Note to City Hall: Time to Listen

That is me pulling my hair out.  Why?  I just got home from driving in Winnipeg.  For some reason, in late October, the city of Winnipeg starts construction.  The latest one is on Portage Ave just east of Polo Park, causing lots of delays and me wanting to pull my hair out.  They say Winnipeg has only two seasons, winter and construction.  Want to win a million dollars easily?  Bet that there is road construction on Ness Avenue.  It is pretty much a sure bet.  It also is alarming to me the amount of projects that seem to spring up in October.  My theory is that the Public Works Department (Roads) realizes that they have money left in the budget and decides to spend it in order not to return it to the city.  Of course, I am pretty cynical.  I'm sure that is not the case.  

What really makes me pull my hair out is that it seems that they seem to be repairing the same piece of road every year.  I don't get it.  How many times does McPhillips need to be repaved?  And, it is not just Winnipeg, it seems to be everywhere in Manitoba.  

When I was young girl, I remember a joke that adults shared.  It had something to do with driving through Manitoba, there was lots to see but the roads were awful.  In Saskatchewan, the roads were great, but there was nothing to see.  It reminded me of a an hour I spent in Abbotsford last year waiting for a bus to the airport.  This guy started talking at me.  Seriously, he just kept talking and talking oblivious that I was barely listening and not contributing to the conversation.  He was a trucker and I remember him telling me a story about a brand new truck that he was delivering to Montreal.  He talked about driving through Manitoba and stopping at the weigh station on the east side of the province.  The Ontario border was literally a baseball throw from the weigh station.  The new truck was denied entry to Manitoba because it weighed too much and was potentially too damaging to our roads.  The guy said that he had already driven all through Manitoba.  In the end, Manitoba didn't want to impound this new truck so they let him go the extra 500 yards.  He told me that Saskatchewan used a better base to construct roads than Manitoba did.  I confess I wasn't really listening, but it sort of made sense.  

And, there is a picture with me and Jenny.  I don't know how she is feeling now, but she put her life and heart and soul into the election for over six months.  It probably doesn't matter, but the media said she made one big mistake in a choice of words.  She used the term "choice rider" during a transit debate.  People jumped all over her, saying that all Winnipeggers were "choice citizens".  That was very unfair to her.  Choice rider is an industry term in public transportation.  It simply means a person who chooses to ride transit rather than take their own vehicle.  So, when she said that transit needs to attract more "choice riders", it meant that transit needs to attract more people to choose transit.  The media presented her as being elitist.  Transit should have come to her aid in explaining that this is a common industry term.  

I didn't object to that choice of words, I objected to another choice of words.  I was the only one who objected to it.  She had a campaign party and she encouraged everyone to party with "Jenny's army".  I didn't like the term army.  In these days of hate crimes and terrorism, I objected to any war reference with regard to an election event.  No one else seemed to mind and it turned out, that this was a term developed by her team to show strength.  

Regardless, I spent an hour with Jenny.  She talked so fast that my pen couldn't keep up.  There was no question about her passion for Winnipeg.  There was also no question that she had researched city hall.  I remember her saying, I have turned over a lot of stones, and what I have seen is pretty ugly.  One thing that she talked about was a different way for the City to award tender contracts.  Currently, the city awards tenders to the company that offers the lowest bid.  She advocated a different approach.  QBS.  Quality Based Selection.  Basically, looking at tenders and awarding them on the basis of quality results.  She noted that Bowman liked to make "spending announcements" and she wanted to make "outcome announcements".  I think I will be thinking a lot of that conversation as I am pulling my hair out in November trying to navigate through the streets of Winnipeg.  

Is it possible companies low ball their bids for road repair knowing that it means it will need to be fixed again next year, so, in effect, keeps them in business but provides poor quality?  Is it possible we are spending millions to save 5 cents?  I understand we are hard on our roads due to our climate.  But, the other two prairie provinces have the same climate relatively.  Why are their roads seemingly in better shape?  Are we using the right materials?  Maybe, as part of the tendering process, companies should have to provide a guarantee of how long their repairs or resurfacing will last.  

Whatever you think of Jenny Motkaluk, I can assure you she is a smart woman.  Mayor Bowman would show great statesmanship to take her out for dinner and discuss her ideas and how they can make the city better.  That would show incredible common sense.  

I have a lot of hair but I don't want to pull anymore of it out.