Parking woes plague residents near health centre
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Like their neighbours in Lord Roberts, residents of Riverview near the Fort Rouge Garage are peeved by the overuse of street parking by Winnipeg Transit employees. Farther south, and a little further east of Osborne Street, it’s the parking habits of staff of Riverview Health Centre that are the problem.
A Riverview resident who lives close to RHC says the tendency of staff to park on the street is a growing concern in the area. Although there is time-limited parking on the street blocks nearest the health centre, the two-hour limits are only in effect until 5 or 5:30 p.m. According to the resident – who asked to be identified as Joe – employees who work into the evening start parking on his street around mid-afternoon, ultimately in compliance with the restrictions but leaving little to no space for residents to park when they come home from work. Adding to the frustration, Joe says, is the fact that the “massive” parking lot at RHC tends to be virtually empty at that time.
Further, while maintaining that the situation is worse on nearby streets without time-limited parking, Joe says sometimes cars are parked on his street all day long.
Photo by Tracy Groenewegen
Cars parked on Darling Street in Riverview, between Ashland Avenue and Baltimore Road, illustrate the frustrations of area residents concerned that employees of Riverview Health Centre don’t use the centre’s parking lot.
“I’ve had to call 311 and say, hey, can you please enforce the parking here?” he said.
The city confirmed that it has received complaints about time-limited parking enforcement in Riverview and that it has issued penalty notices to vehicles that are parked beyond the posted time without a residential parking permit.
“We are also proactively patrolling the area,” a spokesperson said.
Coun. Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) says she has heard from constituents in Riverview about the use of street parking by employees of both WinnipegTransit and RHC. She states that she has met with RHC to discuss the situation, including communications to staff regarding parking and the cost of on-site parking. The issue does not seem to be one of lot capacity, she notes.
According to a WRHA spokesperson, staff parking at RHC is offered at $40 per month and the large surface lot is monitored, well-lit and offers plug-ins for block heaters in the winter.
“We understand community residents’ concerns and do encourage staff to use the available parking,” the spokesperson said.
Joe has initiated a petition with the city to expand the time-limited parking near the health centre. While some have been reluctant to sign, he says, most of his neighbours have been supportive.
Tracy Groenewegen
South Osborne community correspondent
Tracy Groenewegen is a community correspondent for South Osborne. She can be reached at tracy.groenewegen@gmail.com