City lobbied to fast-track spring cleaning ahead of tourism event

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This article was published 10/10/2024 (715 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg is being asked to complete its spring cleanup early next year and conduct an audit on downtown cleanliness, safety and beautification, while establishing options for city council to meet privately on sensitive business proposals.

Economic Development Winnipeg noted those key items on its wish list for city hall to help support tourism and attract business investments.

“To ensure our city looks and feels its best, we need city council help,” Ryan Kuffner, president of EDW, said during a civic finance committee meeting Thursday.

EDW would like spring cleanup efforts, including street cleaning and post-winter garbage pickups, wrap up for key routes in early May, to ensure the city looks its best before a major tourism industry event.

The city is set to host Rendez-vous Canada 2025 at the downtown convention centre on May 27 to 30, though many participants are likely to arrive in the city one or two weeks earlier to check out travel tours, Kuffner told the Free Press.

Winnipeg’s spring cleanup efforts typically start around mid-April or later and wind up around the beginning of June.

“We all know what Winnipeg can be like in the spring after lots of sand and salt (is added to streets)… When you’ve got folks from 22 countries, 1,500 tour operators, it’s Winnipeg’s one chance every 10 to 15 years that we would host this, to showcase our city to those tour operators… We need to put the best possible face on our city,” said Kuffner.

He said a thorough “downtown audit” would delve into garbage collection, beautification (even early flower planting, if possible), while investments can be concentrated on key routes for visitors to help control costs.

Kuffner also asked finance committee members to ensure the application process for new businesses is as simple as possible.

He’d like a mechanism that allows city council to meet in-camera with EDW for confidential briefings on potential new developments and vote on elements to support them.

“It’s just striking that balance of transparency while also ensuring investors can have confidence and clarity, in terms of the support of council because right now we can’t offer that clarity in an official capacity. Right now, other jurisdictions can, which then becomes a competitive disadvantage for Winnipeg,” said Kuffner.

All council meetings are public, with videos available online, and non-disclosure agreements prevent some information from being shared with politicians earlier, he said.

“We need (city council) to move things forward for particular opportunities but we can’t actually talk to them about those things in a broader council meeting,” he said.

Council’s finance chairman said he believes the ideas are feasible, though final council decisions to approve a deal must remain public.

“To attract new businesses and industries here, there needs to be some level of transparency. But (for) some of those early-on discussions, finding ways to do those in-camera, I think, is appropriate,” said Coun. Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan).

Browaty said early spring cleanup was completed to support the Juno awards in Winnipeg in 2014, and could take place again.

The councillor agreed there’s a need to spruce up downtown as well.

“The perception and reality of safety in our downtown is certainly top of mind amongst Winnipeggers… I appreciate that our economic development arm is putting some attention on the fact that we have a challenge there,” said Browaty.

The councillor said he plans to explore all of the suggestions.

“These are things that make sense and I’ll certainly work with my colleagues to see what they’d like to do,” said Browaty.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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