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  #21  
Old Posted May 13, 2013, 1:53 PM
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Originally Posted by trueviking View Post
Amazing illustration of the true problem we have with surface lot's Trueviking. Thank you for posting this.
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  #22  
Old Posted May 13, 2013, 1:57 PM
CoryB CoryB is offline
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Just wanted to jump in before people start equating surface lots with availability of parking downtown. Yes, the number of lots does contribute to that but so do underground parking and multilevel parkades. Further, building density which changed between 1946 and 2013 has an influence on demand for parking.
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  #23  
Old Posted May 13, 2013, 2:14 PM
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Originally Posted by Cyrodill View Post
I do believe Western Financials preference was initially to stay downtown, sure parking would be more readily available/cheaper in a suburban setting but there was another factor other than parking that made them choose a non downtown location.

Quote from Article
Safety kills downtown deal
Firm chooses Polo North amid employee fears
By: Murray McNeill Posted: 06/2/2011

Randy Valpy said the reasons WFG chose Polo North include cheaper rent, cheaper parking rates and the ability to add more space down the road.
Cheaper rent, cheaper parking (which the company may be subsidizing) and the availability of space for expansion. Does seem like real strong business drivers. While they tack on the whole "downtown is unsafe" arguement if it was more expensive to operate their business at Polo Park than downtown the office would be downtown, plain and simple.
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  #24  
Old Posted May 13, 2013, 2:28 PM
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Originally Posted by CoryB View Post
Cheaper rent, cheaper parking (which the company may be subsidizing) and the availability of space for expansion. Does seem like real strong business drivers. While they tack on the whole "downtown is unsafe" arguement if it was more expensive to operate their business at Polo Park than downtown the office would be downtown, plain and simple.
I do understand thier were other variables and it comes down to a sound buisness decision in the end, but they did cite this as one of the factors. Why would they even bring it up if it wasn't 1 of the variables in making a sound buisness chioce, Employee safety would seem like an important issue? Just quoting from thier press release, not my personal opinion?

________________________________________

But one of the main reasons was employees' and management's concern about downtown safety at night.

Valpy said some of the firm's 350 employees work until 10 p.m., and they were worried about having to catch a bus or walk to their cars downtown that late at night.

"If we were a nine-to-five operation, we probably would have jumped all over it (a downtown site)," he said. "But at the end of the day, it came down to knowing our employees would be fine. We just felt better about Polo Park."
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  #25  
Old Posted May 13, 2013, 2:33 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyrodill View Post
I do believe Western Financials preference was initially to stay downtown, sure parking would be more readily available/cheaper in a suburban setting but there was another factor other than parking that made them choose a non downtown location.

Quote from Article
Safety kills downtown deal
Firm chooses Polo North amid employee fears
By: Murray McNeill Posted: 06/2/2011
Safety (or rather the lack thereof) is always a handy excuse when you don't want to publicly say you want your employees to have free parking.

Downtown is safe. Anyone who says otherwise is hiding their true feelings/motivation.
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  #26  
Old Posted May 13, 2013, 2:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyrodill View Post
Amazing illustration of the true problem we have with surface lot's Trueviking. Thank you for posting this.
I noticed that he left the Fortress development site and the Westin site without the red layer...

(also the Convention Centre expansion site, but that one is definitely a go...)
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  #27  
Old Posted May 13, 2013, 2:44 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by h0twired View Post
Safety (or rather the lack thereof) is always a handy excuse when you don't want to publicly say you want your employees to have free parking.

Downtown is safe. Anyone who says otherwise is hiding their true feelings/motivation.
This may be the case, similiar to Air Canada's decision as well? Was that a parking issue as well? Perception of a situation is a huge motivator. Personally I have no problem with downtown safety, either. But I'm not a 25 yr. old women catching a bus at 11:00 pm Friday night? I may feel different.
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  #28  
Old Posted May 13, 2013, 2:49 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drew View Post
I noticed that he left the Fortress development site and the Westin site without the red layer...

(also the Convention Centre expansion site, but that one is definitely a go...)
Hey Drew, Looks like those lot's will soon be a thing of the past.
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  #29  
Old Posted May 13, 2013, 3:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyrodill View Post
This may be the case, similiar to Air Canada's decision as well? Was that a parking issue as well? Perception of a situation is a huge motivator. Personally I have no problem with downtown safety, either. But I'm not a 25 yr. old women catching a bus at 11:00 pm Friday night? I may feel different.
I don't think Air Canada was a parking issue. IIRC it was staff staying overnight or something, so they wouldn't need parking.
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  #30  
Old Posted May 13, 2013, 3:13 PM
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Originally Posted by cheswick View Post
I don't think Air Canada was a parking issue. IIRC it was staff staying overnight or something, so they wouldn't need parking.
Yes I believe so as well, I just brought it up to illustrate, there were concerns with staff/safety, during late eve. early morning, non regular buisness hours. The staff would have used taxi's shuttles etc. They wouldn't need parking. Were many of theses staff women? I don't know but it probably did affect thier decision.
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  #31  
Old Posted May 13, 2013, 4:16 PM
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If there is any silver lining to trueviking's surface parking map, it's that the number of surface lots downtown is actually starting to decline. If most or even just some of the rumoured projects being discussed actually get built, there will be a noticeable decrease in the number of surface lots downtown... that hasn't happened in quite some time.

Both Katz and Selinger campaigned on decreasing the number of surface parking lots downtown. I'm not sure how much they've actually had to do with the looming downtown mini-boom, but it looks like those campaign promises are starting to come true.
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  #32  
Old Posted May 13, 2013, 9:30 PM
TR_Chick TR_Chick is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyrodill View Post
This may be the case, similiar to Air Canada's decision as well? Was that a parking issue as well? Perception of a situation is a huge motivator. Personally I have no problem with downtown safety, either. But I'm not a 25 yr. old women catching a bus at 11:00 pm Friday night? I may feel different.
As a 20 something year old woman, who lives downtown (and has since I was 17), and has caught buses after a call center shift at 11 pm M-Sunday since I was 16, or once I moved downtown, walked home, I have never had any safety issues. I keep my head up, am aware of my surroundings, and avoid certain places, (such as walking on the otherside of the street from certain pubs/bars that tend to have less friendly patrons). I have almost never felt unsafe downtown, in the 6+ years I have spent frequenting the area. Its the same sad old media perpetuated stereotype.
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  #33  
Old Posted May 14, 2013, 9:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CoryB View Post
Cheaper rent, cheaper parking (which the company may be subsidizing) and the availability of space for expansion. Does seem like real strong business drivers. While they tack on the whole "downtown is unsafe" arguement if it was more expensive to operate their business at Polo Park than downtown the office would be downtown, plain and simple.
The words, cheaper and parking, should never be used in the same sentence when speaking about Winnipeg. The Bay Park-aide rates almost double every six months ever since the new parking lot management took over. I believe that it is the same people that took over the cab, service station, gas, towing, and auto parts businesses.
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  #34  
Old Posted May 14, 2013, 9:33 PM
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Originally Posted by TR_Chick View Post
As a 20 something year old woman, who lives downtown (and has since I was 17), and has caught buses after a call center shift at 11 pm M-Sunday since I was 16, or once I moved downtown, walked home, I have never had any safety issues. I keep my head up, am aware of my surroundings, and avoid certain places, (such as walking on the otherside of the street from certain pubs/bars that tend to have less friendly patrons). I have almost never felt unsafe downtown, in the 6+ years I have spent frequenting the area. Its the same sad old media perpetuated stereotype.
It's great to here a positive experience, rather then the media driven babble..thanks for your relaying your experience working/living downtown.
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  #35  
Old Posted May 15, 2013, 12:05 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TR_Chick View Post
As a 20 something year old woman, who lives downtown (and has since I was 17), and has caught buses after a call center shift at 11 pm M-Sunday since I was 16, or once I moved downtown, walked home, I have never had any safety issues. I keep my head up, am aware of my surroundings, and avoid certain places, (such as walking on the otherside of the street from certain pubs/bars that tend to have less friendly patrons). I have almost never felt unsafe downtown, in the 6+ years I have spent frequenting the area. Its the same sad old media perpetuated stereotype.
Post #1? Welcome to the forum!
Yes, it is great to see a perspective from the younger crowd on the boogeyman issue known as 'Downtown Safety.' It only takes one or two isolated incidents to go viral in the news, making everyone thing they're definitely going to get stabbed if they so much as set foot in the downtown core in the evening.
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  #36  
Old Posted Jun 10, 2013, 3:32 PM
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Downtown's parking facilities tell story of city's development
By: Brent Bellamy

The Archives of Manitoba are filled with photos of buildings, but there are none of parking lots. Urbanites hate them. Mayors and premiers campaign against them. Parking lots are a maligned group

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opi...210794001.html

Great article by Mr. Bellamy! Very Informative.
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  #37  
Old Posted Jun 11, 2013, 1:36 AM
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I think we should all take into consideration, the fact that our downtown has
only a few multi level parkades. When you compare our D T. any other major cities, you will see that they have many more public parkades than we do.
If our downtown were to add say, 20 new highrises on existing surface lots.
Demand for parking would eliminate more surface lots for multi level parkades.
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  #38  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2014, 6:24 PM
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City considers grants for developing downtown parking lots
By: Aldo Santin

Quote:
City hall says it's finally tackling the problem of the glut of surface parking lots in the downtown area.

A civic committee this morning endorsed a comprehensive plan that would give developers a property tax freeze for up to 20 years for the construction of new rental housing units in selected areas of the downtown.

- Conditions:

Minimum 5 rental units per project
80 per cent of space must be dedicated to residential housing, including parkade
Projects within the SHED zone, surrounding the MTS Centre, are not eligible.

Under the proposal, which still must be approved by city council, developers would get a property tax freeze for a minimum of 12 years for constructing rental units in select areas of the downtown.

The tax freeze would be extended for another four years if the project is built in a strategic area with high visibility that supports adjacent development; an additional two years, if the project is constructed on an existing surface parking lot; and a further two years, if the project includes a parkade.


Source

Tax the lot owners accordingly and they will think, Subsidize them and they will build like there is no tomorrow.
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  #39  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2014, 10:11 PM
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I am all for developing surface parking lots into something more productive however I am concerned when surface lots are converted to buildings which increase parking demand and the parking is either lost completely, reduced ot not expanded to account for the added demand.

We don't allow retail development in the sururbs that does not properly address its own parking needs and should not be making an exemption for downtown surface lots. Also, saying that the parkade across the street owned by someone else will meet the parking needs of your development is not a proper solution either.
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  #40  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2014, 11:49 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CoryB View Post
I am all for developing surface parking lots into something more productive however I am concerned when surface lots are converted to buildings which increase parking demand and the parking is either lost completely, reduced ot not expanded to account for the added demand.

We don't allow retail development in the sururbs that does not properly address its own parking needs and should not be making an exemption for downtown surface lots. Also, saying that the parkade across the street owned by someone else will meet the parking needs of your development is not a proper solution either.
There's a huge difference between suburban retail and downtown retail. The big box stores in the suburbs are built for people to go to that store specifically to pick up the item they need. With downtown, the hope is people will park somewhere central and walk around, visiting multiple shops, maybe getting a meal. Currently, I never have a problem getting a spot within a few blocks of where I need to be. Considering most of the buildings that have been taking up surface lots include parkades with as many or more parking spots than the previous lot, I don't think parking will be an issue in the future either.
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