WINNIPEG – The city has shut down the Alexander Docks at the Red River downtown due to safety concerns.
“An engineering assessment of the underside of the wooden dock, undertaken during the winter months due to low winter river water levels, and the associated preliminary engineering reports have shown the dock to be unsafe for public use in its current condition,” the city says in a news release Wednesday morning.
Crews are putting up fencing around the dock at Alexander Avenue and Waterfront Drive.
The most immediate effect of the shutdown is the relocation of a memorial to Tina Fontaine, the 15-year-old whose body was found wrapped in a plastic bag in the Red River in August, 2014. The city says it’s been in touch with the chief of Sagkeeng First Nation, Fontaine’s home community to make sure this is done respectfully.
But the closure also effectively puts the MS River Rouge tour boat out of business, says owner Kyriakos Voygiatzakis. He says his business is zoned for the Alexander Docks and his liquor license is tied to that location.
“It’s a Winnipeg landmark and Winnipeggers are about to lose the only ship of its kind,” Vogiatzakis told Global News Wednesday. He complained that the city has all but ruled out finding another location.
The city closed the dock to vehicle traffic last summer, saying flooding and ice on the Red River may have done damage and the site required a full assessment. At the time Vogiatzakis disputed there were safety concerns.
“The stability is great, there’s going to be cosmetic stuff like this but the piles underneath the dock are very safe,” Vogiatzakis told Global News on August 20th, 2014.
The city says “officials are working to assess options for the future of the dock based on the most recent engineering assessments.”
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