Winnipeg residents angry at the idea that they’ll have to dig deeper in their wallets to pay to park downtown will have a chance to speak up on the issue, as the city makes plans to hold public consultation.
“I’d certainly like to see something get going in the next number of weeks, but as far as the entire schedule for our public consultation, that’s yet to be determined,” said Randy Topolinski, acting director of Winnipeg Parking Authority (WPA).
They plan to host an open mic session at some point, and to use social media tools to engage people in discussion surrounding the price increases.
“We want to embrace all those opportunities to get all the information all the feedback that we can,” Topolinski said.
“There’s a lot of useful tools out there, and we just want to incorporate everything we can to gather information, we want to reach everyone that we can.”
The WPA is proposing price hikes at meters in the “high-demand” zones of Broadway, Portage and Exchange. They want weekday rates to increase from $1 to $2 per hour, and evening rates, which are currently free, would go up to $1 per hour until 8:30 p.m. Meters would also start running an hour earlier, at 8 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. The idea is that increasing rates would also increase turnover at these in-demand parking spots.
“The curbside space is tough to get at, and part of our mandate is to provide 15 per cent curbside availability,” Topolinski said.
The proposal went before councillors at the city hall’s Executive Policy Committee Wednesday; rather than approving the rate increases, councillors opted for consultations.
The organization representing downtown businesses says it backs the parking pay hike plan.
“The lifeblood of a lot of the businesses are the parking stalls in front of their stores- near their stores,” explained Stefano Grande of the Downtown Business Improvement Zone (BIZ), “We don’t know what exactly will happen and what we’ve been assured is we’ll give this a try, we’ll take a look and see if it alleviates some of the demand on Portage Avenue.”
“It’s a good way to build our community, and hopefully through consensus there’s going to be an end result. Not everyone is obviously going to be happy about this,” Grande added.
Connie Rocha owns a downtown hair salon, and she’s just one local business person who disagrees with the logic behind the proposed parking price hikes.
“If my clients come for a hair color it takes two hours, so what they have to come back every hour and move their car while they have the color on their hair?” Rocha pointed out.
“It’s inconceivable, I don’t understand; I don’t get it.”
Now, she’s even thinking about moving her business out of the downtown area.
Fines for three meter-related offenses will also be increasing from $40 to $60, regardless of the outcome of the public consultation sessions.
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