Winnipeg City Hall

The decline of downtown Winnipeg is moving to the forefront of the civic elections, with the people due to elect a new mayor and councillors on October 25th. With the failure of the incumbant mayor and councillors to address the issue over the last few years, it is falling to a new generation to think creatively and offer solutions. At the forefront is the recently created Winnipeg Green Party.

Last week, the party signed up a slate of six candidates for the election, meaning four incumbents who had been poised for acclamation can plan on campaigning in the weeks ahead. Bizaarely an official with the city's election office has stated that the city will not recognize the Green candidates under the "Green" party affiliation, but as individual candidates.

According to the party, they see a successful, lively downtown as paramount to the well-being of Winnipeg as a whole. "The Winnipeg Green Party believes that creating a greater residential population downtown has to be the primary objective in any efforts to revitalize Winnipeg's downtown."

Inline with current thinking on successful communities, they are committed to mixed use (residential and commercial) developments. "Housing options downtown should be made available to people of varying income groups, and to both renters and buyers. The Greens believe that new developments downtown should be mixed-use, and that city zoning regulations should encourage mixed uses in existing buildings."

"Urban areas need to be reasonably dense, human-scaled, and have mixed uses. The Greens oppose the general over-accommodation of the automobile in Winnipeg's downtown, and favor policies and land tax structures that discourage the existence of large surface parking lots. This approach would reduce pollution. It also has the potential to increase park and ride and car-pooling and other forms of transportation such as Transit, walking and cycling. In the neighborhoods outside of downtown, encouraging new development along transportation corridors and at transportation hubs would make better use of existing infrastructure and service."

They would also support the restoration of Winnipeg's traditional "commercial strips" as "Main Streets" that would then become the neighborhood's chief shopping destination. These streets should adhere to their historical form and function: pedestrian and transit, rather than automobile, oriented. Like downtown, city neighborhoods should offer the full range of local services within walking distance of its residents.