Dallas Hansen to Brian Bowman: Get Aboard Subway Rapid Transit

Given WT's recent issues with bus troubles and that the 2nd phase of (Bus) "Rapid" Transit is in danger of making commuting take longer due to the "dogleg" route through the Parker Lands in Fort Garry...

I'm linking to Dallas Hansen's wonderfully-written open letter to then newly elected mayor of Winnipeg Brian Bowman.

Bill Menzies, who is/was (is he retired?) WT's Planner, would say that they wouldn't need to increase the size of the bus fleet with BRT (as compared to rail) because the buses would get to their destinations faster and could turn back the other direction sooner.

What Menzies failed to take into account was that the metro area's population is increasing, mainly from non-white 3rd world countries.

There is not enough transit capacity as it is, whether we had BRT, LRT, or a subway. Or just stayed the course and did nothing.

So it's up to the decision makers at City Hall to "grab the bull by the horns", show some leadership, get rid of (fire) the people who need to be fired and start to rebuild and grow our Transit system the way a big city is supposed to do.

That means putting aside BRT and installing subway rail instead, like Dallas so eloquently said in his piece, linked below.

http://dallashansen.com/wp/?p=532

Why No Fort Garry BIZ Group?

The Fort Garry Detailed Area Plan, written by the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg in 1970 said of the northernmost part of the RM of Fort Garry:

The “Norwich Plan”, which has been successful in some Canadian locations, for example, Niagara Falls, Victoria and Oakville, is a co­operative venture of local businessmen, local community organizations, and local government agencies to improve the appearance of a given street or streets in a community. The essence of the Plan is that it can be adapted to any locality as it is a proposal for improving the general appearance of a particular area in a city, without major alteration or expense, yet providing a dis­tinctive atmosphere to the area. The success of the idea depends on the co­operation of the majority of the business people and local government in the area. Where such a plan has been implemented, the area concerned has experienced an improvement in busi­ness, become a tourist attraction, and has re­awakened a spirit of community pride. The suggestion is made that the use of the Norwich concept by local businessmen and the Municipality may be suitable as a means of improving the appearance of the commer­cial areas.

 So why would Fort Garry businesses not want to create a BIZ group which can help in beautifying the area, creating a community identity, in the absence of a real autonomous city for that area?

There area already successful BIZ groups in metro Winipeg, that have created this community feel along commercial streets, namely the Old St. Vital BIZ, the St. James Village BIZ, the Transcona BIZ, and the Norwood Grove BIZ.

I don't own a business in Winnipeg. I'm just here to create awareness. Awareness of the need for a proper mass transit system here. Awareness of geoengineering/chemtrails going on, etc...

So it's up to the local businesses of the Beaumont, Wildwood, and McGillivray Local Planning Areas to come together and create the Fort Garry Business Improvement Zone.

The domain would be:

fortgarrybiz.com

CKND Manitoba Tonight ca. 1982

A year or two ago I spotted an old CKND-TV clip from 1982 of their local news programme, Manitoba Tonight, which aired between 10:30 pm and 12 midnight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Inc5tXXWbZA

Sorry, I didn't have a VCR till '87. But that's another story altogether.

Ctrl-Alt-Bksp to exit a bad X session

In X Window System in fvwm, Motif, CDE, etc...you're able to exit out of a corrupt, hung, disk thrashing session just by pressing the key sequence:

Ctrl-Alt-Bksp

This is a very cool feature and saves one from having to do a complete reboot. Using this key combo. takes you back to the GDM login scrreen.

To add this feature, use the Gnome Tweak Tool and in the Typing tab, select the option Key Sequence to Kill the X Server, like so:

DONE.

Questions at Parker Lands BRT Hearing

https://youtu.be/Kp40NsAHyPQ

 

http://citycircus.ca/transit-official-claims-if-brt-part-of-marion-freeway-plan-public-engagement-will-follow-successful-parker-lands-brt-model/

For decades (since 1973) the Plan for BRT (or LRT) was to use Markham as the point at which the line would veer off to and from the University of Manitoba.

Except now we hear that it was interference meddling with Shindico and Katz and the University of Manitoba itself that lead to another, smaller road being chosen instead.

Pambrun's an idiot.

"CompuVision" computer store display CED videodisc (1984)

Telephone Documentaries

Youtube - AT&T Tech Channel

Youtube - British Telecom (BT) Let's Talk

Winnipeg Area Travel Survey (2007)

I've been looking for some data on the traffic volumes experienced between Winnipeg and Selkirk and I think I've found something relevant.

The Winnipeg Area Travel Survey of 2007 was conducted by iTrans Consulting (now HDR Inc.) of Ottawa.

The two areas of interest to me are labelled [1]:

External District #23 - East St. Paul & West St. Paul, and

External District #27 - 'North Northeast' and includes Selkirk, Winnipeg Beach, Grand Marais, and St. Andrews.

They surveyed over 366 households[2] in 'North Northeast' who regularly commute to/from this area.

For External District #23, the report has a combined population of 13,230, contains 4,390 households, and of that 8,760 active commuters using a total of 10,480 vehicles.[3]

For External District #27, the report has a combined population of 33,200, contains 12,650 households, and of that 12,700 active commuters using a total of 24,910 vehicles.[4]

When the figure for Active Commuters in External Districts #23 and #27 are combined, it totals 21,400 vehicles daily.

While installing commuter rail line between Winnipeg and Selkirk areas might encourage more people to live beyond the Perimeter Hwy., it is inevitable that growth in the Winnipeg Capital Region will create this anyways.

A diesel (DMU) commuter train can carry 50-300 passengers at once compared to one diesel bus of 50 passengers.

A Diesel Multiple Unit train provides a much smoother ride for passengers because the train glides along smooth track, rather than having to ride along poor quality asphalt roadway.

A DMU train can be kept outdoors and does not require any indoor heating, unlike a bus that needs to be kept warm in the Winter.

[1] "2007 Winnipeg Area Travel Survey Results - Final Report", iTrans Consulting Inc., pg. 7
[2] Ibid. pg. 6
[3] Ibid. pg. 80
[4] Ibid. pg. 88

The Winnipeg Capital Region - List of RMs

1.  RM of East St. Paul - Birds Hill, North Hill, River East Estates
   
2. RM of Headingley
   
3. RM of Macdonald - Brunkild, Domain, LaSalle, Oak Bluff, Sanford, Starbuck
   
4. RM of Ritchot - Glenlea, Grande Pointe, Ile-des-Chenes, St. Adolphe, Ste. Agathe
   
5. RM of Rosser - Rosser, Marquette, Meadows, Gross Isle, Little Mountain Park, Gordon, Lillyfield
   
6. RM of St. Andrews - Clandeboye, Petersfield, Lockport (W of the Red River)
   
7. RM of St. Clements - Beaconia, East Selkirk, Grand Marais, Libau, Lockport, Thalberg
   
8. RM of St. François Xavier
   
9. RM of Springfield - Oakbank, Dugald, Anola, Cooks Creek Hazelridge, Glass
   
10. RM of Tache- Dufresne, Landmark, Lorette, Rosewood, Ross, Ste-Genevieve
    
11. RM of West St. Paul -Middlechurch, Rivercrest

St. James-Assiniboia Detailed Area Plan

Author: Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg
Date Publ. February 1971
Size:  903 K

St. James-Assiniboia Detailed Area Plan

Commuter Rail Needed Between Winnipeg and Selkirk

Other regions have 'em. They enable commuters to live further outside the central city and commute without taking their cars.

Commuter rail here existed 100 years ago in the form of the Winnipeg, Selkirk and Lake Winnipeg Railway (ca. 1908 - 1939) ... interurban trains. They were replaced by  Beaver Bus Lines in 1948 and haven't returned since.

Interurban train on Eveline St. (Selkirk, Manitoba)

While electric transit with its guy wires are cool looking, lots of bigger metropolitan areas use DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit). These were called Interurbans in the early part of the 20th century, and later Budd Rail Co. called them RDCs (Rail Diesel Cars). Either way, they enable a transit authority to provide expanded capacity to haul many more passengers at one time than a bus, and do it more comfortably.

The current bus line between Winnipeg and Selkirk could use improved options for passenger travel between both cities.

In fact, the Partnership for the Manitoba Capital Region ... stated in their Capital Region Transportation Master Plan (CRTMP) released in 2014:

The large majority of the survey respondents indicated the City of Winnipeg as their primary residence.
 
Major themes generated by the survey questions and respondent feedback included:
 ...
A need for alternative modes of transportation including active transportation and regional transit.

 Current populations of metro Winnipeg and points north:

There is currently ample population that could handle a DMU-type transit, as a replacement for the Beaver Bus. It's time to switch back to rail, which helped this region grow.

Service could also be extended somehow to the communities on the east side of the Red River, such as East St. Paul, which currently lacks any form of public transit.

The current Beaver Bus schedule provides 11 runs from Selkirk and 11 runs from Winnipeg, daily. The trip one-way takes about 55 mins.:

 No bicycles are allowed on Beaver buses. So, for example, if a person in Winnipeg wanted to do a day trip to Selkirk and ride around, they could not do it. However, if the Beaver bus was replaced by a Beaver train you could accomplish this.

The whole Beaver Bus fleet consists of several Orion V buses, each with a passenger capacity of about 50 each. A rail-based DMU could handle about 70 seated passengers at once per rail car, 140 if two cars were joined.

One of the benefits to using DMUs is that each rail car is self-powered, so adding extra rail cars for capacity doesn't burden the lead car.

See also:

IRFCA - DMU FAQ
RM of St. Andrews - Winnipeg, Selkirk, and Lake Winnipeg Railway Co. 
Bombardier VLocity DMU in Australia 

Fort Garry Detailed Area Plan

Author: Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg
Publ.: September 1970
Size: 895.2 K (PDF)

Fort Garry Detailed Area Plan

Map 1 - Location and Extent of Development
Map 2 - Urban Growth Pattern
Map 3 - Existing Land Use
Map 4 - Existing Zoning
Map 5 - Fort Garry Future Land Use
Map 6 - Local Planning Areas Index Map
Map 7 - Beaumont Future Land Use
Map 8 - Wildwood Future Land Use
Map 9 - McGillivray Future Land Use
Map 10 - University Future Land Use
Map 11 - Fort Richmond Future Land Use
Map 12 - Waverley Future Land Use
Map 13 - St. Norbert Future Land Use
Map 14 - Existing Services
Map 15 - Proposed Linear Riverbank Open Space System

Eyesores of Winnipeg

This blog post is gonna out all of the fugly or not well kept, or outlived its usefulness buildings and other public infrastructure in and around Winnipeg, Canada.

Osborne Village Inn

1. Osborne Village Inn
   
   It's been there for years. It just needs to go, and be replaced with something bigger, nicer, taller. Make the new building a landmark for the whole of Osborne Village area.
   
   Looks like other people feel the same way, as it was announced on 2015-08-11 that the Osborne Village Inn has been sold for redevelopment into a newer "botique" Hotel. Good news!
    
2. Sherbrook Inn
   
   Same thing with the Sherbrook Inn. The area around it is being gentrified. There are newer apartments, a Stella's cafe. The area doesn't need an SRO hotel with drunks wandering at night to make it unsafe.
   
   Just demo it and build something else. It doesn't have to be a Hotel or Inn. Make it a destination for the whole of the Sherbrook / West Broadway neighbourhood and those passing thru it.
3. Fort Rouge Leisure Centre building signage. It's the ugliest Rec. Centre signage in the metro area! It SHOUTS out "1975". It's outa date fonts, colours needed a serious update YESTERDAY! The integrated Osborne Library Branch is fine. I like it. But the Rec. Centre fascade needs to be changed to get with the times.
4. Legion No. 84 - Smith St.

   Veterans Legion No. 84 has been abandoned several years ago. It still stands empty to this day. Unused with no vision no possibility to be used for something else.

   The BEST thing that could happen to this building would be for the owner or the City to have it demollished for something bigger & better.

   This corner has a lot of potential, because of its proximity to the downtown Library, The Forks, and nearby public transit.

   Back in the 1980s I used to pass this building when it was still occupied. It meant that I was getting close to the Library and it'd be soon time to get off the  bus.

Greater Winnipeg Investigating Commission

Greater Winnipeg Investigating Commission [  K, April 1959]

Tuxedo Detailed Area Plan

Tuxedo Detailed Area Plan [601.8 K]

Author: Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg
Publ.: November 1970

St. Vital Detailed Area Plan

Below are a few of the city planning documents written by the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg. These date back from the late 1960s into the early 1970s.

I have done my best to transcribe these documents as accurately as possible, though it is possible there may be errors.

As soon as I have more of the text I will place each plan onto a separate blog post and add in the maps (as PDFs) for your viewing pleasure.

Detailed Area Plan - St. Vital [903.2 K]

Author: Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg
Publ: December1968

St. Vital - Map 1
St. Vital - Map 2
St. Vital - Map 3 (Existing Land Use)
St. Vital - Map 4
St. Vital - Map 5
St. Vital - Map 6
St. Vital - Map 7 

Upgrading from Fedora 19 to Fedora 20

This morning I upgraded from Fedora 19 to Fedora 20.

One of the reasons is that I see updates of software and the current minimum to find RPM package files is 20.

The other is a problem that I've been having with dispcalGUI 3.0.0/3.0.1 ever since I upgraded to F19 on June 14th. The 0install programme complains that the python software library is not working together or installed properly or something like that.

When I updated to 20 today, some functionality was increased in Gnome-Dock. Prior to 20 the Calendar graphic would remain static and not update the 'date card'. Now it does. The other applet I have on the Dock is a Moon Phase. It didn't show any future Moon phase dates. However in Fedora 20 both these applets now work as advertised.

I temporarily lost audio output, but doing a search led me to have to reinstall the pulseaudio driver, as described here in Comment #24:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1046153

So I did:

sudo yum reinstall alsa-plugins-pulseaudio

Rebooted, and that did the trick


I found that Fedora 19 was snappier than 18, and that 20 is about on par with 18 in terms of speed.

My hardware is:

• Lenovo T61
• 2 GB RAM
• WD Scorpion 160 GB SATA DASD
• ext4 filesystem

Upgrading from Fedora 18 to 19

Last night I upgraded my 2 1/2 yr. Fedora 18 laptop by typing:

fedup --network 19

The process took about 3 hrs. and after that I got a much faster system  because it must have cleaned out a lot of junk that I built up since February 2013.

What works:

• MATE 1.6.3

What doesn't work (for me):

• Cinnamon (either)
• dispcalGUI 3.0.1

What's better:

•   Evince / Document Viewer

Adobe InDesign CS2 in Linux

A couple of years ago, Adobe decided to make freely available and freely usable its CS2 suite, which was originally released in 2005.

Although there are quite excellent similar programmes that run in Linux for photo editing - GIMP, and vector graphics in Inkscape, and desktop publishing in Scribus ... the last one, Scribus, the interface takes more getting used to because it was just designed differently.

So to get Adobe InDesign CS2 working in Linux, you need the following:

1. Linux OS (Fedora, Ubuntu, Mint, etc...)
2. WINE or Play on Linux (I used WINE 1.61)
3. A Copy of Adobe InDesign CS2 (Windows)

I'm gonna leave the first two steps for you to have ready, and concentrate on Step 3, getting and installing InDesign CS2:

1. On the Adobe website is a whole page, with CS2 applications and their corresponding Serial #s, which you'll need to enter in order for the programme to load.
2. Find the InDesign CS2 for Windows (not Mac) .exe file. It's about 700 megabytes, and download it to your hard disk.
3. Use WINE Config and click on the [Install...] button.
4. Locate the InDesignCS2.exe file and click on it.
5. During the install process, copy/paste the serial # from the web page and paste it into the serial # box on the screen.

Book Collection Managers for Linux

Last year I moved from one location to another, and so I was uprooted yet again. One of several moves since 2012.

It has given me the opportunity to check out various book collection managers available for Linux.

Ten years ago I had two bookshelves with over 200 books, ranging from large coffee table type publications to religious booklets. Now I've had to 'downsize' to about half of that.

Anyways, I've discovered a couple of software utils. to list, sort, vote on, my collection of books:

1. Alexandria Book Collection Manager, which has been available for years.
2. Tellico, a new software available since 2013.

Both promise to assist in tracking the books you physically own, as well as those you have read. The latter allowing you to put your favourites in a 'want' list so you can remember to purchase a copy at a later time, if need be.

Alexandria ver. 0.6.9

Alexandria just tracks books. Ones you have read, ones you want to purchase. You can arrange your collection list by title, author, publ. year., publ. co., rating, read, and want.

One of the things I like about it is the font-size of the menus is good for using over several hours while I was going thru my books, adding them to the database.

What works

Basic features like Saving (this is a database program, and it autosaves), Sorting (by clicking on the top headers), exporting to Tellico's xml-based .tc format and exporting to .csv creates a semi-colon based list which you can then import into a spreadsheet or anything else that reads in .csv format.

When it comes to adding new books, you don't have to key in all of the data, just the ISBN or the Title, or the Author, and the programme will find it for you and insert the remaining data. However, you need an Internet connection for this to work because it connects with the Library of Congress and others to import the metadata.

What doesn't work

Alexandria gives you the option to export to .bibtex format, used for bibliography work, but this didn't work and generated an error msg. "undefined method 'force_encoding' for nil:NilClass" with a 0 byte file instead. Now granted, I'm not really experienced in using bibliographic databases. But it would be nice if it did work, "just in case" I need such a feature.

Because this programme has not been updated since 2010-11 it may be a while before this error is fixed, if ever.

Tellico ver 2.3

Tellico is the second programme I tested for book managers available for Linux.

It can manage more than just books. It can also list your CDs & DVDs, Comics, and more.

What works

Importing my current Alexandria database, it found the right file, and put all the right field data in the right spot.

What doesn't work

Tellico is supposed to be able to write Reports based on your collection, arranged by Title, Author, and the other fields. However, the programme abended (crashed and disappeared) when I tried to do this. It didn't matter what kind of report I requested.