Katz, Wasylycia-Leis call upgrade a public-consultation failure

The City of Winnipeg has put the brakes on another bike-and-pedestrian project as both of Winnipeg's leading mayoral candidates described the city's $20.4-million active-transportation upgrade as a public-consultation failure.

On Monday afternoon, incumbent Mayor Sam Katz told reporters he wants to halt construction on the $250,000 Bannatyne-McDermot bikeway, one of 36 active-transportation projects the city planned to conduct this year with the help of federal and provincial infrastructure money.

Hours later, the city placed the project on hold, citing the need to conduct more talks with residents and businesses along the route, which runs from Waterfront Drive to Sherbrook Street.

"During projects such as this, sometimes dialogue with the community results in improvements to the project through design change," city spokesman Steve West said in a statement. "With regard to the McDermot Bikeway, we have concluded that more dialogue will be beneficial."

The move comes as another blow to an active-transportation project all three levels of government have hailed as a long overdue upgrade to the city's network of bike-and-pedestrian corridors. The $20.4 million in spending represents nearly an eight-fold increase over the $2.6 million the city typically spends every year to build recreational and commuter cycling routes as well as other pathways.

Several of the projects have angered residents and businesses, who claim the city failed to consult with them properly about the changes.

A $1-million bridge planned for Omand Park was struck from the project list this spring. At the end of the summer, six Broadway-Assiniboine businesses sued the city over the $125,000 Assiniboine Bikeway.

Work on the Assiniboine Avenue project continues, but the Bannatyne-McDermot project has now been shelved, leading Katz to criticize city staff about the project for the fourth time in six days.

"This city does not have to go the extra mile. It has to go the extra 10 miles in consultation," Katz told reporters after a mayoral-candidate forum at the Fort Garry Hotel. "When anything like this happens in the future, you will see consultation above and beyond."

Katz told reporters he did not personally vote in favour of the projects, which he said were approved by community committees. In fact, the mayor and 12 out of 15 councillors approved the active-transportation upgrade on Dec. 15, 2009, when council approved the 2010 capital budget.

And the project details merely came before community committees as information. Only the capital budget provides authority for the spending.

In a scrum with reporters, Katz accepted responsibility. "I am the mayor. No matter where you draw the line, the buck ends up at my table," he said.

Mayoral challenger Judy Wasylycia-Leis said Katz should also halt the Assiniboine Bikeway if he's serious about public consultation.

"It's a little late in the game, in an election period, saying he's going to halt construction," she told reporters. "He's acknowledging he made a strategic error in planning and consulting."

After a round of public-service cuts at the management level in 2009, the city has two senior staffers working on the active-transportation upgrade. Private consultants were also hired to engage in public consultation.

Katz has dismissed suggestions meagre resources are to blame for the city's performance. He also said tight timelines associated with the federal funding for the active-transportation upgrade are to blame.

The projects must be finished before the end of March to qualify for federal infrastructure money. All but three must be completed before the snow falls because they involve laying concrete.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 28, 2010 B1

Mayor Katz to halt Bannatyne-McDermot Bikeway

Winnipeg Free Press September 27, 2010 Bartley Kives

Mayor Sam Katz says he wants to stop another one of Winnipeg’s 35 active-transportation projects – and it’s not the Assiniboine Bikeway.

Katz told reporters this afternoon he plans to speak to acting chief administrative officer Mike Ruta about putting a halt to the $250,000 Bannatyne-McDermot Bikeway, which is slated to run from Waterfront Drive to Sherbrook Street.

The mayor suggested people and businesses in the area were not consulted properly.

The city is in the midst of spending $20.4 million on a bike-and-pedestrian corridor upgrade with the help of the provincial government and Ottawa. Some of the routes have been the subject of criticism from residents who say they were not consulted properly about the changes. A group of Broadway-Assiniboine neighbourhood businesses even sued the city in an attempt to stop the $125,000 Assiniboine Bikeway.

That lawsuit likely won’t be heard before the bikeway is complete. Katz said there is no point halting it because the work is mostly done.

Today, however, he told reporters in a scrum at the Fort Garry Hotel that he wants to halt the Bannatyne-McDermot Bikeway. He again lambasted city staff and consultants for the way the public was informed and said he did not vote on the specifics of the project.

The active-transportation upgrades were approved by council as a whole in late 2009, when council voted in favour of the 2010 capital budget. Katz has repeatedly trumpeted his role in expanding the city’s network of commuter-cycling and recreational trails.

Mayoral challenger Judy Wasylycia-Leis also said the city failed to consult residents properly.

Katz said as mayor, the responsibility ultimately lies with him.

All the active-transportation work must be completed before the end of March, which effectively means most routes must be done before the snow falls. The mayor has denied the short timeframe has played a role in the headaches surrounding some of the routes.

He has also disputed the notion budget cuts at the middle-management level at city hall have contributed to the confusion.