Winnipeg drivers are getting fed up trying to find a space for their car downtown. “Oh, it’s absolutely brutal out here, man; it sucks trying to park every day,” said Kaymin Lemoine. Lemoine needs to be downtown five days a week. He’s a student at the Aveda Institute Winnipeg. Lemoine told CTV News he’s given up trying to find monthly parking because of availability and affordability, and instead looks for a different spot each day. “There’s been multiple times where I’ve tried to sign up and I can’t even do it,” he said. Lemoine’s not the only commuter at Aveda feeling the pinch. “Because of how much traffic, how many people, all those kinds of things, it’s been a struggle to find affordable parking that’s for sure,” said Amilia Mulchand, an instructor at the school. It may get even more difficult to secure parking at several downtown parkades. Several permit holders at the parkade at 266 Hargrave St., such as Daniel Riskin, were recently notified by Impark that their monthly spot will disappear Nov. 1. “It kind of sucked cause I didn’t get the cancellation till after they told me by email, so it was like a shock,” Riskin said Friday. “I spent a couple hours scrambling to get another parking spot. There needs to be more spots around here for sure.” The parkade is owned by Manitoba Public Insurance. In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson for the Crown corporation said it is making changes to its parking arrangements to accommodate business needs. The spokesperson said Impark has contacted each affected permit holder directly, including information about how to find alternate parking in the area. “It’s a double-edged sword, on one hand we want to ensure that there’s adequate parking for events and employment clusters, but equally we know there’s a growing need,” said Jino Distasio, a professor of urban geography at the University of Winnipeg. “Return to work, post-pandemic means a lot of industries are bringing people back.” “You don’t create that vibrancy with empty parking lots,” said Loren Remillard, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. Remillard said it’s about striking a balance between managing existing parking infrastructure and helping people find new ways to commute downtown. He said building economic activity in the core is the key to making downtown safer for business growth. “We’re seeing the emergence of our downtown, more cranes downtown, more new buildings coming up and some of those buildings are replacing parking lots. That is what we should be striving for.”
