Budget Improvements Coming to St. Vital!

I’m sure we’re all happy about the weather being so agreeable this season, as well as the performance of our Winnipeg Jets, who were among the top teams in the NHL heading into the playoffs.

This is also budget season and I’m pleased to report that the City of Winnipeg’s new multi-year budget provides for upgrades in St. Vital.

The 2024 budget, which lays out a fiscal plan for the next four years, was approved by city council in late March. While I was not on the budget working group, I am pleased that many of the projects which I championed are included in the budget:

Recreation centre for Bonavista — This is a top priority for me in the 2022-26 term, and I am pleased to get this breakthrough. The city has allocated $5 million, budgeted for 2025 and 2026, which is about one-third of the total project cost. I hope to work with the local MLA and MP to get this project underway by 2025 or 2026. This new gym, which will be located on a city-owned parcel of land on the north side of Warde Avenue, west of Lagimodiere Boulevard, will serve Bonavista, Sage Creek and Royalwood.

St. Vital Park upgrade — The budget sets outs $3 million for various upgrades to the St. Vital Park duck pond and to the exit area near the toboggan slides. However, the budget is set for 2026-28, so no work will be taking place for a few years on this, though the road repaving project finishes in 2026.

Tripling the amount for “pulvimixing” of gravel back lanes — In the northern part of St. Vital ward, the sad state of many gravel lanes remains a source of tension. The “pulvimixer” (a kind of roto rooter process with a new gravel and cement mix) will triple in annual funding to about $1 million, starting in 2026.

New splash pad at Norberry-Glenlee Community Centre — The city is building several new splash pads in areas with at-risk youth, and the location selected for the St Vital ward is the pre-existing Glenlee C.C. site on Worthington Avenue. However, as there are no wading pools being closed in the ward to offset the cost of the new amenity (which is happening in many wards) the project is not scheduled to commence until 2029.

Increased transit service for Sage Creek and Bonavista (effective June 2025) — As the Sage Creek and Bonavista areas have grown over the past five years, there have been increasing calls to my office for more transit service. A new regional bus will serve Bonavista, and there will be a new direct line coming into Sage Creek town centre that will run to downtown.

-As per my column from FP Community News East