Here I go again...

In a post that ties in with my last one about boundaries and how they relate to the perceptions of crime in this city, I have another example of how the media often gives a negative bias to the North End. In this article from the Free Press on Saturday, there were 6 fire incidents reported (well, 8, but two were 2-for-1 deals). The two fires that were OUTSIDE of the North End simply had their approximate address given, no neighbourhood. 3 were listed giving both the xxx-block of xxx AND pointed out that was in the North End, and one was listed as being in Shaugnessy Park (so, they do get points for not calling it the North End, since, y'know, it wasn't).

I've taken the liberty of tweaking this article for the Free Press.

THERE were two house fires and six garage fires in the city overnight Friday.
The first fire broke out in the 400 block of Boyd Avenue in the North End St. John's in a garage late Thursday, causing $8,000 in damage. This was followed by a fire at a home in the 1300 block of Raleigh Street in Munroe West at around 12:40 a.m. There was a total of $20,000 in damage to the home and contents.
Hours later, police were called to a garage and shed fires on Magnus Avenue in the Shaughnessy Park area at around 2 a.m.
An hour later, another fire broke out in a home in the 600 block of Selkirk Avenue in the North End William Whyte* (*could have been Dufferin, depends what side of the street it was), causing $80,000 in damage. Soon after, at around 3:30 a.m., there was another garage fire in the 100 block of Enfield Crescent in Norwood, causing a total of $35,000 in damage.
At around 6 a.m., firefighters were called to another two garage fires in the 200 block of Pritchard Avenue in the North End William Whyte. The total damage from the first fire was $10,000, while there was no damage estimate available for the second.
No one was injured.

Of course, it also could have been written in a more simple way that would force those hell bent on coming up with a negative attitude towards a particular area to do some research:

THERE were two house fires and six garage fires in the city overnight Friday.
The first fire broke out in the 400 block of Boyd Avenue in the North End in a garage late Thursday, causing $8,000 in damage. This was followed by a fire at a home in the 1300 block of Raleigh Street at around 12:40 a.m. There was a total of $20,000 in damage to the home and contents.
Hours later, police were called to a garage and shed fires on  in the XXX block(s) of Magnus Avenue in the Shaughnessy Park area at around 2 a.m.
An hour later, another fire broke out in a home in the 600 block of Selkirk Avenue in the North End, causing $80,000 in damage. Soon after, at around 3:30 a.m., there was another garage fire in the 100 block of Enfield Crescent, causing a total of $35,000 in damage.
At around 6 a.m., firefighters were called to another two garage fires in the 200 block of Pritchard Avenue in the North End. The total damage from the first fire was $10,000, while there was no damage estimate available for the second.
No one was injured.

 See how easy that was to stop shouting NORTH END?  I am no dummy, I know there is crime here, and I'm not against it being reported; the crimes are a fact, facts should be reported. All I ask is that in a city already so biased against a particular part of town is that the media don't fuel the fire. As you just read, we have enough of them here already.

Boundaries

Sigh. Well, looks like the North End is to blame again, even when it isn't. By now you've all heard about the story about the puppy found in a dumpster, but what I bet you didn't know is that Jefferson Ave. is in the North End. That's because it isn't. Although according to the Free Press story it is.

A little Rayne never hurt anyone, so why would someone toss the cute little puppy into a city Dumpster?
That's what staff at Winnipeg's Animal Services Agency -- and a whole bunch of Free Press online commenters -- are asking after the eight-week-old shepherd-collie mix was found wet and cold in a North End Dumpster last week.

...

Rayne was given medical care and vitamins, and "(has) been eating a lot while she's been here," said Gordon, noting the puppy has gained a pound in the few days since she was found in a dumpster on Jefferson Avenue.

Now, admittedly, I'm more sensitive to these sorts of things and although it would be hypocritical of me not to complain if this was a positive news story that was being pegged as the North End if it happened on Jefferson, I don't think that kind of mix-up generally happens the other way around. I don't know where exactly on Jefferson Rayne was found, but it was likely somewhere in West Kildonan or The Maples, NOT the North End.

However, I do have a North End quick story for ya. So last night, after finally falling asleep (I've somehow injured my rotator cuff I think, and boy, does it make everything uncomfortable, especially sleeping!) I was jolted back to life by a hard and fast pounding on the front door. My roommate was first to answer it, but it appears the police had been led to believe that someone at my residence was being stabbed. No idea where they got this thought, but they seemed content with my roommate's simple, "um, no" and went on their way, waking neighbours up across the street, trying to find a stabbing in progress. 5 police cars later, they all left, not having been able to figure out who was being stabbed. My roommate wondered as to where our "regular" cops were - the ones who have come to take statements on more than one occasion.  Must've been their night off.

Milking this post for all it's worth

So, last night I was about to make dinner when my plans were thwarted as I needed milk to complete the recipe. What culinary delight was I making you ask? Cereal. Fruit Loops to be exact. Don't judge. Besides, if "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" and cereal is good enough for breakfast, simple logic would dictate that it is also good enough for every other meal too. Besides, when the hunger pangs strike I can be eating a mere 30 seconds later (well, if I have milk) - take that "real food"!

Off I headed, on foot no less, as although I love my cars, even I would have to hate myself for driving such a short distance. I was headed to Shell because if memory served correctly, the two little corner shops (about a block away in either direction) leave a little to be desired when it comes to milk and other perishable items. However, my imminent hunger and my desire to support the little guy caused me to stop in my neighbor had me stop at the little shop that was on my way. I was in luck! There was 1% milk ready and waiting for me! I had brought a toonie with me, as many years of buying milk at Sev while I pick up a Slurpee has taught me that milk being more expensive at convience stores is a myth, due to "maximum milk prices". That said, the maximum milk price applies only to the 1 litre size, so at Sev and the like if I need 2 litres I just buy two of the 1 litre size as it saves about $0.75.

So imagine my surprise when the gentleman told me it was $2.19! Since it had been keyed in manually rather than scanned, I pointed out that it was only a 1 litre, surely he was mistaken. Nope. He wanted $2.19 for it. So off I headed to Shell after all. Where it was $1.53. Curious, when I got home, I asked Google to confirm for me what I believed to be true about milk prices, and, sure enough, $1.53 is the maximum for a 1 litre of 1% milk.

 SCHEDULE A
(Section 4)
Maximum retail prices for the following types of Class 1 milk in a 1 litre container:
TYPE OF CLASS 1 MILK MAXIMUM PRICE FOR
1 LITRE CONTAINER
Homogenized Milk $1.66
2% Milk $1.59
1% Milk $1.53
Skim Milk $1.49

(in case you were wondering what the maximums for all sizes were)

So, this morning I made a formal complaint about the little store. Part of me feels bad, as I know that it can be harder for the little guy to compete, however another part of me thinks that their big mark-ups should be on things like candy, chips, chocolate bars and pop - not milk. Even if they had a smaller mark-up, say $0.25 instead of the whopping $0.66 - I might not have even noticed, but in a community with so many food security issues in the first place, it just seems a bit too cheeky. Of course, I suppose I am thankful that we don't suffer the same fate at Nunavut, which recently has been in the news due to their extremely high food prices. Although, I didn't check the cost of a 4 litre at that same store, if I was to buy it in 1 litre containers, it would cost a whopping $8.76! That's $2.64 more than 150m up the road at Shell - almost enough for two more litres.

On another note, I got this extremely weird search that led people to my blog today: 
eat legal basement apartment how do I get the pants addicted in Winnipeg
I don't even think I can try to figure out what that means.

Just how hot IS the Winnipeg real estate market?

No, this isn't about how there were four or five listings that sold last month for over a million, although if everyone employed the following method, I can understand why.

Remember back in June 2011 (yes, that's right A YEAR AGO) when I wrote about the former bicycle shop on Selkirk Ave that was for sale? Well, at that time, it was $149,000. It is now a year later, an entire year that that property has sat there, unsold and now they want $169,000. Yup, $20,000 more.

Now, one could argue that real estate values in Winnipeg have gone up xx% in the last year and that the price increase makes sense blah blah blah. Sure, it makes sense if someone had've been willing to pony up the $149k last year. However since Winnipeggers are irrationally afraid of the North End known to be ridiculously cheap a touch frugal, do we really think that all of a sudden they will realize decide that this gem is worth $20k more simply because a year has passed?

Bonkers I say. So, to you prudent potential property purchaser of  prime North End real estate, let the record show that 354 Selkirk Ave will should probably take an offer of $149,000. Logic would dictate that at that price point last year it was over priced or it would have sold, so therefore whatever perceived increase in value there has been over the past year could perhaps reflect a purchase price of $149k to NOW be accurate.

It also appears as though 1070 McIvor has been sold - I am waiting for my invites to the final and first parties - clearly my blog was the catalyst for the sale.

It's finally here... sort of; Roof still caving in

A month or so ago I attended a meeting to talk about the new garbage collection system that will be going city-wide, but more specifically about here in the North End as they replace the aging autobins. I live tweeted the event, mostly because I couldn't just stand up an yell and shout like I wanted to (although that didn't stop one crazy dude who kept getting off track) and partly because I don't normally attend things that people might be interested in hearing updates from.

One of the pieces of information that I was most excited to hear about was the new "App" that the City was going to have for/about waste collection. One of the things I find most difficult with reporting bulky waste to 311 is the inane questions that I get back from the operators before they will submit my complaint "ok, so you say there is an abandoned sofa behind the address in question (because god forbid you don't give them a specific address), how many inches is it away from the alley? (because if they deem it to be on private property, you know, not FULLY in the lane even though it's clearly abandoned then they send a different department, who will issue an order, and then the resident of the house will move it the few inches into the lane, and then you have to call it in again to have it picked up...) Does the sofa have a floral print or is a solid colour? (ok, I may have made this one up, but I'm sure I'll be asked it one day) So, it was my belief based on what we were told at the meeting, that an App was on the way that would allow us to report these things direct from our phone, including sending photos!

Well, the App is here, but, disappointingly does not offer what I was hoping for. The majority of the links seem to direct you to contact 311, have no automatic link to have your phone dial it, and the email function is also not at all what I find user friendly. It will let you send an email only from your email address set up on your phone (which I don't have as I have had difficulty setting up my Hotmail/Gmail and having them sync with things in real time) which does not offer the option of attaching a photo even if I could manage to use it. What it really needs is a built in contact sheet, similar to what their website offers for contacting 311 that does not require you to send it from your email directly but just from that page. (I'm sure there is a technical term for that but I have no idea what it is.)

Notice there is not even a email link on this page, nor mention of abandoned wast

The App also does not make mention of what to do in the case of illegally abandoned waste and how someone might go about reporting that. To be fair, the City doesn't seem to have been the ones to develop this App, but they need to be sure they're getting their moneys worth from this "My Waste" company and have them help to tailor it to our community.

This whole thing brings me to an excellent example of how I would use this App, if it worked in the way I wanted to. Following up on the work of A Day in the Hood, it seems as though the house that has been collapsing upon itself since at least September 15th 2010 (MY first email to the City about this problem) still isn't fixed. Sure, the house has gotten some attention, it looks a lot better from the front street now, but why the heck is the back addition still in this condition?

The roof keeps falling down further, and further...

This house is not occupied and the person who owns the property owns numerous properties in the community - if the cost of dealing with the problem is too great, perhaps they can sell off a property or two to help with that. If this property was actually occupied (as a primary/only residence) I could see the City extending leniency to allow the owner to raise the funds needed to fix the problem however I see no reasonable reason for this problem to continue.

Happy Birthday Portage and Main!

At the request of Mr. Christian over at West End Dumplings let me share my thoughts and memories of Portage and Main. My earliest memories of Portage and Main are as a teenager exploring the city and seeing just how far I could make it via skywalks and underground without having to go outside. I still find it fascinating that there is this whole little world under there. It reminds me of other cities I have been to (Sydney and Montreal come to mind) where they have almost mini-cities under their streets.

To be honest, I don't think I want the intersection to re-open - it is already a difficult intersection to navigate, I mean that part when you're headed east on Portage and after Fort and it goes from 4 lanes to 5 with no guide lines as to how traffic ends up in the 5th lane, which is in the middle, and all of about 100 meters before mandatory turning lanes... Of course you could also try to head south on Main where you also get an extra lane all of a sudden and then both right hand curb lanes force you to turn... And with the trouble we already have trying to get the traffic lights to sync up, do we really think when we inevitably need to change Portage and Main for pedestrian traffic that there is any hope of that problem getting better??

My vote (in the imaginary poll) would be to really spruce up and further promote the flip side of the intersection and make it something special rather than lament that we can't walk across a windy, busy intersection. Besides, where do they think all this foot traffic is headed? Are there that many people that need to head from TD over to Scotia above ground? Do the suits in one of the office towers want to get splashed by puddles while they wait to head to Hy's for lunch? I'm pretty sure it will be faster to get from one side to the other via the underground walkways anyway.

So to you Portage and Main, have a very happy birthday, and I salute you for giving us a place to dance and celebrate when the need arises.