Hole new problem Six months after reporting two-foot deep boulevard hole, West End homeowner still waiting for city to respond; ‘It seems like somebody has to get hurt, or something, before they come’
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Grace Livingston feared an unsuspecting pedestrian would fall and break their leg after she discovered a thigh-deep hole in the boulevard in front of her West End home last year.
Livingston said she is still waiting for the City of Winnipeg to fill the hole and eliminate the safety hazard, six months after she called 311 and emailed her councillor to raise concerns.
“I was hoping they would send somebody by or at least put up a barricade or something,” she said Wednesday. “How many times do people have to complain about something before they acknowledge it?”
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Grace Livingston shows the depth of a hole on the boulevard on Valour Road on Wednesday.
Livingston contacted the Free Press about the situation after reading about the plight of Wolseley resident Christine Keilback, who fell shoulders-deep into a hole on a boulevard across from her Lipton Street home Saturday night.
Livingston was frustrated by the city’s handling of her complaints. She said she called 311 on Oct. 8 to report the hole on Valour Road, just south of St. Matthews Avenue, in the hope that it would be dealt with.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS Christine Keilback next to the hole that she feel into on Lipton Street, Saturday. 
When she phoned 311 a second time, on Oct. 13, to find out if the city was going to do something, she said an employee told her that her concerns were forwarded to the water and waste department.
Livingston said she emailed Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre) on Oct. 14 to bring the matter to her attention. If city staff visited the location, Livingston didn’t see them.
“Nothing happened. What’s the explanation? Why can’t they come and look at it?” she said. “It seems like somebody has to get hurt, or something, before they come.
“I’m just tired about complaining about stuff. After a while, it’s like, ‘why bother?’”
In response to an inquiry by the Free Press on Wednesday, City of Winnipeg spokeswoman Lisa Marquardson said the issue is being investigated, and further information will likely be available Thursday, when a crew is expected to visit the location.
Gilroy, the ward’s councillor since 2014, had not responded to the Free Press’s request for comment as of 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Livingston said the hole in front of her house was covered by snow during the winter, and then exposed by the recent spring melt.
The hole is situated between a manhole cover and a catch basin in Valour’s southbound curb lane. It measured about two feet deep and up to 15 inches wide when a Free Press reporter visited Wednesday morning.
“I’m just tired about complaining about stuff. After a while, it’s like, ‘why bother?’”
The hazard is difficult to see after nightfall, adding to Livingston’s fears that someone could inadvertently step into it and suffer an injury.
“It could be anybody or a pet on the boulevard walking, or it could be somebody getting out of their car that doesn’t know about it,” she said. The hole is next to a curb, where vehicles park alongside.
In Keilback’s case, she was returning home from a movie theatre when she fell into the Lipton Street hole. She tried to climb out on her own, but was unable to get a foothold because the dirt crumbled away.
A friend’s 911 call led to Keilback being lifted out by the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service’s technical rescue task force, which used a frame, winch and a harness, about 40 minutes after she fell in.
Keilback, who wasn’t injured, found humour in the mishap.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS The hole is situated between a manhole cover and a catch basin in Valour’s southbound curb lane. It measured about two feet deep and up to 15 inches wide when a Free Press reporter visited Wednesday morning.
Marquardson said Tuesday the Lipton Street hole formed after a catch basin was removed, backfilled with gravel and covered with sod.
A pipe, which connected the basin to a storm sewer manhole or larger main sewer line, was not capped, which appeared to cause the filled material to shift away over time.
There were no records of a similar situation taking place in recent memory in Winnipeg, the city said.
The hole that Keilback fell into has since been covered and marked with barricades. A catch basin across the road was discovered to be in similar condition and also barricaded. The city is scheduled to begin repairs Thursday.
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca
Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.
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