From: Kim the Traffic Reporter
To: talk@kick.fm
On June 23rd an open house for the Osborne St. parking study was held at 103-B Osborne, in the courtyard area of the Osborne Biz. Though if you didn't know where you were going, it was a little difficult to find.
The open house ran from 4-7 PM with three consultants in attendance as well as the member from the Osborne Biz. Attendance for this event was abysmal with approximately 10 to 12 people attending.
Not one person from the Winnipeg Parking Authority was in attendance to answer any parking questions, nor to explain any of the parking issues. The consultants at the open house were unable to answer any of those questions and in fact I ended up answering parking questions which were asked.
I was told that the Parking Authority would likely not be in attendance at the open house planned for July 1st.
* This study is a neighbourhood study on parking issues in the Osborne Village area with the cost of the study being shared by both the Osborne Biz and the Winnipeg Parking Authority. The consulting firm handling the study, including the online survey is MMM Group.
According to David Patman, the project manager with MMM Group, the purpose of this study is to get feedback from the community on parking issues in the Osborne area. Mr. Patman indicated that approximately 480 people have filled out the online survey. Some of the comments from the survey did indicate that there were problems with the survey as well as some being happy about the study on parking.
* I noted that none of the consultants actually had the survey with them. In fact there were no printed copies available for people to fill out. I spoke with a number of people all of whom indicated they had not seen the survey and in fact for some they didn't have internet access.
I asked Patman why there weren't any printed copies, the response was "I didn't think of it", also indicating that in retrospect they should have printed some copies of the survey. However, Patman took people's names and address down to mail them a copy of the survey to fill out. Patman did say that for the open house on July 1 they would have the surveys available. One of the other consultants also indicated that perhaps they could have had a laptop with wireless service available for people to fill out the survey online at the open house.
* One concept which is being considered for the area by the Parking Authority are meters or paid parking, Patman did say that it's not definite to put in meters, but are there to get feedback from the public, though he has been hearing from people they don't want on-street paid parking.
* One person attending the open house was Gareth from Bike to the Future who, according to the City website, sits on the Active Transportation Advisory Committee and of course as per usual bike lanes came up.
The issue of Roslyn Road was raised by one person Jean Hirt who is very upset about parking being removed from Roslyn.
Gareth said that this would be good for the area as it would prevent cut through traffic and the area would be calmed. However, Ms. Hirt disagreed particularly as a new condo development is to take place in the area and that parking would become a significant issue. One thought which was put forward was to extend the sidewalks to make a multi-use path, however, land would be required from the residents in the area, meaning expropriation. This however, is just an idea and no plans at this point in time are in effect to make this happen.
Ms. Hirt had written a letter to Mayor Katz regarding the proposed changes to Roslyn Rd and the lack of consultation saying she "didn't know there had been open houses for bike lanes". Mayor Katz's office sent back a letter indicating the Mayor was looking into the issue. The letter had been CC'ed to Jenny Gerbasi. As well, Ms. Hirt had sent an email to Kevin Nixon the city's Active Transportation Coordinator several weeks ago, but has yet to hear back from him.
* I asked the Osborne Biz if there were paid parking would the Biz allow the Parking Authority to extend the hours and hike the rates such as what had occurred at the Health Sciences Centre, the answer was a very firm NO and that "we would fight that tooth and nail".
* Paper was laid out for people to indicate their wishes for the area, yet with such a small attendance, one has to ask why? Even the consultants indicated that this open house at this time was not needed, however, Dave Hill of the Winnipeg Parking Authority wanted it.
As per usual with open houses dealing with civic issues has been a complete and utter failure. With the attendance at about 10 people, the question must be asked, how can this be representative of the community? Even the consultants have to agree on that issue.
It will be interesting to see what response this study will receive on Canada Day where they will be set up at the corner of Stradbrook and Osborne in the City lot. As I was informed, there should be paper copies of the survey and perhaps a computer for the online version.
We shall see if the Parking Authority actually sends a person in to answer any parking questions or if I once again shall have to do their job for them.
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Kim's Thoughts:
1) Putting paid parking into this area is not going to resolve any issues. This area is a high density residential community. All anyone needs to do is pay $25.00/year to get a residential permit, then those people can sit at a meter for as long as they wish, which is huge flaw in the Parking Authorities residential permit program. Also, if someone plugs the meter all day, pays by phone or has a meter permit, again, a vehicle can sit for the day. How then is turnover achieved? It's not.
So with people sitting all day at a meter, the parking situation has not been alleviated, but instead they will rake in money and still have a problem.
2) Another thing that troubled me is the by-laws. Because there was no representation from the Parking Authority, ideas were put forth that simply aren't legal (though that's never stopped Dave Hill in the past), but the point is, nobody was there to provide answers. All the ideas in the world won't matter if they violate the laws, which must be applied fairly and equally to all everywhere in the City.
3) This open house was a waste. I ended up spending most of my time chatting with the consultants on a variety of subjects. Even the consultants had to admit that mail outs were a waste of time. That this method doesn't work. Yet does the survey really work? Only about 480 people have taken the survey, now does this include repeats? But it would appear that getting the message out for this open house was as effective as that of the Active Transportation open houses, which is to say, not very.
5) Of course, Bike to the Future has to put it's two cents into the picture. How can we get people out of their cars. Well as one consultant admitted, people don't buy without a car which is why some malls and big box stores have such big parking lots in the middle of nowhere and poor transit service.
Doesn't matter that residents on say Roslyn Rd were out of the loop about this whole bike lane, what about Nassau? Heck residents won't even be able to take a direct route home anymore. But that's ok because it's going to cut down on cut through traffic.
Oh wait, we can increase bike riders by expropriating residents yards so we can have a multi-use pathway..isn't that great?
Doesn't matter that the Osborne area has a large percentage of seniors who can't ride a bike. I have to ask, how are some of these seniors going to be picked up by handi-transit, family members etc to go out? What about home care workers, meals on wheels for shut-ins. Oh wait, those meals can be carried in from another street.
Of course what has this to do with the parking issues in the Osborne area? Good question. It doesn't at this point. And at least one of the consultants was able to bring the conversation back on track.
6) Is there any one solution that will ease the parking issues in this area? No. Is a parkade necessary. I think yes. Should it be run by the Parking Authority, well I'm guessing anyone who has heard my reports can guess the answer to that one ... NO.
7) Will there be a larger turnout for Canada Day. Well yes. Thousands of people will be on Osborne so that's not really a fair representation of the community as there will be many who are there only for the celebrations. But again, if the Parking Authority doesn't at least provide someone who has at least a rudimentary knowledge of parking for the event, then how are questions supposed to be answered?
Again I have to say this, the event was a monumental waste of time and resources and three hours of my life I'll never get back again.
See you Canada Day.
