It appears that the Creek Bend community has a lot in common with modern-day Vanuatu islanders. Many of the former Solomon Islanders still believe that one day American military airplanes will descend from the sky to deliver bountiful cargo to them just like they did during World War 2. It is only a matter of time until this happens.
Creek Bend residents have a large gravel parking lot, not a crushed coral runway, but we have the same faith. One day a city park will come, with signage and waste containers, regular mowing, weed maintenance, a finished pathway, and an accessible paddler’s launch. A park plan would make that all possible. We look hopefully to the sky. Our new City park will eventually come, probably with a First Nations name that none of us can pronounce at first, but it will certainly come. It has to come.
Except, maybe not. A provincial official tried to break it to us gently.
The gravel parking lot that we see beside the Aimes Road Bridge is NOT a parking lot. It is a “pad or staging area” for the future St Anne’s Road/Perimeter Highway overpass, not a parking lot. As such it does not require ongoing maintenance by the province. Hence the now weed covered pile of dirt fill illegally dumped on the site, still not removed. That is not their problem.
Not yet reported in the media, the Province informed us that construction work on the St Anne’s Road/Perimeter Highway intersection will start in 2-3 years (2028/2029), taking a further 2 years to complete (2030/2031). An offer of sale for the “pad” will then be made to the city. If no purchase agreement is negotiated, the area will be “demolished”. I imagine that means that the gravel and the limestone base would be trucked offsite for use at the next MTI construction project. Or perhaps the storage facility at 90 Creek Bend would like more land to expand their operations. They could simply keep the gravel base.
The invasive plants spreading from the disturbed land are not the Province’s problem, as this is not a parking lot. According to the provincial spokesperson, the province has “no intention of maintaining or managing the land adjacent to the staging area. However, we are talking about a maintenance agreement with the city. We are unsure how to manage the land.”
She had visited the site recently, expressing awareness of the illegal dumping, invasive thistle, lack of garbage containers/regular pick up, lack of signage, last year’s water withdrawal by landscape companies and the temporary homeless encampment. She is aware of the community’s use of the site to access walking paths and as a canoe/kayak launching place.
She recognises community members are concerned that it is taking time for the province and City to make a park management plan. She also repeated, “There is no plan. Because it is a staging site it needs no plan.”
She twice stated that the City of Winnipeg is responsible (have an obligation) to spray under the Noxious Weeds Act. The City could simply spray the area with herbicide and then bill the province. This has not been done.
When informed that City Naturalists office would not spray the land around the staging area, her answer was, “Maybe it looks like finger pointing, they are working towards a plan.”
The CBRA and Save Our Seine are considering how to respond to this unfortunate news. But I have to wonder. Are we waiting for the planes that will never come? Are we just another cargo cult?
(With files from Fenella Temmerman.)