There is much I like about Winnipeg. To some of the others posted above I would add the great urban parks and the tree canopy. I do agree that the city punches above its weight culturally and the people are generally down-to- earth and friendly in comparison to other large cities. The civic leadership though is mostly milquetoast and without vision.
I think Winnipeg just has to do better. Not everything would cost a fortune. This city does not enjoy a magnificent natural setting like Vancouver or Quebec City. It does not have a balmy climate nor beaches. It has the rivers and it has its historical built heritage. In recent decades I think it can be stated unequivocally that this city has become aesthetically challenged. So many of the more recent developments are ugly and should never have been approved. Not just downtown but elsewhere too, esp. along prominent thoroughfares.
Who approved the Mere Hotel and an adjacent parking lot on the river side of the Waterfront Drive? The building itself is not particularly terrible, banal perhaps, but it does not belong there. The Access Building on Main would not raise eyebrows in Murray Industrial Park but is beauty a foreign concept here? Development done badly, 1133 Portage, the west face overlooks garbage bins and the dominant feature of the site is the parking lot, right on broad Portage Ave., what has the potential to be one of Canada's finest streets. Yes, Portage was butchered by the skywalks, the westward vista destroyed. What is the love affair here with cheap looking white cladding on buildings in a city with 4 or 5 months of snow cover? They look ghastly. Look at that apartment building SW corner Maryland and Westminster, less than ten years old I believe and already looking quite tatty. It degrades the gorgeous adjacent Westminster Church, one of the city's finest. Why does nothing last here? The Concourse is barely 45 years old. Parts of the London Underground are pushing 160. Then there's one of the jewels in the city's crown. The CMHR. I try and I try to like it, but I just can't help being disappointed. The rendering was translucent and ethereal. The result however is hulking and oppressive. A few years back a poster on this site referred to it as a "pickelhaube." I haven't forgot that word. The new conservatory. I enjoyed my visit but who decided that it was a good idea to have the loading docks and garbage bins in plain sight as you approach the main entrance? And why why why so much parking EVERYWHERE? Get off your ass and walk. Park on the street and walk a block or two. And why are there no efforts in general in this city to improve urban beauty by adding fountains and
good public art? Yeah, yeah, I know, people would sh*t and p*ss in them. Yeah yeah, not enough parking.
There is a crime problem here whether you want to acknowledge it or not. This despite an ever higher percentage of the civic budget going to policing, leaving less for parks and other services. All cities are experiencing the same to greater or lesser degrees, but the reality is, the crime problem here is causing this city to have a poor reputation nationally and discouraging inward investment and even tourism from adjacent American states. The recent fires are nothing short of soul-crushing. There are theories that ugly and unfriendly built environments result in higher crime.
Winnipeg has to decide what kind of city it wants to be in 10, 20, 50 years. A giant suburban doughnut or an attractive and unique city that people are proud of. This starts with good zoning and above all, STANDARDS. We'll probably never get better than the current 7th largest city in our lifetimes, but so what? Bigger is not always better. Anyone been to Houston? Some of the most beautiful cities in the world are small to medium sized. Development is only good if it is good development. Lots and lots of potential.
https://thewalrus.ca/why-is-canadian...ecture-so-bad/
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