One to watch…
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/03/2012 (4946 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Friends of Upper Fort Garry
On the same day this newspaper reported the Friends of Upper Fort Garry want to bless the city with another, albeit temporary, surface parking lot, it also reported Manitoba is the only province in the country where housing affordability dropped in the final quarter of 2011.
Economist Robert Hogue blamed the soaring cost of owning a home here on the fact there are too few homes for sale.
What do these two stories have in common? Well, the Friends were instrumental in killing a plan to build a highrise apartment tower near the Upper Fort Garry footprint.
The tower might not have had an appreciable effect on housing prices in the city, but at least it was an attempt to address the city’s housing shortage, especially in the downtown.
Since killing the apartment project four years ago, the Friends have flattened three buildings and put up a chain-link fence.
Why is there as yet no sign of their planned heritage park? Lack of funding.
In 2008, the Friends met a city deadline by raising $10 million for what was then a $12.5-million project. Now, four years later, they allegedly have amassed $12 million for what has become a $19-million project — a cost increase of almost $2 million per year.
In order to bridge (or pave over) the gap, the group wants to put a surface parking lot on the site, and use the revenue to fund the heritage park.
If the cost of the project keeps ballooning as it has been, that is going to have to be one heck of a parking lot. It will need to generate almost $2 million per year just to keep pace. One can imagine their advertising slogan: Don’t take rapid transit, history buffs. Park downtown!
They are going to have to do one heck of a selling job, too. Deepak Joshi, the city’s chief operating officer, has said the city’s policy is clear: No more surface parking lots should be allowed downtown. There is obviously a lot of fur yet to fly around this ancient fur-trade landmark.
— David Connors
