More bad news for Bowman. On the heels of the downtown development committee’s unanimous approval of another surface parking lot, this time at the site of the Upper Fort Garry provincial park, St. Norbert councillor Janice Lukes came out swinging yesterday against the City’s beleaguered communications department.
“It’s very difficult to get information, it’s very difficult to share information, and it’s very difficult to be effective when all you’re doing is trying to find and gather information,” Lukes told Metro News.
Lukes’ anger, not entirely misplaced, stemmed from the City’s poorly-communicated information session about the 7.6-kilometer second leg of its rapid transit corridor, which is slated to extend the existing track south to the University of Manitoba’s main campus. According to The single session, slated for tomorrow between 3:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the CanadInns at 1824 Pembina Highway, is meant to provide residents with information about the $600 million project.
“This is huge,” Lukes told Global News. “We are spending a million dollars on transit right now getting people in and out of the stadium it’s really important to see how it connects to the stadium and how it connects to the U of M which is the 2nd most commuted to destination in the city of Winnipeg.”
Lukes noted city councillors had yet to be briefed on the transit plan, something the City’s newly-appointed Chief Administrative Officer Doug McNeil acknowledged was unfortunate.
“We could have done better, we could have got the information to her earlier, certainly,” McNeil told CBC News. “I just arrived here. I think we’ve got a ways to go to improve the communication.”
For his part, transit head Dave Wardrop told CTV News there would be a few changes to the second leg, noting it was now slated to run through the old Southwood golf course, which the University purchased a few years ago.