Last Chance for Riverview CC and Lux Solé fundraiser

(see attachment OR use the following text)

Purchase $20 Luxsolé cards for only $15! You save $5 of a purchase at Luxsolé AND Luxsolé donates $5 to the Community Centre !!! That’s a $25 value for only $15!!

You register the card on-line, so if you lose it, Luxsolé can replace it for you, and this card never expires! As an additional bonus, one out of every fifty cards sold will carry a $50 value!

Orders with payment will be accepted only until Friday, June 15. You can leave your cheque (payable to Riverview Community Centre) and contact information with the canteen staff at the club (No cash please). Please write LUXSOLÉ OFFER on cheque. Or contact Pat Fedirchuk at 452-3250, email TheFeds.com. Cards will be available the week of June 18.

Great food, great value and supporting our community!!

South Osborne Underpass Beautification Meeting – June 15
8:30 – 10:00 AM FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 2007

Location:  IBEX office 421 Mulvey Ave. East

(Southeast side of the South Osborne Underpass) Street Parking on Mulvey & some additional spots behind building

AGENDA

8:30 – 9:00 AM           
Introductions, Report backs - (follow up actions fromApril 20th meeting)                                     

9:00  – 9: 30 AM
Onsite viewing /assessment (outside walkabout to view progress/identify next steps)                                          
9:30  -- 10:00 AM
Identify/Confirm next steps

RSVP --- via email to karenmitchell@winnipeg.ca or call 986-5610.

Thank you to all Riverview Community Centre Spring Carnival Organizers and Volunteers.
Once again, we have defied the inclement weather and managed to have a great time at the Spring Carnival. I would like to personally thank all of the enthusiastic volunteers that agreed to get covered in cotton candy webs, pop popcorn and manage a tempermental machine, organize children in the penny carnival, manage lineups at the blow-up activities and pony rides, orgainize and run the races, sling ice cream, hot chocolate, and drinks, sell tickets, glow sticks and treats, set up the club for the evenings festivities and clean up after. All the ordering, pick-ups and deliveries, poster and ticket making and pre-event organizing like arranging licences and filling loot bags are those typically unrecognized duties that I would like to make note of.

We are so fortunate to live in such a welcoming and friendly neighbourhood, and we are very lucky to have such enthusiastic hands to do all the work.

Thank you to Mike S. and Josie T., Matthew L. and Tracy M., Janet L. and Bev S. and so many more. I am proud to say I am a Riverview resident because of people like you!

Janelle, Volunteer Coordinator (and masking tape finder)

Bike Trails are Happening!
I recently met with Kevin Nixon, Park Strategic Planner for the City of Winnipeg. Kevin knows everything about bike trails in the City.

A lot is happening is with respect to bike trails in Winnipeg. For  example, in 2007, $1.2 million has been set aside for Phase 1 of the Marconi multi-use path between Talbot Ave. and Springfield Road. Eventually, this will connect to the Forks and to Chief Peguis Trail and ultimately Birds Hill Park.

$100,000 has been set aside to build a multi-use path on Bishop Grandin Blvd between the Seine River and Shorehill Blvd.

$380,000 has been set aside for a multi-use path on the south side of McGillivray Blvd. between Columbia Dr. and Brady Road (this is west of Kenaston and McGillivray).

In addition, $1.5 million has been set aside for more bike paths in 2008, and $1 million in each of 2009, 2010 and 2011.

But the above is not the total of what is happening.

Kevin told me that this year, the City will be finishing the bike trail between Brandon  Ave./Churchill Drive and Don Ave. (the Banana Boat). In addition, the City will straighten the existing trail to pass just to the right (east)of the new garage that has been built for the harbour police behind the flea market on Mulvey Ave. So these are two wonderful improvements to the bike trails so often used by Riverview residents.

The City's long-term plan calls for a high speed bus lane to run along the east side of the train tracks in Lord Roberts. The City had originally thought of putting in a multi-use bike path along the busway, and even of putting in before the busway is built. However, after consultations with WinSmart - Active Transportation Pathway (ATP) Advisory Committee, the City decided not to build the multi-use path and instead, to have bikes ride on the existing Argue St. and backlanes, including, it is hoped but yet not confirmed, behind the transit station, coming out at the street lights at McDonald's and the Coop gas station, to connect from there to the path along the river. There are no plans to pave the path along the river.

Kevin told me that the City considered making it possible to get to the Forks from the bike path under the Norwood Bridge. There are some difficulties with this - it would be wet for a long period of time, it would require a fairly expensive new slope to connect to the trail at the Forks, and that particular area collects a fair bit of debris. However, the most important factor in the City's thinking was that a committee,

WinSmart - Active Transportation Pathway (ATP) Advisory Committee told the City that no one wants to connect to the Forks, they simply want to get on Main Street and continue their commute. Thus, the input from the committee was that the City should focus on bike commuters and not on pleasure riders. I commute every day to Portage and Main, and I prefer to go through the Forks because there is so much less traffic and fewer stops than on Main Street, and I don't have to share my path with cars. Plus, I am not comfortable with a family bike ride with small kids that requires crossing Main St. at the Norwood Bridge (three different cross-walks. So I told Kevin that in my view, it is a mistake for the City to give up trying to connect the bike trail along the River to the Forks by going under the Norwood Bridge. Further, even though the path under the Norwood Bridge is low and frequently covered by the river, the fact is that there are TWO tunnels on either side of the St. Vital Bridge. There is no reason why a tunnel cannot be build under the Norwood Bridge to connect the bike trail along the Red River to the Forks.

I also talked to Kevin about how difficult it is to get from Fort Rouge to Assiniboine Park by bike. Although the City has bike signs on  Taylor Ave., anyone who has tried to use Taylor as a bike path knows that traffic is very heavy, the sidewalk is heaved in a number of places, and there is a continuous series of driveways in and out of the new developments on Taylor. We talked about the multi-use trail on Sterling Lyon Parkway, which comes to an abrupt halt at Wilkes, instead of continuing to Waverley (or beyond). We talked about the possibility of a new b! ike trail along the rail line behind the developments on Taylor, and then connecting to the path on Sterling Lyon by going south beside Waverley. There are concerns about public safety (no lighting) and in some cases, a tight squeeze behind existing developments on Taylor.

So we looked at Parker Ave. instead. It would require Riverview residents to get to Jubilee and Pembina, cross the street there, and start on Parker (which is immediately north of the Pembina Hotel). Parker continues more or less directly to Sterling Lyon Parkway. I told Kevin that Parker between Planet and Waverley is a scary section, with very bad paving, two sharp curves, narrow street, and fairly high speed traffic.

Kevin suggested there may be a way to create a new multi-use trail from to Waverley, and then connect on to Sterling Lyon. This would create an excellent connection from Fort Rouge to all of the trails in  and around Assiniboine Park. Behind the houses that front onto Parker is an open field with hydro lines – this is City property and could easily be given a bike trail.

I also talked to Kevin about the desireability of continuing the path that exists in Assiniboine Park, and continues south on Shaftesbury from Corydon to Grant, but stops abruptly at Grant. I suggested it made sense to continue that path on Shaftesbury right through to Sterling Lyon to make the connection with the Sterling Lyon path.

So there you have it - lots of wonderful things are happening in Winnipeg with respect to bike trails, and with some excellent opportunities in the future, and some challenges as well.

If you want to get involved in discussing these issues, please contact: Kevin Nixon, Park Strategic Planner for the City of Winnipeg, knixon@winnipeg.ca, 986-4966

About Osborne South Bugle
The purpose of the newsletter is to communicate activities, events, news and issues of interest to residents in the Osborne South area. Anyone can ask to have their name added to the list or removed from the list at any time. The only use that is allowed of the list of email addresses is for sending out messages through the newsletter. The Osborne South Bugle is paid for and operated by the Riverview Community Centre. The newsletter never sends out attachments. Send all submissions, but no attachments, to reflector@riverviewcc.ca

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