Have Your Say

Improve wheelchair ramps

Re: City, province keen to renew deal, Dec. 16.

As a person who works in downtown Winnipeg, I was pleased to read about the financial commitment made by all three levels of government in support of the skywalk expansion project. However, as a wheelchair user who relies on the skywalk to get to and from work on a daily basis, I'm embarrassed to say the wheelchair ramps located throughout the skywalk system do not meet even the most basic standards for accessibility. Although I have not measured the ramps, it's a safe bet they all have an incline ratio exceeding the old 1:12 standard (newer universal design guidelines suggest a gentler incline of 1:16).

So perhaps Steven Fletcher, Steve Ashton and Sam Katz should insist on making the existing skywalk system truly accessible to people with disabilities before spending any public funds on the expansion project. For my part, I'd be more than happy to take them through the entire skywalk system and point out the problems. If Ashton and Katz are interested, I could certainly arrange to have a couple extra wheelchairs available so they too could take part in the dignity-crushing experience of having to flag down complete strangers in order to help push them up a ramp.

Toughen up reviews

The Free Press's current crop of concert reviewers provides effective, sometimes inspired, reports. However, in recent months its members have totally degraded the rating system.

It began with Gwenda Nemerofsky who has apparently never seen a performer or performance that is less than brilliant. She was quickly emulated by Melissa Martin and Holly Harris. The ratings system is based on a number out of five stars. To assign four stars is to give an 80 per cent rating. A good-to-excellent concert would earn that. But 4 1/2 stars are frequently lavished upon performances and, in the case of Nemerofsky, fives are also conferred. Hey guys, five out of five is perfection. The concerts are presented by human beings. Therefore, by definition, they cannot be perfect.

The most recent example, No sweeter music than glorious carols sung with clarity, appeared on Dec. 16. This is sad, as positive criticism, where warranted, serves both the reader and the performer. Many readers check the rating without ever reading the review. They must receive an extremely distorted impression of the concertgoing experience in Winnipeg.

How to fix traffic nightmare

How will visitors access the wonderful new IKEA store? How will thousands of new residents of Waverley West get to and from their homes? South Kenaston/Bishop Grandin is already a traffic nightmare.

Here are some suggestions for the traffic planning commission. In addition to widening Kenaston from Academy Road to Sterling Lyon Parkway:

Build overpasses on McGillivray and Scurfield Road.

Build a cloverleaf at Waverley.

Get rid of most of the traffic lights on Bishop Grandin.

Provide access to the current shopping areas by service roads.

Widen Bishop Grandin to accommodate entrance and exit ramps.

Most important: Build rapid transit to and through the area.

Offer support to dying

Re: Man not guilty in assisted suicide, Dec. 13.

Unfortunately, many Canadians are in favour of assisted suicide, but I think it is because they fear death and suffering. Death is a natural part of life and with modern medicine, pain can be alleviated. A dying person needs comfort and care during their final days. In the case of Chantal Maltais, he wasn't even dying -- he was living and had a disability. Like many people who commit suicide, he was probably severely depressed.

Instead of helping him die, his family should have helped him find a support group or a counsellor. Then maybe they could have figured out what his true needs were.

Frustration understood

Re: Rugrats Chanukah? Dec. 17.

Believe it or not, I, a Christian, have some idea of the letter writer's frustration at Hannukah being overlooked. The advertisements and TV specials she mentioned actually have nothing to do with Christmas. Christmas is supposed to be a celebration of the coming of the Messiah, but now it has become an excuse for greed and over-indulgence. The true meaning of Christmas has been almost fully obscured by "gimme gimme" and "buy, buy, buy," even among Christians. So while it's not right for Hannukah to be ignored by the general population, at least Hannukah hasn't been turned into a hideous over-consumerism fest.