Winnipeg, MB – City of Winnipeg staff have recommended the purchase of the Canada Post Building at 266 Graham Avenue for redevelopment as the new headquarters of the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS).

The recommendation, contained in a report to the Standing Policy Committee on Downtown Development, follows an 18-month process of exploring how best to house the WPS.

This included examining the options of recladding and retrofitting the existing Police headquarters in the Public Safety Building (PSB), and building an entirely new facility. City staff concluded that redevelopment of the Canada Post Building is both a cost-effective option, and the one which best meets the needs of the WPS and the residents of Winnipeg.

The report will be presented to the Executive Policy Committee on Wednesday, November 18, and if approved by the EPC, it will proceed to City Council for final consideration.

The report said that an Agreement for Purchase and Sale negotiated with Canada Post provides for a purchase price of $30 million and a closing date of December 1, 2009, and that redeveloping the building to house the WPC is estimated to cost about $105 million, with the work expected to be completed by the second half of 2013.

The relocation of WPS headquarters to the Canada Post Building would offer a number of benefits, the report said. These include:

• A greater presence of WPS foot patrols and itinerant officers on streets and in covered walkways in the downtown.
• Consolidation of core WPS functions that are now dispersed at several locations throughout the city, thus enabling better service delivery and easier access to the public for information and services.
• Easier access to the Law Courts complex, cutting transportation time and costs for WPS members attending court.
• The ability to accommodate both the current and anticipated needs of the WPS.

The staff report also recommended that the Public Safety Building at 151 Princess Street – the current location of Police Headquarters – be declared surplus once the consolidation at the Canada Post building is complete.

Winnipeg, MB – Due to the continuing warm weather, the City of Winnipeg’s Leaf It With Us depots will remain open until Monday, November 23, 2009, seven days a week, weather permitting. Residents can drop off leaves and yard waste, which will be recycled into a soil-like material used to landscape finished landfill areas.

The depots accept leaves, lawn thatch, grass clippings and garden material. They do not accept sand, street sweepings, animal waste, tree clippings or branches.

Bagged Yard Waste Only

St. James Civic Centre 2055 Ness Avenue, Parking Lot

Kildonan Park Rainbow Stage Parking Lot

Assiniboine Park Zoo 2355 Corydon Avenue, West Parking Lot

Pan-Am Pool 25 Poseidon Bay at Taylor Avenue, Parking Lot

King’s Park King’s Drive & Kilkenny Drive

St. Vital Park River Road & Falconer Bay

Transcona Ravelston Avenue at Chrislind Street, Parking Lot

Terry Sawchuk Arena 901 Kimberly Avenue

Kilcona Park McIvor Avenue Gate, at Lagimodiere Blvd.

Northwood Community Centre 1415 Burrows Avenue, south hockey rink

Valour Community Centre Clifton Site, 1315 Strathcona, West Parking Lot

Bagged or Loose Yard Waste

Brady Road Landfill Brady Road, South of the Perimeter Hwy.

For more information, residents can:

• call the 24-hour recorded yard waste information line at 986-8888, code 9813
• call the 24-hour recorded Brady Road information line at 986-8888, code 9814
• contact our 311 Centre, open 24 hours every day, by phone at 311 or by email at 311@winnipeg.ca
• visit our web site at http://winnipeg.ca/waterandwaste/

Winnipeg – On Tuesday, November 17, 2009, Winnipeg’s Water and Waste Department will begin a city-wide consultation with citizens about recycling. The feedback from this consultation will be used to help determine how recyclable materials are collected in the future.

In a series of open houses and an online survey, residents will be asked for their comments on the current blue box program, as well as two new options for recycling collection that the City is exploring:

• weekly automated collection using 240-litre carts (which hold the contents of 3 to 4 blue boxes)
• bi-weekly automated collection using 240- or 360-litre carts (which hold the contents of 5 to 6 blue boxes)

Residents are invited to attend one of eight open houses being held around the city, share their ideas and suggestions about the recycling program, ask staff questions, and have a look at the carts which would be used for automated collection.

A note to citizens – these Recycling Open Houses are being held on the same dates, and at the same times and locations, as the City of Winnipeg’s OurWinnipeg Call to Action Open Houses. This is intended to make it more convenient for citizens to participate in both Open Houses.

Recycling Open Houses

Tuesday, Nov. 17  Red River College, 160 Princess  3 – 8 pm

Wednesday, Nov. 18  Sturgeon Creek Community Centre, 210 Rita St.   5 – 8 pm

Thursday, Nov. 19  Windsor Community Centre, 99 Springside Dr.  5 – 8 pm

Friday, Nov. 20  Access Transcona, 845 Regent Ave.  5 – 8 pm

Monday, Nov. 23  Thunderbird House, 715 Main St.  5 – 8 pm

Tuesday, Nov. 24  Canad Inns Fort Garry, 1824 Pembina Hwy.  5 – 8 pm

Wednesday, Nov. 25  Bronx Park Community Centre, 131 Chelsea P  5 – 8 pm

Thursday, Nov. 26  Canad Inns Garden City, 2100 McPhillips St.  5 – 8 pm

Residents are also encouraged to share their views by:

• completing the online survey between November 16 and 30 at winnipeg.ca/waterandwaste/recycle/projects
• emailing comments by November 30 to WWDFeedback@winnipeg.ca

A recommendation on the type of collection service will be presented to City Council in January 2010.

For more information:

• visit winnipeg.ca/waterandwaste/recycle
• phone 311, open 24 hours every day

Winnipeg – November 13, 2009 - In an annual ceremony to kick-off the holiday lighting throughout Winnipeg’s downtown, Mayor Sam Katz, joined by the Winnipeg Children’s Choir and citizen tree-donor family, hosted the lighting of the City Hall Christmas Tree. During the ceremony, Mayor Katz donated $2000.00 from the Mayor’s Office along with dozens of new toys to the Salvation Army/Winnipeg Fire Department Retirees “Toy Mountain” campaign for the third consecutive year.

“Thanks to this generous donation from the Mayor’s Office, we will be able to purchase nearly 1000 toys and, along with the generous donations from citizens across the province, build an even bigger mountain to meet our goal this year and build a toy mountain with more than 12,000 toys,” said Toy Mountain coordinator Mark Young, chaplain for theWinnipeg Fire Department and the Salvation Army.

The Toy Mountain campaign was launched by retired and current firefighters in support of the Salvation Army. All fire stations in Winnipeg, as well as the Training Academy on McPhillips and the Fire Prevention Branch on St. Mary’s Road, will be collecting toys for children aged newborn to 14 years until December 18th.

This year’s tree comes from the yard of John Klassen of 563 Sharron Bay, where he and wife Lydia have resided for 43 years. The tree was selected from 54 candidates and is a 10.7 m (35’) Colorado Blue Spruce. The tree was arrived at City Hall by flat-bed truck on Tuesday morning and was decorated by with over 5,000 white LED lights in preparation for tonight’s ceremony.