Discussions

that first we have to agree on what is needed or likely to appeal to get folks to come Downtown or to Brandon.  
This also means we have to decide on the various groups we wish to attract. Younger / older adults or teens, those that like noisy activities or quieter ones.  
Water park idea sounds good but would need to be year around facility which would mean enclosed or partly en-closable, say with one side that can be opened up for summer. Whether town run or private. How much use is the current indoor pool getting?  
Personally I view the Downtown area as very run down, parking needs to be improved and easier to access, maybe knock down a few derelict buildings and make them flat parking spaces. Make part of Rosser traffic free, put out benches/seating, allow food vendors to put out tables/chairs (at least during summer).  
What would bring people into Brandon, I'm not sure, I just come in to get shopping. In the past 20 years I have been to the bowling alley once, to ag days once. Nothing else on an entertainment level. But other folks would have different reasons and needs, and that is what we have to consider and reflect in whatever facilities are proposed, then we can look at the financial aspects.

If any individual is bored or has nothing to do it is them that have a problem, not the place in which they live!

Why does it need to be enclosed/semi-enclosed?  
 
Where should funding come from?  
 
Does it need to be profitable/self-sustaining?  
 
I'm not sure having it indoors would be sustainable, unless you're talking about having just like a pool/aquatic centre indoors and a seasonal water park outdoors adjacent to it. Transcona did something like that - the old Kinsmen Centennial Pool still exists and is just a pool, but the outdoor pool was redeveloped into a water park. Is that what you're talking about?  
 
Who funds this? Boissivain is currently building a new pool/water park thing. It looks like it will be similar to Souris. According to info available, $300k of the $2.2M price tag is grants (less than 15%) otherwise it's been fundraised (see https://www.brandonsun.com/westman-this-week/2022/06/09/new-boissevain-pool-breaking-ground-this-summer and https://boissevain.ca/investinginrecreation/ )  
 
These conversations always seem to be around "Brandon should build this" and then we expect the politicians to do it. But that's not necessarily the experience of these communities that have succeeded in accomplishing it!  
 
And finally, will it need to turn a profit? If it's seasonal, can it turn a profit and be self-sustaining? I'm curious to know if places like Souris and Wawanesa are able to self-fund or if it needs taxpayer support? No one seems to talk about that.

Not to completely derail this thread, but that's more a function of socialization. We are very heavily socialized that we need to be entertained. It's not any individual's fault.  
 
I also don't usually suffer from boredom and never lack in things to do, whether it be work or leisure. But it takes a certain temperament I think to resist that socializing factor. I tend to be very introverted and content. I can totally see a more social/extroverted person having different needs. And they are legitimate needs. The expression of those needs is where the socialization comes in.  
 
Plus, a water park would be cool lol.

residents of Souris would be OK if Brandon got their own waterpark, then they won't have to deal with city residents taking over. We are a city of 50,000 and we can't even build a simple waterpark when communities many times smaller have no issues. Then again, they get together and fundraise as a community. Really makes me wonder if Jeff has business with the other water parks and figures one in Brandon will hurt that business.

he thinks everyone lives on a farm and can just go and work on the farm. He thinks just because he's a farmer, everyone else must be the same as him.  
 
But this city still lacks many types of entertainment and other activities, especially in the evening. Not everyone goes to bars, plays bingo or VLT's, plays hockey or goes bowling. Really, what else is there in this city?

Not saying a waterpark is a must for Brandon but something to consider. I am fairly sure the city is doing a feasibility study on it. Being recreation many of the city facilities do not make money and tax money is collected to offset recreation facilities. That being said being able to support itself is important. Especially as it ages where does the money come from to do the needed repairs and maintenance?  
 
The new sports fields on veterans' way that are going to be built. 11million dollar project split e 3 ways with the city putting up 3.4 million. Spend 3.4 million get 11 million in value! good deal? Who pays for the ongoing and future maintain and reno cost when it ages? I think the city taxpayers! Already looking at the option of a 3rd party company to run it. Not saying it is wrong, but these are the facts to consider. This could be the water park or any other facility.  
 
Keep in mind the mayor is one vote. That being said some of his word selection on questions during the campaign could be considered questionable by many taxpayers. Should be interesting!

the recent recreation master plan has plans for a water park. https://brandon.ca/images/pdf/Recreation/Recreation_Master_Plan.pdf  
 
But why does it have to be the city that builds it? Wish one of these property developers would also take the initiative and build one.

1, Why does it need to be enclosed/semi-enclosed? So that it is usable all year, otherwise it is costing without earning.  
 
2, Where should funding come from? Preferably private funding, it will then possibly be run more efficiently than a government facility.  
 
3, Does it need to be profitable/self-sustaining? Yes because if not it becomes a burden on the tax base, which we all complain about already.  
 
While this is in the UK, it shows what can be done. I appreciate the weather is somewhat different!  
https://www.everyoneactive.com/centre/coral-reef-waterworld/  
 
I was not saying this is what has to be done, but merely throwing out the idea that research needs to be done before anything is decided. No good building the facility if nobody is going to use same.

Maybe one of the service clubs could help out like they did in the past?  
 
One of those big builders already built a state-of-the-art rink and a hometown hockey team. Think they have done their part for a while? Maybe a long while!

of people also want to enjoy the outdoor weather during the summer at the water parks. They don't want to be inside. Visitors would like to be able to lay in the grass and enjoy the weather, not be indoors laying on chairs or concrete. Why do you think people flock to these outdoor water parks and beaches, especially on hot summer days?  
 
For the most part indoor water parks are in hotels.  
 
Most of the best water parks in Canada are outdoor and are also only open in the summer. Brandon could have a nice big water park where it can draw in tourism that can easily pay for the maintenance.  
 
https://www.todaysparent.com/family/activities/best-water-parks-canada/#gallery/the-best-water-parks-and-splash-pads-across-canada/slide-12  
 
https://www.narcity.com/huge-waterparks-in-canada-where-you-can-cool-off-get-drenched  
 
BTW the Souris Outdoor Pool is also closed during the winter and yet seems to be doing well.  
https://www.sourismanitoba.com/residents/recreation-culture/community-pool/  
 
Edited by Trevor B, 2022-10-24 20:40:09

the city is also is doing a terrible job and letting people know about voting for this election. I went to advance voting at keystone this past week and there was a craft show going on. No where on the keystone grounds were signs of advanced voting. This is when I went around 11am.

At this point, I would love it if the new administration (whoever takes the lead) would institute some form of a newsletter (quarterly?) that would go around to all residents to at least give them a chance of keeping up with the goings on of civic life. Not only during election periods (trustees have always been a challenge for me, until I started sending emails), but all the time.  
 
Yes, the city does take out ads in the Brandon Sun, including in the community news edition that goes out weekly with the flyers. But clearly, it isn't enough. I thumb through that paper weekly, but even I don't pay much heed to the notices. And who knows how many just toss it (and all the nuseince recycled paper it contains) into the blue bin unopened.  
 
Yes, citizens play a part in keeping themselves informed. But given the changing media dynamics that are only going to become LESS locally oriented (short of injecting the information into these ecosystems' VIA pricy ads), I suspect that no action will only lead to less civic electoral participation.  
 
Given the state of this election thus far, I'll be surprised if we surpass the number of votes cast last time around. Which was in itself an all-time low.  
 
Hopefully I am wrong, though.  
 
Edited by Simonwalcal, 2022-10-25 10:09:10

I see there is an article that voting stations were not clearly marked as to where to vote, and at the same time people were turned away for voting. Sounds like election fraud!  
 
https://www.brandonsun.com/local/2022/10/26/city-tackling-early-election-day-problems

Actually Trevor I’m a qualified mechanic and auto electrician and I worked damned hard for long hours to make a good living at it because that is what it takes to get ahead in life. Again you don’t know what you are talking about.

Okay so we are going to spend a ton of money moving dirt to create a dike system to protect this space since we love building in flood plan. But doesn’t the city own the land between the gambler First Nation and first street? North of the trailer parks?

It seems as though this municipal election was organized and run very poorly, there is no need to undermine it further with ridiculous conspiracy BS.

Okay boomer. We get that you are all about enriching employers profitability at all expense but their own. Can we acknowledge the dismal turnout results now?  
 
Not everyone can just put on the boot straps and work their way towards . . . WHATEVER in life. Homelessness is a big obstacle to employment. When are we going to start considering this dynamic?  
 
This isn’t entirely aimed at Farmer George. This city needs to reevaluate citizen communication going forward, and the rest of us need to wake up and see our place.

as of now, out of 36, 528 eligible voters, only 4648 have voted. This really shows how no one is interested and really seems to ok with the status quo.

belief is that everyone should always be working 24/7. His solution to the lack of entertainment and leisure activities in Brandon is to work more. If your not working, your lazy essentially. Getting out and having fun doing things other than work is a bad thing apparently.

was just no hot items to get people interested or talking. Back when a casino was the hot topic, that got many involved and out voting. This time around, if you didn't see the election signs, you would never know there was an election happening. Both of the mayoral candidates never brought up any big promises or visions of what the future of the city could be. Everything was the same cookie cutter talking points by all candidates running for mayor and city council. So it really made no difference for who you vote for or even bother to vote.

Kind of agree with Trevor here. There were no big issues. I had to hunt for info on candidates this year. Don’t feel like anyone really have it much effort than to litter the streets with signs. Didn’t even know there was another mayoral candidate until a few days ago.  
I also feel unless you are on council, you really don’t get much of a say anyway. They do what they want. Neither mayoral candidate impressed me but I still picked what I thought was the lesser of 2 evils.

I wouldnt say that no one was interested, I believe there were other issues too.  
 
I never recieved voter cards for anyone in my household, but luckily I knew where I could vote. When I went to my voting station, it was a small sandwich board near the door (not the street) to say "hey come here, vote". Signage is a big part.  
 
I had a few coworkers who live in the same ward as me, and I asked if they were going to vote after work, and they said no, because they had to go all thr way to the east end (according to their voter cards) where their closest voting station for their ward was actually the Park community center. Not sure how many people got voter cards advising them to go to a polling station outside of their ward location.  
 
But, I do have to agree, that I really did not know there was an election, aside from what I see on Facebook. I did not hear any speeches, or anything. It was pretty quiet. I still went out and voted though. Will it make a difference, maybe.....maybe not.

I am glad you went out and voted.  
Not sure where else they could have put information about the election and the candidates?  
It was in the Brandon Sun, Debates were broadcasted on TV, and information was on the local Radio station.  
Besides all the signs of the candidates up all over town

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there are no voter cards mailed out to residents during civic elections in Brandon. I've only seen voter cards in the mailbox with federal and provincial elections. They make it clear what I.D. you need, but there is no mention of any voter cards issued for municipal Manitoba elections.  
 
On the other hand, I agree voter turnout was extremely poor, but no surprise with the lack of coverage and poor communication on behalf of the City of Brandon - Election section.  
 
All City residents should have one or 2 places to land for viewing ALL debates and all candidates without having to search all over the place or only having WCG to watch some of them.  
 
The debacle with the voting stations was well documented on the news (Winnipeg) here in Brandon with mix ups, miscommunication, poorly marked voting stations, etc.  
 
The wards numbering 1-10. Could they not have simply added the names of the wards beside the number? Not everyone has the time or patience OR knowledge (possibly newer residents) to search what number they are in, but they do know they live in Meadows, Waverley, Richmond Ward, Assiniboine, etc. Simply done.  
 
CTV had a reporter here in Brandon election evening, but coverage was a paltry 8-9 p.m., and that was closing off after the huge gaffe of declaring the wrong Mayoral candidate had 'won' in Winnipeg when in fact he had not.  
 
We knew most of the Winnipeg results at evening's end, but the brandon.ca/votes website was painfully inadequate.  
 
Info is scattered these days over all types of social and print media, but it sure would have been beneficial for all residents to have one place to go that was better organized than what was out there. The debates are important too and I'm sure many didn't even get to view some or all of them .

I just assumed there would be voter cards, as my cowoker mentioned she got voter cards. I coupd be very much wrong.  
 
I did look at the brandon.ca/votes website, but it is not easy to view on mobile. I also not a fan of going all over the place for the information either.

While that is certainly one way to interpret this result (people are just fine with the status quo), I don't think that is entirely it. Considering the multiple people I talked to whom didn't even know an election was going on, short of the signage. I recall receiving voter cards last municipal election, but not this time. Truth be told, I had to look up what ward number I was since I'm used to Rosser. The only related piece of mail I got was from Philip Emmerson.  
 
I don't know how other people spend their limited time in life, but most of mine is spent in a uniform. I would love to show more "interest" in civic politics, but as it turns out, most of my time is spent enriching the profitability of my employers. I suspect this to be a common thread among many in this city.  
 
I don't doubt that many in the suburbs are quite happy with the situation (short of the ever-increasing property taxes of urban life. Welcome to the vicious cycle of low-density development folks . . . it only gets worse from here!). But I doubt the same can be said for folks elsewhere. But I also doubt they have time to bother sitting down (as I did) and doing a bit of research (part of which involved waiting for replies from trustees).  
 
I really hope city officials don't interpret this result as simply stating that people aren't interested. Because I really think that isn't the case. You just aren't reaching them.  
 
A wise thing to do would be a mass questionnaire (smartphone scalable to a survey URL would be great!) asking residents about where they get their information. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Tik tok . . .  
 
Then figure out what to do with this data. I'm sure this isn't the only city that is running into this issue. How did/do other similar-sized localities close this communication gap?

I tend to agree with most comments people have posted on this subject. Trying to find any candidates information was an exercise in futility. Someone said try the Brandon Sun but it's behind a paywall. Twitter or Facebook had next to nothing. Nothing came in the mail, no one came door knocking. Someone mentioned that a candidate for a school board position said that it cost to much money for flyers. So did I miss something or should the city of Brandon have posted interviews and candidate positions, etc on their web site or social media sites. I voted but was not impressed on how this election was carried out.

I think more wouldve been interested if the city actually did something regarding letting people know that voting is happening. Advanced voting at Keystone had zero signage outside of keystone grounds. You have to go online to find out which building was the place to vote.  
 
There were more signage for the craft show at the keystone!  
 
As far as status quo.. im sorry but both long time runners for bsd and council should be changed. Its time for the current generation to run things, not back from a decade ago. That goes the same for Cornwalis as well.  
 
Edited by Iceman69, 2022-10-28 05:42:07

Its just a fact that people dont like change. So what do they do right before this election. Change all the wards and places to vote. Nobody knew what ward they were in or where to vote. You culd see terrible turnout for this a mile away.