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by Ross Romaniuk
The Winnipeg Sun
December 19, 2002
A bid by a non-profit group to launch a riverside heritage
parkway is in trouble after a city hall committee voted Tuesday
to approve the construction of a bridge across the Seine River
at Southglen Boulevard.
More than $2 million
Save Our Seine (SOS) Environment Inc. has been trying to raise
more than $2 million to buy a parcel of St. Vital forest to create
Bois des Esprits, a proposed recreational route for canoeing and
hiking reaching upstream from south Winnipeg.
At a municipal hearing Tuesday, councillors approved a bridge
across the Seine at Southglen Boulevard -- a span the non-profit
group says will damage part of the wooded environment that's crucial
to its dream.
Ladco Co. Ltd., which wants the bridge for access to a proposed
760-unit housing development, says SOS has had its eye on more
than just a green space. It wants to launch a larger project,
including an interpretive centre, coffee shop and inn, that would
hurt more than help the forest.
Those allegations, along with the failure to halt the bridge,
have all but cut off donations to the heritage project, says the
Seine group's president.
"The seed has been sown that we're trying to control this area
and develop it," SOS president Jules Legal told The Sun. "I think
it's derailed the fundraising, and I don't know what the implications
are going to be."
The city has set aside $1 million for SOS's land purchase, while
also offering to match up to $600,000 it raises. However, SOS's
funds have stalled at about $67,000.
"If we're painted as some kind of berserk environmental group
that wants to develop along the river," Legal said, "you can be
darn sure none of them are going to contribute."
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