‘The parking is just gone’: Winnipeggers frustrated with looping around East Exchange in search of spots

WINNIPEG — Drivers said they’re only getting more frustrated as the east exchange continues to attract more and more Winnipeggers.

Looping around the same blocks over and over is a familiar task for most Winnipeggers driving in to the east exchange to check out a shop or grab a bite.

Winnipeggers said they want to support the little local businesses, and bring awareness to them in the east exchange. But, they’re finding it more difficult to plan a day there when finding parking, at any hour, is not a guarantee.

Brezinsky said she wants to support downtown and she does go to the east exchange often, but she’s finding she has to start her trip to the area at least 30 minutes earlier to allocate time to search, park, and then walk from what she feels is the inevitably far parking spot.s

The Sport for Life Centre coming up in the east exchange is expected to bring with it at least 80 new spots for frustrated drivers.

But, some businesses are calling that a double edged sword. Servers at Hermanos said they are happy more people will be in the area to check out their restaurant, but that also means the additional parking spots they were hoping for will be filled immediately.

“The exchange is flourishing, there’s MTC, 2 locations of MTC, there’s the concert hall and tons of stuff always happening, and right away when there’s a matinee or something else, the parking is just gone,” Anna Klassen, a server at Hermanos, said.

Winnipeg City Councillor, Mike Pagtakhan, said he’s happy to see more spots will be coming to the east exchange drivers, but he knows the parking problem won’t be going away anytime soon.

“Parking is always part of the conversation. How can we build,” Pagtakhan said.

He said the city continues to plan for the on-going frustrations that surround parking and he believes, just like any downtown in Canada, parking will always be a topic of discussion and often an area of frustration.

He said he’s hoping to have some spots temporarily opened up at the Alexander Docks to relieve the stress of drivers a little and he will also be pushing for some angled parking in order to make more spots out of the little space available.