Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. He may be smiling upon politicians in Winnipeg who have spent decades pouring hundreds of millions of tax dollars into downtown revitalization mega projects. Considering we’re still talking about the problem 40 years later, the government spending approach has obviously failed. It’s time for something different.

In 1987, David Walker, a former professor with the University of Winnipeg’s Institute of Urban Studies was interviewed about a week before Portage Place opened.

At the time Walker was full of optimism about the project rejuvenating our city’s core (you can watch the interview on YouTube).

Walker noted that at the time the Portage Place project was actually the fourth attempt at downtown revitalization in Winnipeg in the last “15 years.” He went on to point out that governments “tried (revitalization) around city hall with limited results, they tried down around Trizac with limited results and they tried with the Convention Centre with limited results. So now they’ve had their fourth strike if you will, so it’s hopeful that this one will work better.”

And hope he did.

When asked, Walker gave the project’s chances of success “a seven or eight” out of 10. Unfortunately, after 40 years of government intervention there’s been no real improvement.

In addition to Portage Place, consider all of the other downtown revitalization mega projects governments have championed over the last while — the new Manitoba Hydro building, new University of Winnipeg buildings, Red River College’s downtown campus, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority buildings, the Esplanade Riel Bridge, Thunderbird House, the MTS Centre, Millennium Library and the list goes on and on. How many more decades and hundreds of millions of dollars do proponents of the government spending approach think they will need before our downtown is revitalized? It’s certainly becoming an expensive endeavour for taxpayers.

With commercial and residential activity already present downtown we must therefore look at things that are inhibiting it from growing further.

One of the most common concerns in the city is that many people feel our downtown is unsafe and feel bothered by panhandlers.

Instead of focusing on building shopping malls and other mega projects to spur development, imagine if our governments concentrated on things they should be doing — making sure our streets are safe and helping the homeless get the social services they need.

Suddenly two major obstacles to getting people to live and explore the richness of our downtown would vanish just by governments focusing on their core services.

Considering businesses in Winnipeg pay property taxes, school taxes and a punitive business tax while businesses outside of Winnipeg do not pay the latter, phasing out the business tax would also serve as an incentive for even more growth in the downtown area.

We certainly know what doesn’t work, so perhaps it’s time to revitalize the government’s approach to the problem.