‘Just wasn’t enough business’: East Exchange grocer Ashdown Market closes doors

The owners of the East Exchange District’s only independent grocer have closed up shop, saying rising crime and a declining customer base were too much to bear.

Storybook ending for student warming hut winners

Manitoba’s newest student-designed warming hut doubles as a public awareness campaign for a child advocacy centre.

Who calls the shots on city land use?

Everybody thinks it, but no one wants to say it out loud — the fact that for decades, our city council and its administration have, to a large degree, been in thrall to the construction and development industries.

Glacial glamping: Riding Mountain woos in winter

As they say, it was so cold it’d freeze the nuts off an iron bridge. Margie and I slept in a prospector-style tent, or what Riding Mountain National Park calls an “oTENTik,” at -39 C.

Skating trail expected to open in time for New Year’s Day activities at The Forks

Skaters, rejoice: the Nestaweya River Trail at The Forks could be open as early as New Year’s Day, marking one of its earlier openings in recent years.

The port rink on the Assiniboine River and a small section of the the iconic river trail opened on Dec. 31 last year. The earliest recorded opening of the six-kilometre skating trail was Dec. 21, 2013.

“We had a good freeze this year… and we’re hoping for a nice, long season this year,” Adam Dooley, spokesperson for The Forks, said Monday.

Sections of the trail, which snakes along the Red and Assiniboine rivers and meets at The Forks port, have some slush owing to recent snowfall and may take more time to open, Dooley said.

Derailment shows rail study on track: Axworthy

A train derailment involving tank cars near homes and businesses shows why a review of Winnipeg’s urban rail system is needed, former federal transport minister Lloyd Axworthy told the Free Press Monday.

Students tasked with designing shelter for homeless

Concerned about the state of empathy at her suburban high school, a St. Vital teacher has tasked teens with designing transitional homes for their unsheltered neighbours.

Collège Jeanne-Sauvé made headlines in September when a student was involved in an altercation with a man living in nearby Dakota Forest.

Winnipeg police and the Louis Riel School Division reported at the time the man came out of a tent and chased after a group of students, injuring one. Allegations the teenagers provoked the man by hurling insults and items at the man’s tent were also reported.

The Sept. 9 incident — as well as the gossip in its aftermath — led Kay Wojnarski to reach out to End Homelessness Winnipeg for advice.

Hydro to cut down more than 260 trees on stretch of Selkirk Avenue

Manitoba Hydro is cutting down 262 mature trees growing near power lines along a north Winnipeg street, drawing objections from the city and disappointment from canopy advocates.

Derelict historic apartment block gets makeover and thumbs up from neighbourhood

Nearly seven years after fire damage forced tenants to evacuate the Ches-Way Apartments, the once-derelict block in the Wolseley-West Broadway nexus has undergone a complete interior renovation and is nearing full capacity.

Encampment residents defiant as new policy takes effect

As the sun broke through the gap between two high-rise apartments on the north side of the Assiniboine River Monday morning, the large encampment tucked behind the Granite Curling Club lay quiet.

Monday marked the first day of the city’s new encampment policy, which bans such dwellings from more than a dozen areas — including anywhere within 50 metres of a nearby child-care centre, which parts of Mostyn Park are.

According to a recent email obtained by the Free Press from Greg MacPherson, the city’s senior co-ordinator of community development, the Mostyn Park encampment will be among those prioritized for dismantling in the coming weeks.

“I’ve been staying here for five years,” said Peter, who didn’t give his last name. “Why are they going to try to evict me now? And evict me from what? There’s no reason I should have to live like this in my own country.”

Author goes far and wide on quest to document all plants native to Manitoba

When Diana Bizecki Robson was growing up in Saskatoon during the 1970s, she enjoyed riding her bike to parks and riverbanks where she spent hours studying the diversity of wild plants and their pollinators.

After deciding to become a biologist, Bizecki Robson worked for a few years as an environmental consultant which allowed her to conduct plant surveys. But it was when the opportunity to work at the Manitoba Museum came along — in October 2003 — that she could finally pursue the type of field work and research she loves.

Today, Bizecki Robson is the curator of botany at the Manitoba Museum. She oversees a herbarium which holds over 50,000 specimens.

“One of the things I discovered as part of a collection assessment project that I did when I first got here was that the museum did not have a specimen of every single species of plant or fungus or lichen (from this province) in its collection,” said Bizecki Robson.

Other encampment options possible

Authorities in Winnipeg will soon launch their latest response to homeless encampments, though sadly actual solutions to the problem remain elusive.

Beginning in mid-November, the city will roll out its new policy for dealing with the encampments, in an effort to prevent them from being established and presenting risks near sensitive sites and public spaces. The system outlines three different levels of encampment response, each calling for a different degree of involvement from police, fire-paramedics and support workers. Some responses call only for outreach, rather than removal of encampments.

The new policy is sure to bring relief to Winnipeggers who have been alarmed by the emergence of homeless encampments in public spaces, near schools, or other at other locations where they may present unwanted risks to residents in the area.

What it does not do, however, is get the city any closer to a long-term solution to its homelessness crisis. The number of homeless people in Winnipeg nearly doubled last year — End Homelessness Winnipeg’s annual street census reported that about 2,469 people are homeless in the city. The Manitoba government has implemented a strategy to get people into housing, but the process has been slow and the results to date underwhelming. About 100 people had been successfully placed in housing as of the end of October, but that still leaves more than 2,000 people living rough.

Trustees want say in school zone redesign

Trustees are calling on Winnipeg City Council to redesign 30 km/h school zones to better protect everyone who lives, learns and works in their wards — and they want a say in an infrastructure makeover.

For Ryan Palmquist, an active cyclist, dad and first-term trustee, road safety is both a passion and frequent source of frustration.

His son’s trek to École Varennes serves as a daily reminder of why he remains committed to the cause.

“My oldest son crosses a crosswalk — every single day, twice a day, to go to school — where a kid died,” the father of three said.

Emergency-vehicle traffic technology pilot a success and city should expand it, WFPS says

Winnipeg ambulances and fire trucks could soon automatically trigger green lights through most of the city, allowing faster emergency responses.

An emergency vehicle pre-emption pilot project was a success, so the city should pay to expand it next year, according to a new Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service report.

“It makes travelling through intersections safer and decreases the time it takes first responders to arrive at an emergency scene,” the report says.

WFPS will seek $1.8 million in 2026 capital funding and $200,000 to cover operating costs to expand the program. That would extend its reach to 437 “higher-risk” intersections, including the 17 included in the pilot, out of Winnipeg’s total 693.

Black-led non-profit developer gets federal funds for affordable housing units in north part of city

A Black-led real estate developer has become the first in Canada to secure federal funding, paving the way for 30 affordable housing units within a new 72-unit development in north Winnipeg.

Non-profit Inuka Community Inc. received $23.3 million through the Affordable Housing Fund, administered by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. The CMHC set aside $50 million specifically for Black-led organizations to help create more than 500 units.

The new rental complex at 1510 Main St., will include 30 one-bedroom, 30 two-bedroom and 12 three-bedroom units. Thirty of those units, in a mix of sizes, will be designated affordable and aimed at newcomers to the city, with available supports such as debt management, credit building and driver training.

“Lots of sleepless nights to get here,” said Naomi Gichungu, Inuka’s chief executive officer.

2025: a summer of interesting urban changes

Over the last few months, the city has been busy implementing several new progressive city-building initiatives to enhance livability in our communities.

Deepening and complex homelessness crisis pushing city neighbourhoods to tipping point

On a calm summer day, the Red River serves as a mirror, its glass-like surface masking the muddy bottom below.

Look closer and you’ll see a reflection of the city along its banks. Towering cottonwoods and elms, riverside homes, iconic postcard backdrops.

Look closer still, and the city’s scars — from the physical and psychological of individuals to the enabling and failings of institutions — are laid bare.

What begins as a trickle near Kildonan Park grows into a flood the further south you travel along the river.

Chinese landscape architect Yu Kongjian among 4 killed in a plane crash in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The crash of a small plane in southwestern Brazil killed four people including Chinese landscape architect and urban planner Yu Kongjian, Brazilian authorities said Wednesday.

The accident happened late Tuesday during a landing attempt at a large farm about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the municipality of Aquidauana in Mato Grosso do Sul state, firefighters said.

Yu, who was known for promoting ecologically sound development, was traveling with two Brazilian documentary makers, Luiz Fernando Feres da Cunha Ferraz and Rubens Crispim Jr., who were making a film about the Pantanal wetlands. All three were killed along with pilot Marcelo Pereira de Barros, authorities said.

Yu was know for developing the concept of “ sponge cities, ” with infrastructure that can absorb rainwater to mitigate flood risks and improve the urban climate.

Speed-limit cut proposed for street in Wolseley

A reduction to the speed limit has been proposed for a section of Arlington Street following concerns that ramped-up bus traffic has added noise and disruption to the quiet Wolseley neighbourhood.

Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre) is calling on city council to reduce the speed limit to 30 km/h from 50 km/h on Arlington, between Portage and Wolseley avenues.

Gilroy said the 28 Arlington route was added when Transit implemented a new primary network at the end of June. That turned a stretch that had little bus traffic into a key route, adding speed, congestion, noise and vibrations that shake nearby homes, she said.

“A large bus is a change in itself. And a lot of the residents really want the slowing down of the bus to 30 (km/h). They’ve said loud and clear that this is very disrupting,” said Gilroy.

Motion to rename park withdrawn after MMF complaint

A motion to rename a Glenwood park will be withdrawn after complaints the process would replace a name that honours Métis history.

Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) had raised a motion to rename Carriere Avenue Park in honour of James Peebles, an astrophysicist and astronomer raised in the St. Boniface neighbourhood. The motion was seconded by Coun. Matt Allard (St. Boniface).

Mayes issued a statement Tuesday that noted he and Allard have agreed to withdraw the motion instead of bringing it forward for a city council vote Thursday.

“(The councillors will instead) move to name a new outdoor classroom in St. George Park for Nobel laureate James Peebles … Both councillors learned last night that the Manitoba Métis Federation had concerns about renaming of the park,” the statement said.

McLuhan’s childhood home to become hub for big ideas

Renowned media theorist Marshall McLuhan’s childhood home in Winnipeg will soon welcome visitors to “come for the message” but “stay for the medium.”

The play on McLuhan’s famous term is the tag line of Howard R. Engel, president Winnipeg non-profit Marshall McLuhan Initiative, who bought the home at 507 Gertrude Ave., where McLuhan lived between 1921 and 1934.

On Saturday afternoon Engel and his team unveiled a Manitoba Historical Society blue plaque at the Osborne Village address commemorating the site of where the memorable Manitoban spent his childhood.

“We are over the moon,” Engel said. “This will not only be a museum, but also include a public gathering space for lectures’ presentations who help extend the working ideas of McLuhan.”