Eadie prepares for another year at city hall

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This article was published 07/01/2022 (1607 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Coun. Ross Eadie didn’t mince words when discussing his goals and priorities in the upcoming year.

“First, I’d like to just say that Mayor Bowman and Coun. Gillingham’s budget, which went through (by a vote of) 10 to six, is inadequate to reach any kind of goals that one might have for their work,” the Mynarski ward councillor said.

Eadie blamed some of the budget’s shortfalls, in his opinion, on dysfunction in city hall.

“I just find it very frustrating the way (the executive policy committee) and council works,” he said. There’s too much “wheeling and dealing” to coax results in favour of one project or another, he said.

The councillor also said that despite the unpopularity of the idea, he had supported a property tax increase while providing tax credits for those who can only afford houses under $300,000. The money could then be directed into much-needed projects, such as road renewals, he said.

Eadie said many roads in his ward are in disrepair, about which he often hears complaints from his constituents.

Some of those roads will get the attention they need, such as Landsdowne Avenue, which will reconstructed from Main Street to Salter Street, Eadie said.

“I would say it’s the second worst street (in the Mynarski ward) after Magnus, so I’m glad they’re doing it,” he said.

But Eadie said the city should be working to fix the worst roads first, making their way to smaller and smaller renewals.

The councillor said he’ll be working this year with Coun. Jason Schreyer (Elmwood – East Kildonan) to try to push forward road renewals and to deal with the drastic inflation of construction costs.

“If you look at the private sector, which does most of the road renewals, the escalation of inflation is huge. It is the biggest problem the city has,” Eadie said.

Eadie said another priority for 2022 is supporting improvements to Winnipeg’s active transit infrastructure. In particular, he wants the city to complete the greenway that is slated to be constructed on Powers Street.

“From Dufferin to Selkirk Avenue, the back lane at Powers Park, it’s like a war zone,” Eadie said. “What we need is to provide a more useable, safe way for people to get all the way from Leila down to Dufferin, and then you need a proper path that’s going to take you over Slaw Rebchuk bridge.”

With a municipal election set to bring in a new mayor in 2022, as Bowman has said he will not be running, Eadie said he’ll be trying to inform candidates of the inner workings of the city. Often politicians will campaign on inaccurate perceptions of city hall, leading to promises that may not actually be good for the city or will not make it through council, Eadie said.

“I’m going to be releasing information for mayoral candidate wannabees, so they actually understand the real problem,” Eadie said.

Eadie said he expects his next four-year term to be his last. In the meantime, he said he’ll “keep going at it” and that he doesn’t mind “whacking his head against the wall” while doing it.