Where is the vision, Winnipeg?

It’s the tail end of spring break and I find myself white-knuckling it down Highway 23 between an afternoon snowstorm and the appearance of the snowplows, three kids in the back happily gorging themselves on self-selected snacks procured at the grocery store on the way out of town. These spring break days aren’t going to fill themselves, so we’re on our way to the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre in Morden, though the drive is a bit more harried than I’d been counting on.

Clutching the steering wheel, trying to figure out where the road is, a thought comes to me. Wouldn’t it be great if Winnipeg had some high-energy activities for kids in the winter? We do, of course, have a few options. There’s programming at the YMCA and sometimes there’s drop-in basketball at some of the rec centres. The city pools are a respite and the city is kind enough to offer reduced fees and free swim times, but they also are under consistent threats of closure. Then there are the trampoline parks and indoor play areas, but many of these really sideline the parents into a supervisory role. It’s less like a family outing and more like a trip to the dog park.

My mind lands on that great Winnipeg albatross, that decades-long yearning of Prairie folk born to skate but also to swim: the often promised, never manifested pinnacle of winter respite: an indoor water park. The closest we came to this dream was in 2012, when a private hotel firm was set to build one on the surface parking lots adjacent to the railway — known as Parcel 4 — at The Forks. Winnipeggers suggested that wasn’t the right place for one, and urged the city to find a new site. The developer walked away from the deal instead. At the time, the Free Press described the collapse of the water park plan a “fiasco” and a “debacle.” Immediately after this, a consultation period was launched to decide the best use of the land, resulting in the Railside design concept of mostly residential and some commercial properties. That report was only released earlier this year. The land is, of course, still vacant.

The mayor at that time was Sam Katz, who recently wrapped up his statements in court regarding the backroom deals surrounding the building of the police headquarters downtown. Even back in 2013, he was squirming out from under misconduct allegations regarding a fire-paramedic station land-swap deal and sudden, unannounced closures of the civic centre parkade and Sherbrook Pool (for which he suggested the community apply for provincial grants to repair). The city’s then-CAO Phil Sheegl — who also recently testified regarding his actions and inaction regarding the police HQ project — came under fire at the same time, with several city councillors calling for his dismissal. Among them were councillors Russ Wyatt and Scott Fielding, themselves now both facing charges of sexual assault. One great city, indeed!

Is it any wonder we don’t have nice things? City hall is currently mired in an endless conversation about how best to control groundhog populations and whether we should allow two extra pigeons in the sky on any given day. Where is the vision?

Right now, we have police officers charged and convicted of egregious crimes of corruption that were open secrets among many officers, yet who won’t wear body cameras unless they’re given to them for free and only after years of public pleading. We have plans on paper for Parcel 4 at The Forks and for Graham Avenue and Point Douglas, but the development timelines keep moving further into the future, with no cohesive vision for what is really quite a small city with a lot of potential.

Point Douglas, in particular, has been the target of several of these plans, going back decades. At different points it was to be a site for the Bombers’ stadium, a smaller version of The Forks and even — get this — a water park! Just last month we heard it’s now set for a future of mixed-use housing and commercial spaces. Stay tuned for the layer of dust that forms on that one, too.

All these plans, and no action, no vision and no reason to believe things are going to get better. A water park would be an obvious destination for Winnipeggers, but for now, we will enjoy our day in Morden, and plan for a trip to Portage la Prairie or Steinbach — both of which offer something closer to a waterpark than Winnipeg currently does or seemingly ever will.

rebecca.chambers@freepress.mb.ca