Kevin has been the councillor for Charleswood, Tuxedo and Westwood for almost two years. He was chair of the Winnipeg Police Board until his resignation in June, 2020, when he observed that the Board was being left out of decisions that were its responsibility. Rather than make a formal presentation to the club, Councillor Klein opened up the floor to questions related to city matters from the Rotarians present. The first question had to do with the status of having flashing amber lights set up in school zones (which was an offer made several years ago as a donation from Chuck Lewis, owner of Expert Electric, to make school zones more visible and accepted by the city in 2019). After the city’s Properties and Development deferred the decision to accept the lights (which are similar to those used in Toronto) in September 2020, Mr Lewis withdrew his offer. Jack expressed concern about the boulevards that are overgrown. Apparently, the public is not allowed to cut the boulevard grass because it is “protected”. This is an issue that needs to be addressed – but there is no follow-up. He is focused on traffic on Grant Avenue – and a percentage of the fines go to city and provincial coffers. However, residents in apartments along Wilkes Avenue and Sterling Lyon Parkway complained about the excessive speeds and traffic noise late into the wee hours every night. The Winnipeg police force has only one car assigned to fining speedsters. Photo radar is used to issue speeding fines in areas near schools, parks and playgrounds. Lyle asked about what the city is doing about taking down trees affected by diseases (like Dutch Elm disease). Answer – the arborist budget keeps getting reduced every year (therefore, not much?) Ed Thompson mentioned that the Ash tree borers and dandelions are an issue he’s concerned with, but the chemicals that are effective in controlling those problems are banned. Councillor Kevin mentioned that all city services have been reduced by 20% - but the staff level hasn’t dropped. Kevin suggested having developers plant two trees for every tree they remove from a property. Chuck was concerned about the levels of phosphorous in the waters of Lake Winnipeg as a result of the City of Winnipeg’s treatment plants not treating waste water to remove phosphates before releasing the water to the Red River and hence to Lake Winnipeg. Upgrading the North End Water Pollution Control Centre’s ability to limit phosphorous, nitrogen and ammonia content in the treated waters was estimated to cost $1.6 billion. |
