement but I do take some responsibility for my own well being. It doesn't have to be unnatural either. Parents watch over children, women assess their safety all the time,  we all lock our doors in houses and cars. It only takes one time such as losing a child in the store for a time, feeling menaced walking somewhere or having something stolen from you from an unlocked property to make one change their behaviour.

I will cross the street every time when someone I don't know approaches during certain hours. Why? Because I've been attacked. My experience tells me that if I don't know the person, it could be dangerous. I don't base it on gender, race or possible religion. Often in Winnipeg on a dark street and in the cold you don't know anything discernible about who approaches. I assess the situation, cross and give myself options.

Situation awareness.

I don't want to be paranoid but good situational awareness becomes a habit. I lock my car and house, know where my family is to get in touch, let people know where I am, never assume nothing can happen and when I go somewhere, I know how I'm getting out.

When I left for the Soviet Union when the Cold War was heating up, my parents told me if something went wrong, they'd meet me in Finland and to cross the border somehow.  My mother was joking but also she was not. As it turned out, the Soviet hosts kept me longer than anticipated and I have no easy way to let them know. In the end, it was the Moscow CBC correspondent who helped get word to my family.

People get scared. It doesn't matter if it is a fire or if they hear an explosion. It is okay to be frightened but most people who hear a fire alarm don't hide under the bed. It is deeply ingrained in us to look for the exit. Most places now before a meeting advise people just as if they are in an airplane where the exits are. We often ignore the repeated warning but it seems many of us have learned it by rote. It is always amazing how many people file out safely and how many lives are saved as a result.

Security has been enhanced at many events people go to. It doesn't matter if it is the Ex or a Jets game. Security will go through bags and use a wand or even pat you down. Today, the IGF field where the Blue Bomber play was putting up cement barricades to block truck attacks. Plans still remain to put bollards around the police headquarters to do the same thing. However, as has recently been shown, the vulnerabilities can be just outside the security perimeter. You cannot rely on help being readily available or timely.

We already take precautions now when we go out. We try not be alone or if we have to be, walk in a lit area and try to be aware of the situation around us. We let people know where we are, when we are expected home and who we are with. We need to be more vigilant about it.

Winnipeg, despite its reputation, is generally safe for many people. Most of the violence in this city is drug or alcohol related, happens between people who usually know each other, is often associated with criminal enterprise, rarely related to politics or religion. It often has a race component but not specifically a race crime although there is likely debate on that. Residents of the city have not experienced an attack that seems to happen all to regularly elsewhere.

We can't be smug about it though. Despite a diverse and generally welcoming population today, there have been people here on watch lists and a former resident of Charleswood died in Ontario in a failed attempt at terrorism. Other residents have disappeared and are suspected of joining overseas organizations fighting possibly in Africa. We just don't know.

The only thing we can do as residents and when we travel is have a plan. Don't be paralyzed, don't be indecisive, assess risk and move. If someone you know is hurt, move them or drag them to safety. Two people were shot while doing CPR in Las Vegas. Like being on water, move a person to where revival techniques are safer for both.

Canadians are all over the world. It is probably best to remember there is not an invisible shield around you. Be careful and not a naif ready to get in trouble. Enjoy yourself wherever you are but no what your situation is to avoid robbery, terrorism and violence. When in doubt... move. Get out of the danger area. Most times nothing will ever happen. However, just as in a fire or if your plane goes down in the Hudson, be ready and act. Shock is something you can let happen after you are safe.

Everyone be careful out there and take care of one another.

ESPN Attended Blue Bomber Game

Drew Willy Celebrate Wins Over Toronto

ESPN's Peter King was at the Winnipeg Blue Bomber game last Thursday as they faced off against the Toronto Argonauts. This is what he reported.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers hadn’t done a lot of winning the past two years. Last season’s record was a dismal 3-15. Now, they were starting over, with a defensive scheme no one seemed to know anything about, and a new starting quarterback, Drew Willy, who had only a smattering of spot starts to his name at any level of professional football.

But it’s the same thing we say about parents: They worry because they love you. And boy, do Winnipeggers love their Blue Bombers. That only deepened when the NHL skipped town for 15 years, leaving the Canadian Football League Bombers as this sports town’s pro team.

And of course we apologized about the weather as ESPN was here as well.

However, he was impressed with us even with a tepid turn out as people still stewed from last year's terrible performance.

So when Willy completed his first drive ever as a professional QB1 with a 27-yard touchdown pass—one of those fade routes that works so well in the vast 20-yard CFL end zones—there was a cavalcade of noises. Where were we, Seattle? The Bombers’ modern, U-shaped stadium looks like the Seahawks’ CenturyLink Field, and for being half the size—and far from full last night—it sounded a little like it, too.

They ring cowbells here (a crossover from the sport of curling, one of the locals said) and, after every score, a little bomber jet driven by “Captain Blue” takes a spin around the end zone printed with the University of Manitoba seal. The Bombers’ 7-0 lead over the Toronto Argonauts was cause enough for a “LET’S GO BOMBERS!” chant to reverberate off the tin roof.

Compared to noisy Seattle?

And ESPN's concluding remarks:

Sure, leads have a way of vanishing in the CFL. The game moves so quickly, and inside the three-minute warning, the clock stops after every play. But this wasn’t a tease, not for those fans in the stands who have had season tickets in their family for more than 50 years, dating back to the dynasty years of Ken Ploen and Bud Grant. No, last night, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers knocked off the best quarterback in the league and the would-be favorite in the CFL’s Eastern Conference, and the score—45-21—wasn’t even close.

“The fans needed this win,” O’Shea said. “This community needed it. That’s important, too.”

After the game, Willy found out that his friends back in the States were able to watch him play on ESPN 3. Then, he picked up his game check from a staffer sitting on a folding chair in the hallway.

This is the charm of the CFL. As fans sing over the national anthem at Bombers games, God keeps their land glorious and blue.

Investors Group Field: A Problem with NO Solution unless...

Investors Group Field, Southwood Gold Club just north

There is no solution for the logistical nightmare of Investors Group Field.

Blame the federal Conservative Party of Canada and the Stephen Harper government and particularly Vic Toews and Rod Bruinooge for this. When the predominantly female crowd at the Taylor Swift concert this Saturday have one very bad day getting to the venue...the heat will really rise.

Lost in all the recriminations is the fact that it was Vic Toews who rejected all other sites for the stadium in exchange for the $15 million federal dollars. The argument was he could justify it for university sports but not a CFL team. Of course it had nothing to do with it being a Conservative riding they were hoping to hold in the next election.

Anyway, let's set aside that for now. Stadium is built. By all accounts the building was accepted by fans if they actually got into it.

At the moment, there seems no way to alleviate impending doom of concerts, Friday games, university in the fall and carmageddon.

The screams will only get louder.

In short:

* It will take a lot of buses for the city to serve concert and football games. They need a clear route through for park and ride to the stadium and then out again.

* Bikes are a new aspect of concert and football attendance. They too need clear routes and enough stands to park. Even at the best of times they can be congested as it will probably take several minutes for a bike to be locked and unlocked and a group of people to enter and exit the site. Still, not a bad day if you have time and space. However, it won't be popular in snow in October or November.

* Walking. A mainstay of the old stadium. People used to park across the river and walk 30 minutes to Polo Park. People used to park in the industrial areas, the West End...all over for Canad Inn Stadium. The ability to park in neigbourhoods is limited in Fort Garry. There will be spots along Pembina. Some will become the favourites for fans. But you have to know where they are, how to get to them, be able to get to them and then have a clear way to walk to the stadium.

Bomber management and the city are left now to deal with the federal decision on the location and the provincial decision to fund that location at all costs.

It seems unlikely a solution can be found because the bottlenecks are almost too numerous to count.

As many have said, what is needed is a lot of parking nearby. 5000 spots that spread out over campus and a few thousand more spread out along Pembina are still too few.

I know University of Manitoba is loath to do but here is the solution:

Turn the entire Southwood Golf Club between Markham Road and Snow Street and University Crescent into a gravel parking lot beside the Investor's Group Field.

It is no secret that Markham Road has long been used by Victoria Hospital employees and University of Manitoba student to avoid paying for parking. Don't believe me. Look:

Markham at University Crescent...Student heaven

Markham cuts right through the old golf course.

The city and province already favour this route or something along this line as a transit corridor to the university. It is forecast that $18 million will be spent. I think that is lowballing it since major work needs to be done on Pembina to make it an effective rapid transit route. Nevertheless, the road is there now. How hard to run buses down and have a path to the stadium?

Oh my...stadium off Markham...so close

Markham is already a parking lot.

Cars, cars, car as far as the eye can see on Markham

Should not the golf course between Markham and the stadium be at at least considered for temporary parking?

Look at at all that space

Look at all those cars

It seems the province and city should work together, promise the University of Manitoba other logistical solutions regarding the transit corridor will be worked on but in the mean time: Pave that golf course! Or at the very least put gravel on it.

My personal bet is that you could put thousands of cars there and runs hundreds of buses down Markham.

I realize many people might not like this idea and the University probably fears the permanence of it. It need not be that way.

I still think at some point there will be parkades across from the stadium with overpass or underpasses.

Parkade me, please!

No doubt this could serve university interests and Bomber interests but the price tag for parkades on those two lots are probably a shade under $100 million.

It is going to be hard to stick to your guns on not using the golf course when disaster repeats itself over and over.

Well, there you have it. A solution. It has its own problems but one thing is certain: The Southwood Golf Course will be developed. Why not create this temporary measure on unused property now.

Two Story Target Polo Park

2 Story Target in Minneapolis

2 story Target in East Liberty, Pittsburgh

It seemed obvious that the 97,000 square feet on second floor occupied by Zellers in Polo Park was a poor choice for a Target store. The site was too small and poor for carts laden with groceries and goods to move about on a snow packed and crowded upper parking deck.

As much as Polo Park might have loved to have them to be in the mall, owners Cadillac Fairfiew probably saw the problems it might pose for for the store and for them. With that in mind, Cadillac Fairview partnered with Shindico for Plan B.

This plan entailed offering to buy the Canad Inns Stadium following the end of this season, demolishing it and trying to entice Target to build a Super Target on the site. A purchase offer was agreed upon and a initial plans were drawn up but no firm commitment was made until now.

Target has now confirmed they are the anchor tenant on the old Winnipeg Stadium site. However, since the initial design was introduced, Target has now changed things up and adopted a style that has been used for more urban locations.

Back in June, I said Target had abandoned Polo Park for the stadium site and in August, I mentioned how Target was developing an urban design. In many cases, the new stores were re-developments of older buildings for a particular type of shopper that needed certain things. The stores were smaller, often a few stories and geared to take Target to markets it had not been in before.

What I wasn't aware of was that Target had created another little pilot project in retailing that was suitable for northern climates and melded some of the ideas it was using in its urban stores.

In 2011, Target created a new concept store in Pittsburgh's East Liberty district. Since the 1960s, city planners and local business developers failed in a plan to support the area with catastrophic choices that destroyed a million square feet of local businesses, re-routed roads, turned many one way and then to added unattractive and low income housing complexes rising 20 stories high.

The largely black neighbourhood of East Liberty was a logistical nightmare of roads that were difficult to navigate, devoid of businesses needed in the community and with housing complexes that were both ugly and dangerous. The area was blighted.

It is not surprising that the Pittsburgh neighbourhood welcomed a new concept Target that the retailer proposed for the area. Local officials first had to offer subsidies, building loans and revert one way roads back to two way.

And what Target built in East Liberty was a two story building with parking tucked under its footprint and something that their suburban stores didn't have: windows on all four sides. They also made a commitment that the store would have fresh produce, a welcome addition for those making the store one of their primary grocers. At 144,000 square feet and around 250 jobs, the store was large enough to serve the needs of the community as a whole.

Now, let's be clear: Polo Park is no East Liberty. For the last 50 years Polo Park has a going concern and the most successful retail area in Manitoba. The location at one point may have been considered a suburb but now it sits sort of at the halfway point between the downtown and city limits. It is close to two major roads: Portage Avenue and Kenaston Route 90. The mall is also surrounded on three sides by residential development and occupies the southern tip of an airport industrial area.

As most will attest, the roads that generally support the airport industrial area are narrower as befitting a business park. The commercialization of St. James as a retail centre has accelerated in recent years and the traffic has gotten to be a headache. The old Winnipeg Arena is gones as is the old CKY building. Both have been swallowed up by Polo Park extending its reach to Maroons Road. The area is now being developed as a mix of retailing and offices.

The Canad Inn Stadium is not long for this world. Two more games remain of the Blue Bomber season and the play-offs this year is not in the cards. As soon as everything is packed up in the dressing rooms, the site will be demolished to make way for the the sale of the site for Target and two other stores. The $30 million dollar price tag will pay for $20 million of road upgrades. Other money will be allocated to the Active Living Centre at the University of Manitoba.

So what will this Target look like? Well, it won't look like any of the other thus far planned in Canada. The retailer has decided that Polo Park is an "urban" location and as such in need of a more urban design. Although East Liberty, Pittsburgh and Polo Park, Winnipeg are far removed in many circumstances, they share the fact that they are in established neighbourhoods, in northern climate and with only so much space to work. The above pictures of East Liberty's Target are what we will see in Winnipeg.

There will be some differences. The store will use red brick in construction and feature a Target logo on the roof which will be easy to spot for air traffic. However, the design will be essentially the same: 145,000 square feet, windows on all sides and parking tucked under the footprint of the store.

SuperTargets are generally around 175,000 square feet. However, regular Targets are around 126,000 feet. This will be a different animal and probably be one of the first of this new breed of stores for Canada in established neighbourhoods.

In terms of size comparison to other future Target sites like Grant Park mall, the size of the Zellers there is 116,000 square feet.

There are a number of hurdles to cross yet not the least of which is what to do with the roads. The road in front of Canad Inn Stadium now is a rutted mess. Empress and Milt Steagall Drive and good candidates for making one way streets. However, making one ways all over the place will create its own problems of accessing businesses and the like.

There will be many who complain about are car-centric country. It is hard to disagree with what is being said. However, change does not happen in a vacuum. Try to force people what to do and they will vote with their feet. Vancouver prevented Wal-Mart from locating in the the city and residents there simply went to suburbs and beyond.

The best thing to do is to keep working to improve areas a bit at a time. Mass transit connections, bike paths, density, mixed use buildings and trying to use a smaller footprint. Cars are not going to disappear because we want them to but because they have become too expensive or less convenient.

The new Target at Polo Park addresses a few things in design and footprint that might make it a lot better retailing experience. To be sure, it will be welcomed by consumers in this city who have long not been overly impressed with Zellers over the years.

The city has to do its part on infrastructure and roads and to push more strongly for design improvements and service roads inside a major development. All in all, a good development this far. And let's not forget, the space in Polo Park that Zellers vacates might be ideal for H&M to finally come to the city.

Orbit for London, Grounded for Winnipeg?

The new Orbit Tower in London outside Olympic Stadium

In the days leading up to the next Olympics in London, the city has opened one of the most expensive, largest and tallest exhibits of public art in the world. It will overlook the games stadium and be available over to ticket holders attending the event. In case you haven't guessed it, you can climb it like you would the Eiffel Tower. To be sure, there has always been delight in seeing things from high.

Britain already scored big at the beginning of the millennium with the The Eye ferris wheel. It is the most visted attraction in the country now.

In all the debate about waterparks and stadium, one wonders if Winnipeg might be up for something like The Eye on Parcel 4 or a tower overlooking Investor's Group Field for women's soccer in 2015.

Manitoba and Winnipeg's 150th birthday is coming up: what will be the grand projects that will fire the public's imagination?

FIFA Women's World Cup Comes to Winnipeg in 2015

In terms of sports, this ranks up there with one of the greatest moments in Winnipeg history. The announcement that 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup soccer will be played in the city. Now, don't get me wrong, the city has hosted some amazing national and international sports events but this is truly a global spectacle.

The last World Cup played in Germany in 2011 saw Japan win in a incredible shoot out. Monster crowds watched and monster TV ratings ensued throughout world-wide (although only the final games in the U.S. produced big numbers).

Canada, eliminated from the final rounds, still had many people riveted to CBC and Rogers coverage. It was compelling TV and the country embraced it despite having our national team out of it.

The Germans sold out all 32 games played in 8 venues. It should be interesting to note that Investor's Group Field would have been bigger than all but three of the stadiums that hosted the 2011 games.

A lot more excitement will be coming with the games as Canada prepares a team that has done no better than 4th place in the biggest soccer event in the world. After the winter Olympics in Vancouver, there is a realization that to place high requires a ramping up of all that is needed to perform well. The best results ever in those games didn't come overnight and one can expect as much for the cup.

Every teenage girl playing soccer in Canada will no doubt think about the coming games. Some will be good enough to make the team. Parents should be aware that elite athlete training will be kicking it up a notch from here on in.

For the fans, breadcrumbs of the emblem and mascot will be dangled before us. Announcements of TV coverage, game schedules and right at end, team rosters is going to build excitement.

Winnipeg will one of only six cities in Canada hosting the games. The others are Vancouver, Edmonton, Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton. Halifax dropped out when cash strapped Nova Scotia and the federal government refused to put up any money for a new stadium. Shame. I think a new stadium would have equalled a CFL team in the newly muscular Halifax.

As for Toronto, they are cursing these last days about why Winnipeg gets the FIFA Word Cup and they get the 2015 Pan Am Games. How soon they forget. It wasn't too far back that the two time Olympics loser was wondering what event with some world class credentials they could land. Some wondered how Winnipeg was able to land the Pam Ams in 1967 and 1999 and thought: If they can do it, so can we.

Well, now some of the citizenry of Toronto are eyeing the soccer that will be drawing millions upon millions of viewers and wondering if they did't pick the wrong thing to stake their claim to. Can't be helped now.

Nothing Winnipeg has done in sport and sporting events to date comes close to tourist and TV bonanza that the Women' s World Cup will begin.

All it all happens sooner than we think. The private sector and three levels of government need to start getting this right and fast. The entire tourism ad campaign should focus on this when seen across Canada and internationally. Key will be to sell out all the games, then fill all the hotels, all the restaurants and then make sure we treat the media that visits the city for the event like we celebrate like this all the time.

I'm not quite sure the people of the city know just how big this will all be. Even though they are playing out of just one venue, this is the biggest sporting event Winnipeg has ever held.

It is going to be good.