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PHOTOS BYPHILHOSSACK/WINNIPEG FREE PRESSThe south side of Westview Park, a.k.a. Garbage Hill, will be closed until next spring in order to repair damage from years of use and erosion that has made the paths on the hill dangerous.Garbage Hill getting much-needed makeoverResurfacing trash causes temporary south-side closureBy Geoff KirbysonOLYMPIANS, national team athletes and weekend warriors need to find a new place to do their hill training.This morning, the City of Winnipeg will fence off the south side of what is officially Westview Park, but is best known as “Garbage Hill” or “The Dump,” to repair decades of neglect.With countless runners and cyclists going up and down the hill every spring through fall — there are a few hardy souls who brave the elements in the winter, too — the ground has worn away and countless pieces of glass and other debris have surfaced from below.In fact, water runoff from rainstorms has created a number of treacherous crevices along the path.Daryl Doubleday, the city’s manager of solid waste, said the south side of Garbage Hill simply isn’t safe for athletic training purposes anymore.“It’s gotten to the point with the erosion where we felt it was time to move ahead with plans to landscape it and get it back to where it was,” he said.The affected area will be covered with compost from the city’s leaf and yard waste composting program and native grass and wildflower seeds will be planted.The area, which measures about 60 metres by 10 metres, is expected to be closed until next spring to allow the new grass to take hold.Longtime Garbage Hill enthusiasts say the landscaping is long overdue.Jim Edmond, a Court of Queen’s Bench judge, got in a few last trips up Garbage Hill on his mountain bike late Tuesday afternoon.“It gets your heart going and it’s great exercise. It’s the only place with hills in the city. Otherwise you have to drive to the Birch Ski Area around Roseisle or Grand Beach. That’s a bit of hike. I can cycle from my place and be here in 10 minutes,” he said.Edmond, who has been training at Garbage Hill for six years, said even though he’ll have to adjust his training regimen a little, he’s glad to see the city taking action.“You can see somebody getting injured unless they really knew what they were doing on their bike,” he said.Westview Park got its nickname because it’s located on one of the city’s closed landfills. The landfill operated from 1875 until 1948 and accepted primarily ash and glass from Winnipeg’s old garbage incinerator on Henry Avenue.Vic Keller, a personal trainer and owner of Vic Fitness, said it will be nice for his Tuesday training group to be able to run up the hill next year without worrying about slipping and falling on broken glass or other metal debris.“It was a landfill dump. Let’s face it, it needs some work,” he said.Keller said he likes to send some of his advanced clients up the south side but he still plans to make use of the roadway up to the top and the grassy hill on the north side.“The approach isn’t quite as good on the north side but we’ll have to make due,” he said.The south side has a grade of about 22 degrees, the highest in the city, and about three times the grade of the roadway to the top of the hill.geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca‘It gets your heart going and it’s great exercise. It’s the only place with hills in the city’—Jim Edmond, above left, cranking his way up Westview Park’s ‘Garbage Hill’ Tuesday evening
Newspaper Details
Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA
Wed, Apr 27, 2016
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Jay F.
CA 25 Jul 2020
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