For the last couple of weeks, the place that most Winnipeggers knew nothing of -- and probably cared even less about -- has become city's hottest neighbourhood.
Topic-wise, that is.
'I can't believe the city would be so willing to do away with one of the oldest settlements in Winnipeg,' Darryl Moan, 68 Grace St.
That tends to happen when a plan to build a 40,000-seat football stadium comes hurtling out of the blue, like a doomsday asteroid.
Once, though, not that long after the first Selkirk Settlers built Fort Douglas somewhere in the vicinity, The Point actually was Winnipeg's hottest neighbourhood.
Winnipeg's wealthiest citizens built their prestigious homes on land that points like an accusing finger into an abrupt bend in the Red River.
The arrival of the screeching and belching railway soon altered the ambience, though.
And the rich fled.
Today, South Point Douglas -- the heavily industrial fraternal twin of primarily residential North Point Douglas -- is one the city's poorest neighbourhoods.
But, with Waterfront Drive wending its gentrified way along the Red River, South Point Douglas is also one of the most enticing areas for developers.
And you know what that means.
The rich want it back.
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I can't remember ever taking a message for millionaire real estate mogul David Asper. But a week and a half ago, as his football plan was being floated like a wobbly downfield pass, I received an e-mail titled "memo to Asper... "
The writer, Darryl Moan, works for Buhler Industries.
He is one of South Point Douglas's 171 residents -- by the 2001 census -- most of whom live in the area's 65 houses.
"I am absolutely livid right now," Darryl began. "My common-law wife and I live on Grace Street. She's been living here for 20-plus years, I've been here for 11 years. I think we live on one of the best streets in Winnipeg. It's so peaceful and quiet compared to the rest of the city. It's kind of like living in a small town. I don't know where the hookers and muggers that I've been reading about are. We have the river just a stone's throw away. The neighborhood has only gotten better in the time I've been here. We love it!
"We own two houses on the street. One is our residence, the other is a house that just came into our possession less than a month ago that will be slowly renovated over the next while.
"Imagine our surprise when we find out that our properties might be part of the outer plaza and parking lot for the new stadium. We feel we were completely blindsided by this. I can't believe the city would be so willing to do away with one of the oldest settlements in Winnipeg. Our properties are from 1900 and 1883.
"We don't have a mortgage and we weren't planning on getting one. We were planning on spending the rest of our life here. I'm guessing Asper and the city were just planning to give us a few thousand more than we are assessed at, which isn't much. We want a SUBSTANTIAL offer if we are expected to leave. But I have a feeling this deal will go through and we will probably end up getting screwed. I'm guessing you'll be seeing footage of me being removed from my house kicking and screaming on the news in the next while.
"WE ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE."
If you're surprised by Darryl Moan's defiant reaction, that's only because you don't understand the place or the people who live there.
Curiously, a few months before Asper's football stadium plan hit the headlines, the city commissioned a study of South Point Douglas, the intent being to unshackle the area from its industrial zoning.
What they discovered was that the residents of both South and North Point Douglas had a lot in common, including...
"A fierce passion and love for the area and appreciation of its history."
Actually, having since visited Darryl in his Grace Street neighbourhood, I can appreciate why he doesn't want to leave.
Darryl's property and school taxes are less than $500 a year.
In fact, the taxes on the tidy, 1,350-square-foot house across the street are only $250 annually. And it's just a few doors away from a large children's playground that neighbouring Gateway Industries built.
Of course, the downside, as he suggested, is if they went to sell, or worse if they were expropriated.
They could never replace the uniqueness of their hidden neighbourhood, nestled by the river, and within walking distance of downtown.
That's part of what's so curious about the mere idea of obliterating the clusters of residential streets that are inhabited primarily by middle-aged and older people.
We want people to live downtown, be able to walk or bike to work or take the transit. And that's what most of the residents do. Then there's the historic housing stock and people are trying to save without a sniff of government support.
Yet politicians have been getting excited about a plan that would turn these neighbourhoods into parking lots and big water-gushing parks. This at a time when what the city desperately needs is rapid transit and neighbourhood recreation facilities.
Just ask the people who live there.
When the recent city survey asked an aboriginal organization in the area what they want South Point Douglas to look like in 10 years, this was the first answer:
"A new community centre and a swimming pool."
And when -- before the Asper plan was known about -- area artists where asked what they think South Point Douglas will look like in 10 years this was their first reaction:
"Developers will come in and change everything with no consideration of the current residents/businesses... they will be able to do whatever they want."
But there's a sense, two weeks on, that one of those developers won't be able to do whatever he wants.
And Darryl Moan is feeling a little less concerned about the Asper asteroid taking out his neighbourhood.
"I have a feeling this is going to blow over," he told me.
This time, maybe.
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Someone asked me whose side I'm on in this political football of a South Point Douglas debate.
The answer is I'm on the side of the place and the people who live and do business there. I'm also in favour of developing it for the common good of the place and the people.
And, yes, the rest of the city.
I don't consider erecting an elephantine, once-in-a-while football stadium to be compatible or even good for a historic area that has enormous potential as a vital and fascinating post-industrial neighbourhood.
But even if David Asper's football stadium misses its target, the residents know the impact of large-scale development is coming.
They had heard rumblings about a gated, condominium community even before the football plan made the news.
The people of Point Douglas don't want wholesale gentrification, according to the city report. But they're not against well-planned, well-intentioned development that would make South Point Douglas an even better place to live. And eventually, maybe even the envy of other city neighbourhoods.
But most of all, they just want themselves and their neighbourhood be treated respectfully and fairly.
That's really The Point.
gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca
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