Have your say

Bike rider's heaven

Thank you for Jen Skerritt's Sept. 10 article, Minneapolis warming up to winter riding. It was a pleasure to experience the revival of cycling in Minneapolis first-hand. Checking into a downtown hotel, we were asked if we'd like our bikes held in a locked baggage check room or if we would like to keep them in our room. No one batted an eye as we wheeled bikes through the lobby and up the elevator.

After a meeting in St. Paul and an unsatisfactory experience with expressway travel back to Minneapolis, the following day I biked from downtown Minneapolis to St. Paul. Travelling the 26 kilometres to and from my business meeting, mostly on bike lanes with reasonable separation from cars, made the trips time-efficient and pleasant. Half of it was on the University of Minnesota transit corridor, which is only for buses and bikes.

Racks for hundreds of bikes on the Nicollet Mall made shopping by bike easy. Going out to eat was easy with a fast, safe and scenic route to evening dining, where we could eat on a patio overlooking the Mississippi River and our bikes.

To see more of the city, we cycled a big loop covering much of northern Minneapolis and St. Paul, including the Cedar Lake Trail, the Grand Rounds Trail and the Saint Anthony Parkway. With an extensive biking network that effectively separates cyclists and motorists, more winter cycling makes sense in Minneapolis.

I cycle-commute in Winnipeg all winter, and it is usually a pleasure. In bad weather, it is an exciting challenge. (Of course, there is no bad weather, only bad clothing.) After a serious snowfall, it is unreasonable to have bike trails here cleared within 24 hours, as Minneapolis aims to do, but the City of Winnipeg usually plows the Churchill bike trail, which I use, within a couple of days. Last winter, bike paths in Assiniboine Park were immaculately cleaned the morning after a snowstorm.

So don't sell Winnipeg's winter cycling options short. Where bike routes are separate from motorized traffic and the trails are maintained, it is already a viable option in Winnipeg.

DAN PROWSE

Winnipeg

Cartooning calumny

Your Sept. 10 editorial cartoon, reprinted from the Ottawa Citizen, indicates two things that Prime Minister, Stephen Harper will need with the new premier of Quebec, Pauline Marois, in power: Aspirin and earplugs. (Of course, some citizens might feel similarly about the prime minister.)

The depiction in the cartoon can be seen as insulting to both Quebecers and women. Put-down humour of this sort may amuse some, but a prime minister who does not listen to the premier of Quebec is headed for political disaster.

Let's keep the lines of communication open; listening doesn't mean endorsing any particular position of Premier Marois.

STEPHEN HOLBORN

Winnipeg

In case of fire...

A photograph of the facade of the new fire station No. 12 accompanies your Sept. 8 story Browaty won't back land swap. Why is this wonderful new facility simply labelled as "Station 12"?

Perhaps the word "fire" had mistakenly been overlooked in the original design. Or is the city too embarrassed to call this building a "fire station"?

TED CHICK

East St. Paul

Contact is intense

Robert Gerst (Competitive bidding drives up costs, Sept. 7) starts off on the right track with his comments about the federal government's advance contracts award process but then goes off the rails when he moves on to the subject of competitive bidding.

Gerst says that in the bidding process there is no contact allowed between buyer and seller, no fact-finding and no research. Actually, leading up to a major tender call, there is intense two-way contact between buyer and sellers.

The sellers seek to be informed about details of the buyer's requirements. The buyer seeks to be informed about the qualifications of potential suppliers of the good or service. This process is often semi-formalized with pre-qualification of suitable potential bidders.

Even after a formal tender call, bidders may request clarifications of the tender documents, which are responded to with addenda issued to all bidders. To suggest that buyers "guess at what will work" is ridiculous.

Gerst suggests vendors use the change-order process to add on extra costs. Actually, most change orders are the result of the owner (buyer) changing its mind about what it wants after the contract has been signed.

ROBERT FOSTER

Winnipeg

Unleash the market

Seldom does the readership get a better economic lesson in the evils of government intervention than in Mary Agnes Welch's Aug. 31 story, Raise the (welfare) rent, inner-city advocates say.

Rent controls, tax laws, especially taxing the rich, government-built housing in competition with private enterprise and building codes that make it cheaper to tear down than to rehabilitate are all well-intentioned interventions that contribute to the shortage of housing Canadians are dealing with today.

Our ancestors did just fine with nowhere near the government meddling we have in our lives today. Only unleashing the free market will encourage builders to construct enough affordable housing units to meet market demand. Rather than tweaking the tax code, just imagine what ending rent control, selling off existing government housing and being realistic about the renovation code could accomplish.

CHRIS BUORS

Winnipeg

Disappointing coverage

I am disappointed with the small amount of coverage on Sept. 11 for 9/11. This was a tragedy and a life-changing experience, and you gave it less than a quarter page (Political voices silenced at 9/11 anniversary), just stating that politicians will not be giving speeches at the memorial in New York. I think it deserved more than that.

CATHY ERICKSON

Winnipeg

At least no orange juice

Re: It's been a Bad Week for.... Doug Black (Sept. 8). Dear Stephen Harper, please do not appoint Alberta lawyer Doug Black to the Senate. We can't afford him.

TERRY MEINDL

Teulon

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 12, 2012 A6