McFadyen's plan raises ire of Point Douglas resident

Sel Burrows, who lives in a 100-year-old house in Point Douglas and is the co-chair of the Point Douglas housing committee, said he was shocked to read in the newspaper on Saturday about McFadyen's plans for his neighbourhood.

Burrows said to his knowledge nobody from the McFadyen team consulted with any Point Douglas groups prior to making his pledge.

"If people want to do politics they should talk to people first," he said. "Communities are important and human beings are important. They should be respected before politicians go about making grandiose plans without them."

On Friday, McFadyen made a splashy presentation with a video and artists' conceptual drawings about a proposal to completely overhaul the neighbourhood and call it The Point.

The concept includes building loft apartments, a boardwalk, a beach and a man-made lake. It would require most of the existing structures to be bulldozed.

McFadyen's plan is just a concept - he put no money on the table towards it.

He said what he did was lay out a long term vision.

"We won't proceed without consultation and buy-in from existing residents," said McFadyen. "We think a vibrant, urban village is a good thing for our city. And we think Point Douglas has the greatest potential as a renewed urban village."

But Burrows says Point Douglas doesn't need to be redone the way McFadyen is suggesting. He said the perception of most Winnipeggers that Point Douglas is a slum with no redeeming qualities is just plain wrong.

"There are still some issues in Point Douglas but we're improving," said Burrows. "As far as we're concerned we've turned the corner."

He said on his street, one entire side has been completely redone and there are no dilapidated homes left. He said government grants to help residents fix up their homes don't get a lot of attention from the general public but have made a big difference in his neighbourhood.

He said there are people on his street that put in geothermal heat pumps and others with gardens which would rival those in Wolseley.

And he said the community housing committee is working successfully with rooming house landlords to take advantage of the government grants to fix up their buildings. Over 65 per cent of residents now own their homes in the neighbourhood, said Burrows.

And the residents are a good mix of low-income families, artists, retirees and long-time residents.

"We don't want to gentrify it," he said. Burrows is the first to admit his neighbourhood has problems.

"I don't want to white wash things," he said. "There is crime. But it's nothing like it used to be and it's nothing like it's perceived to be."

Burrows said he understands McFadyen's promise is a vision not an actual plan, but he said it's still not fair for a politician to make a promise like that without consulting the people it will affect first.

"You have to think of the impact," said Burrows. "I'll take him on a walking tour after the election and show him stuff. There are real issues in Point Douglas still but we're well on our way."

McFadyen said he would love to take Burrows up on his offer. He said he went on a self-guided walking tour as the Point Douglas development concept was taking shape.

McFadyen said he didn't consult residents there before making the promise because doing so can be an issue when you're campaigning, but he said he has considered the issue of people who live there.

He also said he didn't expect everyone to be on board.

"With every proposal there are opponents every single step of the way," he said.

Point Douglas is a relatively small enclave - less than two square kilometres - east of Main Street that is marked out by a bend in the Red River near the Louise Bridge and the Disraeli Bridge. It reaches to Redwood Avenue in the north and Higgins Avenue in the south.

It started out life in the 1880s as a relatively affluent community, home to most of the city's business entrepreneurs. But its proximity to the railway morphed it into a more industrial area.

It is still heavily industrial, particularly in the southern half, but northern Point Douglas is much more populated, with many residential streets.

■ mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 20, 2007 $sourceSection$sourcePage