Quote:
Originally Posted by pspeid
If I remember correctly any past discussion of opening P & M during the period of the original agreement was shut down immediately by the property owners. They basically used it like a club; no discussion, just suck it up, city.
IMO: If trueviking's analysis is correct, Gillingham has not only shown a (somewhat) progressive streak, but a canniness as a politician to get things done. As sad as it is to admit, he knows what a large chunk of Winnipeggers primarily care about; their taxes and their drive time. He's been able to use both of these to move along a positive project and get public opinion on his side.
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Here's my tinfoil hat covered brain analysis on this on what the possible outcome would be.
Scott gets voted in as mayor of Winnipeg, lays relatively low while understanding and going over ongoing issues. Later, almost out of nowhere more than a year after being elected, introduces the idea to open P&M with some actual reasons used as leverage, one of them proposing to close down the intersection for 5 years if they want to go ahead with the idea of replacing the membrane. Get's almost everyone on his side and passes a motion to open the intersection, but hesitant to close the underground circus.
Consults with designers and engineers and to nobody's surprise, there is some money left over to actually open the intersection and keep the underground open with the major last hurdle being if citizens are okay with traffic chaos for at least 5 years. At that point, traffic patterns would change in those 5 years, and by the time intersection is fully reconstructed and reopened once again, more pedestrians will be walking around that intersection with the addition of the transit station on Portage Ave E. Traffic patterns and volume would increase again, but nowhere near to pre-reconstruction and closure of Portage and Main. Things have worked out in the end, and the conversation of opening/closing Portage and Main has been put to bed once and for all.
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