Business owner’s sign pokes fun at endless construction on Portage Ave

WINNIPEG — A Winnipeg business owner is celebrating a decade of construction in front of his store using a tongue-in-cheek sign. 

The sign outside of the Spectrum Health Centre reads, “Celebrating a decade of construction at Portage and Maryland.”

Gordon Partridge has owned the health centre for 15 years and says he does not remember a time where there hasn’t been construction in front of the building at Portage Avenue and Maryland Street.

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“It’s incredibly disruptive. The construction has taken away parking spots, and interferes with the bus stop and access to the store,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's incredibly disruptive. The construction has taken away parking spots, and interferes with the bus stop and access to the store," he said.

The health business caters to a lot of people who are in pain, elderly or are living with a disability, he said. With a torn up sidewalk in front of the building, he said it’s hard for customers to access the front doors.

“We’ve had to turn people away who are in a wheelchair as they couldn’t get into the building,” he said.

Out of frustration Partridge said he decided to put up the sign last Friday.

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Since it’s been up, he’s received calls from people from across the world who said they saw the sign on social media and loved it. Partridge believes the positive reaction is because the construction frustration resonates with people.

Global News reached out to the City of Winnipeg about the construction.

“The City understands that construction work can be disruptive to residents and area businesses and we work to minimize the impact as much as possible,” City spokesperson, Lisa Fraser said in an email.

“For the current street/sidewalk renewal project on westbound Portage Ave at Maryland, advance communication was distributed by letter. We also worked with the West End Biz to distribute information through their channels.”

Although the jack construction started last week, Partridge said it seems construction crews have been working outside the building for years now.

“Customers even joke around saying they know where the business is located by looking for construction out front,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Customers even joke around saying they know where the business is located by looking for construction out front," he said.

Partridge said he has contacted the city, but no one has gotten back to him.

“If the city phoned and warned businesses about the construction in advance, it wouldn’t be as bad,” he said. “Common courtesy goes a long way.”