Get to know your ward: Ward 1

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This article was published 01/10/2022 (1193 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Until election day, the Brandon Sun will be running profiles on each of the city’s 10 electoral wards and asking candidates in those wards to provide an answer to a problem facing the residents they wish to represent.

When Brandon City Council approved new ward boundaries for its 10 electoral divisions earlier this year, Ward 1 remained the same — but that doesn’t mean the campaign will be boring.

The five candidates running to fill the seat being left vacant by mayoral candidate Coun. Jeff Fawcett (Assiniboine) are the most of any ward in Brandon. Those candidates are Richard Bruce, Kevin Chambers, Heather Karrouze, Jo-Ann Pasklivich and Jeff Plas.

With Fawcett having been sent to city council by voters for the last three terms, residents in the area are guaranteed to have a new elected representative for the first time in more than a decade.

The boundaries for the ward, which was known as Assiniboine before being renamed for the election, include all parts of Brandon north of the Assiniboine River and south of the Trans-Canada Highway. Though it is located north of the city proper, Brandon Municipal Airport is also part of Ward 1.

Landmarks in the ward include Corral Centre, Riverbank Discovery Centre, Brandon’s Community Sportsplex, Kirkcaldy Heights School, Brandon Correctional Centre and the new outdoor sports complex once construction is completed.

While profiling the five candidates running in this ward, traffic issues were mentioned as one of the biggest concerns being raised by area residents. For this profile, we asked candidates to submit an answer to this question: What can the City of Brandon can do to improve traffic safety in Ward 1?

Here’s how those candidates answered the question, arranged in alphabetical order by last name.

Bruce, a former Brandon Police Service chief and Brandon University instructor, said the issue is more complex than the question would suggest.

He said that Manitoba Infrastructure’s timeline to modify the intersection of Braecrest Drive and 18th Street North by 2027 is too long.

“In the interim — and I don’t know how difficult this actually is — they should be able to do something by calming the traffic down if they would reduce the speed limit. It seems odd to me that from the highway to where you cross Braecrest and go halfway down the hill, the speed changes to 60 [km/h], but you have to pass through a set of traffic lights as well.”

What he’d like to see is the speed limit reduced from 70 kilometres an hour earlier or to put up speed boards that indicate to motorists what speed they’re travelling at. With housing developments underway in the area, Bruce said the issue will only get worse between now and 2027.

As he told the Sun in a previous interview, he doesn’t believe that a roundabout would be the appropriate solution for that intersection and said he believes that extending Clare Avenue all the way from First to 18th Street could help spread out traffic.

“I would like to be elected to help deal with that sort of thing, but notwithstanding whoever is elected, that has to start pretty soon after the election,” Bruce said.

Chambers, a math teacher at Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School, said the number one issue residents he’s talked to have expressed is safety at the intersection of Braecrest Drive and 18th Street North due to nearby housing developments increasing the flow of traffic.

“We can do a couple of things immediately that would really help out with that,” Chambers said. “Number one is, at the intersection of 18th and Cumberland [Avenue] where those lights are across from Peavey Mart, we can make it a longer time before the lights switch. So, a red light is longer and when traffic moves through the intersection, there’s more of a dispersal between traffic going into Brandon on 18th Street in groups.”

This, he said, would make it easier for traffic going north on 18th Street to turn left onto Braecrest.

The second idea of Chambers is to reduce the speed limit going south into the city on 18th Street from 70 kilometres an hour to 60 kilometres an hour to slow traffic down before they reach Braecrest. He’d also like to see Clare Avenue be extended.

Karrouze, executive director at The Counselling Centre, said she wonders if the plan to put a roundabout is “the safest and most effective response to an intersection that has already seen a fatality,” and would like to see the plan reassessed in partnership with the province with more housing developments in progress in the area.

“I believe that it is crucial that the city, in partnership with the Province, get this right the first time, cognizant of not just the current, urgent need, but looking ahead to needs that may present themselves, in future,” she wrote in an email.

“I suggest that, in consultation with the experts, we re-visit the proposed plan to ensure that it still offers the best possible solution. I have also spoken with residents who live near the intersection indicate that they would like to see a reduced speed limit along that stretch of highway, thereby increasing the safety of both vehicle and pedestrian traffic.”

She would also like to see the reduced speed zones around the Sportsplex and Kirkcaldy Heights school extended to improve safety for children in the neighbourhood.

Pasklivich, who works in mental health services for Prairie Mountain Health, said the first step towards solving traffic issues is to get an accurate measurement of the number of cars who travel along two streets with issues: Kirkcaldy and Braecrest Drives.

“Once we know the volume of traffic then we can utilize measures to reduce speed,” Pasklivich wrote in an email.

“Solutions range from citizen friendly to more drastic. An example of citizen friendly would be the solar powered mechanism that flashes the driver’s speed. The Citizens On Patrol Program could also be used to record and display speeds of motorists.

“A more drastic approach would be a speed bump/hump. A three-way stop sign would be a good option at the intersection of Kirkcaldy and Cater Drive. This would not only reduce speed but would also assist residents in that development to get safely onto Kirkcaldy. This could also be where the crosswalk should be moved to. Residents are finding it difficult to cross at the existing one. I would start with the citizen friendly approach first and then move up the available options.”

Plas, a home specialist with Best By Homes in Brandon, identified two major problems in the ward: panhandling at stoplights at the Corral Centre and the intersection of 18th Street North and Braecrest Drive.

“Many residents and drivers have witnessed fist fights between panhandlers, and in one incident one of the panhandlers was thrown into a car by another causing damage as well as scaring the elderly driver inside,” he wrote in an email.

“Many panhandlers at these intersections are now banging on the car windows demanding a handout from the drivers. Most of them are career panhandlers who have been doing this at the Corral Centre for the last two to three years because of the money they make.

To solve the issue, Plas proposed banning panhandling at stoplights and intersections and then providing panhandlers with access to employment, food, shelter and medical assistance.

When it comes to 18th and Braecrest, Plas said the current timeline of having a roundabout at the intersection installed by Manitoba Infrastructure by 2027 is too far away and the city should lobby for changes to happen sooner.

In the meantime, he wants the speed limit on 18th Street North to be reduced to 50 km/h.

Election day is Oct. 26

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