Riverbank erosion puts seniors housing at risk

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This article was published 16/05/2018 (2735 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the past seven years, residents of the Columbus Centennial Seniors Co-op have watched the land behind their home crumble into the Red River, while desperately asking for someone — anyone —to help.

It now feels like things are reaching a point of no return, according to residents, who say this spring, the situation took a turn for the worse.

Riverbank erosion at the complex, located on the 400 block of Desalaberry Avenue, has long been a problem. Since 2011, residents said, they have been trying without success to get the City of Winnipeg to do something about it.

Two weeks ago, the riverbank dropped yet again and a complex sidewalk cracked in half. The river’s fault line now sits dangerously close to the building — about five metres away, one resident said.

“We’re the building that’s falling in the river. The ground is sunk back there, and the pathway is completely cracked in half,” Tom Ellis said Tuesday. “We’re been trying to get this dealt with for nearly a decade now. But there seems like an impossible roadblock, which is the city.”

A framed photograph on the wall on the building’s first floor shows the backyard in the 1990s: landscaped, closely trimmed grass, bushes, picnic tables and a path leading down to the river.

Today, the space features a makeshift rope fence blocking off the fault line, a dilapidated deck, crumbling ground and a sign reading: “Walk at your own risk.”

“It’s become a safety hazard. We’ve had three people fall in the last year or so. They’ve fallen out there. One of them had a walker and another had a cane,” Ellis said.

In 2011, the residents had an $8,000 preliminary study conducted, which they funded through a grant. The study determined what needed to be done to deal with the ever-encroaching Red River. After that, the co-op got an estimate on the project: $750,000.

That information was passed along to the city, which owns the land. (The residents lease the land from the city.)

However, the city said it wasn’t its responsibility to fund the project.

That was confirmed by a city spokesman Tuesday, who wrote by email: “There is no council-approved budget or program to support stabilization works on private lands or for the benefit of a private entity,” adding options exist for the lease-holders to preserve the land.

“$750,000 — we were never going to be able to afford that,” Ellis said, shaking his head.

The residents have since been enlisting the help of anyone who will listen, while watching the land fall into the river bit by bit, year after year.

“We’ve involved (former Winnipeg MP and MLA) Bill Blaikie, (current Elmwood-Transcona MP) Daniel Blaikie, (former Winnipeg Jets player and city councillor for Elmwood-East Kildonan) Thomas Steen, (current city councillor for Elmwood-East Kildonan) Jason Schreyer, (current Elmwood MLA) Jim Maloway,” Ellis said.

“I’ve written Mayor Brian Bowman. I’ve dealt with 311. I’ve spoken to Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital). But nothing has been done.”

Coun. Jason Schreyer, the ward representative on council, said he’s been aware of the situation for a decade, admitting that despite his best efforts, there’s been no progress.

“If there’s any case out there with a greater risk to safety and public access, I haven’t seen it. This is the worst I’ve seen. There’s been 30 feet of erosion over the years. In the last 10 years of visiting the place, I’ve seen it with my own eyes,” Schreyer said.

He said it’s a complicated issue with no clear, set precedent.

“It’s unclear what the city’s responsibility is to this piece of city-owned land that’s currently leased out. But I’m not trying to shirk any responsibility here. I think the city, including me, has an obligation to deal with this and make some decisions,” Schreyer said.

After years of frustration, Columbus Centennial residents remain hopeful the city may finally step up and do something now that the situation appears to have reached a literal breaking point. However, they are not holding their breath, Ellis said.

Standing in front of the building Tuesday afternoon, he recalled an anecdote that seems to sum up the experience thus far.

“I had been directed to 311, and so I got in touch with 311 over the phone and we went back and forth on this. Eventually, she told me she’d have to look into something and get back to me. That’s got to be seven years ago now,” he said, with chuckle.

“We never heard back.”

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @rk_thorpe