DIDN'T WE LEARN ANYTHING?

Holy fucking downtown renewal batman!

What is WITH these politicians?

I'm looking at YOU Gary Doer. And YOU Vic Toews. And YOU Sam Katz.

Stadium downtown anywhere = COMPLETE WASTE! Government megaproject justified in the name of URBAN RENEWAL IS BULL!

There IS no urban renewal. Didn't we LEARN THIS already? Given Portage Place? Yeah how's that goin' for your urban renewal? MTS Centre? Yeah I see people FLOCKING downtown for that one! WRHA? Lets-knock-down-historic-buildings-to-build-a-glass-box?

Where does a stadium fit in? How many games is it good for? NINE GAMES A YEAR. Moving it downtown in the name of mutli-use and covering it with a dome, what, oh, here's my favourite, this fucking WATER PARK idea. You know, the water park everyone in Winnipeg will go to once, and then after it's first year everyone will say how it's run down, dirty, cheap, a cess pool they dont want to take their kids to.

Oh but you say we can use it for other events! Well then what in the hell is our convention centre for? What's so wrong about a new or rehab-ed convention centre with a hotel attached to that? How bout all those COMMUNITIY CENTRES, Sammy?

Oh I know. I know. I get it now.

I get it.

The only reason this is even being considered. Is because. Mr Asper. Can't get the boo-fucking-hoo money from The Man. So he changed his proposal.

Wow we could have called THAT one eh?

So instead of building a super kickass non-dome monstrosity of a structure on the existing stadium site, he had to change it to include things like "community involvement" and "multi use" and cover it with a dome, so you could use it year round, and put it downtown somewhere and stick in those two words that every fucking politician in this province orgasms over.

URBAN. RENEWAL.

And urban renewal in Point Douglas is like...MULTI orgasmic! Because everyone's hero CENTRE VENTURE "...views the south side of Point Douglas as a natural extension of Waterfront Drive." So I guess all our condo owners on Waterfront will just, you know, stroll down a few blocks to the new stadium in Point Douglas.

Does anyone, besides Centre Venture, Gary, Vic, or Sam, or anyone who makes less than oh I don't know say $100k a year, think Waterfront is GOOD? When I drive past those condos I don't see it as "renewal." It's poser renewal. I don't feel a vibe. I don't feel like I'm a part of some bigger movement.

When I go to the MTS Centre because I got free Moose tickets, or to see a big rock concert, I wonder if Gary Bettman will ever move past the "it's too small" argument. I go strait home after the show, I don't stick around...for what, to wait in a ridiculous line to go to the Tavern? When I go to Portage Place I wonder how they ever let Mcnally Robinson go. I wonder if anyone actually goes to see those indie films or to the Imax.

I wonder just what the eff these projects are doing to "revitalize" downtown or what they're doing for "urban renewal."

I wonder if our politicians actually believe they are accomplishing that. Or if they turn a blind eye once it's done and nothing happens? We all know what comes out of their mouth after the term "urban renewal" is bullshit, as if the only reason they say it is so they can get their little pet project underway. So they can expropriate some people's land in the name of urban renewal, knock down some historic buildings and build a glass box and put their name on it.

Urban renewal is like a crusade. The crusaders don't realize how much harm they're doing. They think they're helping people.

This article is by Bartley Kives. The same guy who gave us this piece DENOUNCING government megaprojects in the name of urban renewal!

When will we ever learn....it seems like Winnipeg is destined to continue looking to the stars. Making our city into some grand epitome of the prairies. To make ourselves feel good about our city, proud of our accomplishments. We get excited for new government megaprojects to help us realize this pipe dream. But they don't help us. Not one bit.

And we don't help ourselves. We elect nincompoop politicians who share the same ideology, looking to the stars. And this is what we get for it.