How to Make Health Sciences Centre Safer

I have written about Health Sciences Centre a few times. It is the oldest and largest hospital in Winnipeg covering 39 acres and 800 medical beds. In 2023, an announcement of a $1.5 billion upgrade was made. All of this will mean nothing if the hospital can't recruit nurses who don't feel protected inside and outside the property. This is happening all over North America. Here in Manitoba, the violence is in a lot of hospitals but HSC and Dauphin get mentioned the most. Five sexual assaults in one day on staff and visitors should have brought a full court press. It didn't.

Nurses are voting with their feet. Sadly, patients don't have that option. While some people have sympathy for those who are in need for mental health, hunger, injuries and addictions, it does not mean tolerance for rape and murder. It doesn't mean rampant assault, arson and theft are something we just have to accept because these are crimes from people trying to survive.

The nurses "grey-listing" of the hospital is not some racist response from some colonialists on stolen land who target poor people for being poor. These are public servants providing service to everyone who are risking their personal safety. As for all the other people coming to the area for service, they shouldn't have to fear for their personal safety and property at every step of the way inside and out of the the building.

There IS security at HSC and there seems to be police in the building regularly. However, Five assaults in several minutes is just over the top. And there is violence and thefts non-stop. The parkades, the tunnels, the waiting areas, the streets nearby, the wards and the public areas are all potential attack spots. The provincial government has to stop looking dumbfounded at what to do.

To combat the violence, every entrance has to have screening for weapons and controlled access to the building. No more unmonitored entrances. There has to be better lighting on the outside, foot patrols, video cameras and panic alarms. The staff need swipe cards for tunnels and staff areas. There shouldn't be anyone without ID lanyards with their pictures on it. Even this may not be enough. It could come down to having to register to enter the hospital. Either ID or sign in of some sort. There will be complaints about this but is the Manitoba Legislature any different? You cannot drive onto the grounds without being vetted by security. You can't enter the building without another layer of security and cameras and panic buttons are in every office.

The hospital cannot continue to function like this. Or any hospital for that matter. The law for assaults on medical, emergency and allied health workers has to make it clear that there are consequences. Releasing people who assault people on the front lines results in many not wanting to take those jobs. The legal response has to be firm or people vote with their feet. And they are. Moreover, the provincial government can't slough this off as a local hospital issue or a city issue.

There are some pundits blaming the government for lack of police or attention to security. They need to check their own lack of response when they had power or those they supported had power. This is an issue that has grown worse. And much like how the government eventually had to respond to liquor store robberies, the province has to protect the hospitals and quickly. It took some time until they protected the liquor stores. It was only when staff were brazenly assaulted and it was captured on video that the government moved with haste.

Given the amount of staff at HSC, it makes sense they have an alert call that goes out to all staff when an emergency happens. They are already keyed to alerts such as heart attacks, why not for intruder, sexual assault or shelter in place? The attack on the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta this week should put the issue in sharp focus. A police officer died protecting the public.

While much can be done inside the buildings to ensure safety, it is probably better to think of the entire HSC as one campus. The federal virology laboratory just down the street takes security seriously. The entire facility is fenced in. No one from the street is wandering in. The Microbiology lab is a level 4 containment facility with no patients but even their parking lot if fenced in. The biggest security threat there has been espionage when two Chinese spies were escorted out by the RCMP.

Could HSC be fenced in? The answer is yes. Every street into the campus could have checks for both vehicles and pedestrians. A bigger conversation about what entrances to close and a safety audit has to be conducted. There is just far too many ways for people to enter the hospital area with ill intentions. 

There are examples of road closures already at HSC. Bannatyne is not continuous through the campus as McDermot is. It begs the question about whether McDermot might be next to close and serve for hospital as well as University of Manitoba use. Even if the roads are not built over, controlled access to the campus can happen at every road and sidewalk. These are drastic measures but HSC is a massive complex with too many entrances and unique security concerns. 

Making HSC a fort like the virology lab is not really possible given how many people in and out each day. It also likely that those outside any fencing would still face trouble from assault, robbery and other crime as they made their way in and out of the hospital or had business in the area. The police have to be part of the process of making things safer in the area. Safe walks, cameras and the like will only go far and won't even cut it with gang activity, organized car theft or intent to harm.

A lot of work has to be done. Hopefully, the government is still not on vacation. This issue is not on holiday. Haste is required.

 

Children's Hospital Expansion

The Conservatives announced a $1.5 billion expansion to Health Sciences Centre in 2023. The first step of it was buying the Manitoba Clinic to move various operations over the next year so that demolition could begin on some of the oldest parts of the campus of the general hospital. The space occupied in the Manitoba Clinic totals about 70,000 square feet and is long ter. It bails out the Manitoba Clinic but solves a complicate problem of space for the hospital. Long established facilities like HSC need to continue operating even as new facilities are being worked on. 

Hospitals like Women's Hospital took nearly 15 years from concept to completion. Various parts of the hospital that fundraise separately so it is difficult to know what other projects are yet to come. There are various charitable foundations. HSC Foundation is one. CancerCare Manitoba and Children's Hospital are others. So much money pours into these foundations and they all have plans for improvements taking place at Health Sciences Centre.

There are parts of HSC that date back to the 1890s. HSC today encompasses 39 and 4 million square feet of space. This includes all the associated aspects of the campus such as the Cadham Provincial Laboratory, a hotel and research facilities. Canadian Blood Services is across the street as well.

The construction of the new Manitoba Clinic on the old gas station with their parkade beneath it opened a lot of space for hospital expansion. Under Pallister, hospital work ground to a halt unless it was already in progress. Stefanson initiated the $1.5 billion work but it is a 6 year project so some final design work has yet to be produced.

The HSC above is a mix of old and new buildings. The Children's Hospital completed in 1983 is the oldest in Canada now. While modern in appearance, it is not exceptionally street friendly. The windows are too high up on the first floor to look out on the street which would make people who walk on Sherbrook or William feel safer. There is no courtyard for families. Ronald McDonald House has facilities inside as well as their much expanded residence nearby but the hospital.

One of the most tenacious of charitable foundations in Manitoba is Children's Hospital. They have been fundraising for several years and this past month the province added $25 million that over $75 million has been raised for upgrades. This will go to emergency room improvements, operating room modernization and other infrastructure within the hospital. It is unclear whether there is new building or if it takes place inside the same footprint. However, a new hemodialysis section is going up and more space for child mental and physical wellness. 

No pictures have been shown about what it all looks like after Children's Hospital is complete. Only a few draft pictures are available about what work is being done to the Health Sciences as a whole. A 36 bed nursing unit is shown but few details of what it looks like or how it fits along Sherbrook. The above illustration is a first floor elevation. The second floor shows clinic spaces and up to four storey bed towers.

Of interest to note in the above illustration, there is something called Phase Two Mall. Is that a central corridor or will it have restaurants and shops on it? Not entirely clear. The two ten storey hospital towers are seen in the illustration in blue.

It all makes for an enormous project and years and years of construction. And all the while construction goes on the hospital must continue to function as well as upgrade other areas. There seems little doubt that another hotel and some restaurants on the campus could be used on campus. There are only two apartments for students as well.

CBC had a more detailed location of where the new add on was going to go. As mentioned, the goal had been $75 million to raise but $86 million was brought in. In some cases the construction will be invisible from the outside but at some point it will be impossible to miss.

Given the total amount of spending and how many people work, visit and are in the area, you'd think there would associated businesses, housing and the like. And yet the area has very few businesses that thrive nearby and few who work in the massive facility who live in proximity. It is the not the job of HSC to redevelop the neighbourhood it is located in but it certainly makes it more difficult to live in the area where danger has increased in the last years. At the very least, we need to see more personal care homes closer to major hospitals. The one built right be Misericordia was the right move. Concordia as well as a close by personal care home.

Given that HSC is bigger than most cities in Manitoba, it needs a police and security force befitting it's size. The people in place now are doing their best but they need more resources and training. And they especially need people. It just can't end at the entrances.

There is unlikely to be a time when building is not taking place at HSC. The Children's Hospital is getting some much needed upgrades. There should be further announcements soon about the CancerCare and HSC new construction as well as expansion of the University of Manitoba HSC campus.

CancerCare Headquarters Expansion Courtesy of Big Tobacco

In 2016, Premier Greg Selinger announced CancerCare Manitoba's expansion as part of a series of announcements ahead of the election. He subsequently lost the election and Pallister cancelled the expansion and instead introduced cuts and consolidation. This past election in 2023, the NDP under Wak Kinew also promised CancerCare's expansion. This time the NDP won and the insurance policy to carry it forward was the longtime lawsuit against tobacco companies by all the provinces over the costs to the healthcare system as a result of smoking. Manitoba's share, expected in the next 12 months, is likely to be half a billion.

The above illustration was the plan in 2016. It was to take over the land of the former space across the street and voila, a new building. A cost wasn't really talked about, however, the Women's Hospital that was just built cost $233 million and took from 2007 till 2019 to get done. These things don't come quickly or cheaply. 

The new Calgary cancer hospital is to cost $1.5 billion. I don't expect those type of costs for the new CancerCare building in Winnipeg but the plans might be more expansive than originally forecast. The space where Manitoba Clinic was is quite big. In the last 10 years, CancerCare has raised tens of millions from donations so they have been awaiting this project for some time.

The Calgary hospital expansion asked the people what should be included aside from the clinical needs. The building design is beautiful and has many aspects of greenery and design to please those going through a tough time. The present CancerCare building is nice but not exactly beautiful. The area across the street has been used for lunch events and the like but no one has to remind people just how unfriendly the streets have been the last few years around HSC.

The HSC and adjoining University of Manitoba downtown campus occupy 39 acres. Two hotels are associated with the complex, Canadian Blood Services is across the street and the Cadham Provincial Laboratory along with the Manitoba Clinic are adjacent. The National Microbiology Laboratory is a baseball throw away.  Still, compared to Toronto where City Hall, the provincial legislature, the University of Toronto, the hospital sector, the law courts and Eaton Centre are all very close, HSC is much farther away from downtown. Winnipeg is very spread out. And HSC resides in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Canada.

One new hospital is not going to rehabilitate a whole neighbourhood. It certainly hasn't for the new Women's Hospital but it certainly has improved the maternity care in Manitoba. What is needed though is a CancerCare Hospital that feels safe and secure both inside and out. When the General Hospital expanded out to William Avenue, it lost a lot of green space. The Children's Hospital borders right up to the sidewalk and is not very street friendly. It is just a wall with high windows.

If there is any hope for the area, sympathy for the street has to go into the construction. It can't be like Portage Place presently which turns its back on Portage Avenue. Windows should be able to let light in and entrances shouldn't feel like turning into an alley. As assault can take place right outside Children's Hospital and no one on the inside could see or hear it. Blind spots and wind tunnels are not very people friendly.

It will be interesting to see if the design of the new CancerCare HQ will be getting a tweaking after so many years. Not to mention some public input on how it looks and feels on the site. McDermott can be attractive given how many students are present with the medical school, nursing school, pharmacy school and dental school present. All told ten university buildings on a tree-lined street. CancerCare also faces out to the street and will be building immediately across from their present facility. Pre-pandemic, the street was often filled with vendors and people enjoying lunch outside.

The safety and security issues can't be overlooked but CancerCare has to make sure they are part of the vitality of HSC. The new security detail at the campus has to make sure that people feel comfortable both inside and out of the building. The danger is making all of HSC a fortress instead of a social and economic driver of the neighbourhood. However, it is tough with a number of burned out buildings just steps away that never seem to get rehabilitated. A lot of businesses have closed in the last few years along Notre Dame as well. The aftermath of the pandemic has been painful.

It will be good to see the open space of the re-located Manitoba Clinic filled with CancerCare's building. It is much needed as we continue to make progress on raising the lifespans of those who rely on early detection, treatment and sustaining those who need the services of specialty trained health professionals. Let's hope the wait is not nearly as long as it was to get Women's Hospital built.

Health Sciences Area

I deleted my Twitter account after 10 years. I apologized for saying the eastern end of Health Sciences Centre was like a war zone. I have worked downtown at different times for years. Like a lot of Manitobans have spent lots of time in places like HSC for myself and for family. And this past January 2020 I was assaulted right out on the street in front of the hospital. It is around the fourth time I've been assaulted, three in downtown, one in North End.

I tried to not let it affect me but in the aftermath, I was having a hard time walking in a grocery aisle without feeling someone was going to strike out at me. It is irrational of course. But it was also irritational to not think something might happen if I was not situationally aware. And it is always better to cross the street than risk a chancy encounter. Trust me...two black eyes later, my head is on a swivel.

The last time though and with Covid shutdown, I had to do something to reclaim my fear. I have always walked but I was determined to walk everywhere and take pictures in part to know that I did it. And I commented to re-learn the city I lived in but was not always seeing from my car. If I saw a boarded up house or burned out place, I didn't shy away. If I saw a new business, a development, I was sure to talk about.

Twitter probably is not the right format me. It lacks context and nuance. I'm trying to be a better person so I will stick to blogging and my personal non public Facebook.

I will assume that if anyone has read this far, they want to read and see pictures. I screen comments to avoid ad mail and have no problem with debate but I've left Twitter behind.

Above is the Tecumseh parkade of Health Sciences Centre. It was built to accompany the similarly sized Emily Street parkade next door which had a waiting list of staff for years. For visitors, it is still possible during the week to not find a space in any local parkade. And for those who do and spend the day, it is sticker shock.

The parkade cost about $40 million plus and the first one around same cost. That is $80 million or cost in infrastructure. People would like free parking but then it is likely there would be no spaces at all. It is such a tough thing for people to have the costs. But there is no way to provide the space without there being some sort of charge due to all day parking by staff, residents and businesses and homeowners in the area.

Surrounding HSC are a lot of surface lots and we are only likely to see more as 8000 staff work in the area and probably a few thousand one in related fields of laboratory, clinics and blood services. Add to the 850 beds of hospital and thousands of out patient services, it is one of the larger hospitals in the country.

On the approach to the Tecumseh parkade is The Manitoba Buddhist Temple. While it seems incongruous, there are a lot of faith places nearby.

A lot of road construction has been on active transportation and bike paths run down Bannatyne and as seen here in the picture, McDermot. While it is possible to ride your park, it is altogether a different things to safely lock up your bike. It is one of the most frequent things stolen and this is with good locks.

It can happen anywhere in the city but for those who might want to ride to work and park outside at HSC, it is a risk that even with a double lock and one wheel taken off, you still might lose your bike. We need security parking areas and garages.

It is one of the reasons I don't like having my bike out of my site.

The McDermot Avenue Baptist Church is just across the street from hospital. It is a lovely well maintained church and cared for houses on the street.

Still amazed at a temple in front of a large parkade.

Along Notre Dame west of the hospital has been an illegal parking lot for near 15 years. How do we know it is illegal? Well, the city planning department itself describes it as such. 

There were buildings here and at some point they were knocked down. It became a gravel lot and charged $65 a month for parking. No landscaping save for a fence and and light. A violation of zoning and it existed year after year because that is what the city does. It lets it happen. 

Well finally, the owner of the land has come up with a plan. It is before zoning now and has a three or four floor mixed use building with commercial on the first floor consisting of two medical clinics and a planned convenience store. Above that will be apartments.

It sounds like a good project but it is another example of the city allowing land hoarding and parking for decades with no site improvements while owners plead that they do have a plan. This has been an illegal parking lot for years. It is depressing.

The only way for neighbourhoods to be reclaimed is to stop illegal use of property. It hurts everyone when rules are broken. I can only imagine property owner here has been seeing less revenue as the pandemic hit and now they act.

The city should ensure that zoning approval here makes this property full utilized.

Notre Dame as a street has some residential, commercial and some industrial uses all side by side. It has a number of ethnic groups who have clubs and cultural centers on it. And it has had some restaurant firsts on it.

Little Nana's Italian restaurant is in the historic Beverley Block. It is interesting to see how the street will evolve. One and two floor buildings predominate but as with the parking lot mentioned above turning into mixed use, one wonders what change could be coming in next ten years.

The squat building in front of the parkade is an administrative building alongside a surface parking lot. A surface parking lot across the street exists to serve Health Sciences Centre as well. And so it goes. Buildings come down and lots go up and street life suffers and the lots run illegally or with minimal standards.

Off in the distance the new Manitoba Clinic takes over the old Shell gas station. There are some amazing views from the windows. The clinic investment is an indication how important the doctors thought keeping their position near the Health Sciences Centre was.

Old bank buildings converted to union offices. A nurse's local is further down. With a population bigger than a small town, the needs of the hospital and the university campus that is part of it are great. And after all these years, they are still figuring things out.

I was posting pictures and comments about the city while blogging years before I did so on Twitter. Most blogs have discontinued because long form writing is tough and not always permissible with jobs or life. Most migrated to Twitter and some on closed limited sites on Facebook. I think Twitter's immediacy is it's strength but it lacks context as no one gets the background from two paragraphs. Effort has to be made before understanding can happen. 

Worse, it is so easy to be manipulated or to manipulate with misinformation. I probably kept on with it during the pandemic longer because I was suffering. And to that end, some good people were met. But it is probably not the best format for me going forward.

To those that I didn't thank or say good bye too, you have my gratitude and my compliments. Hope you all do well and have the best life.

As for my blog, it is my thoughts and not the final word on anything. But it is a conversation not a place for abuse. I won't engage in that.

Manitoba Clinic Building Opening Soon

Corner of Notre Dame and Sherbrook

It is hard not to be impressed with the construction of the new Manitoba Clinic at the Health Sciences Centre. For those that travel down Sherbrook or Notre Dame, it looms from a great distance but up close looks more attractive than renderings of what it would look like showed. At 10 floors. it fills up the space occupied by a Shell gas station completely. The basement and first floor house a variety of health related services while the the next three floors provide parking.

The floors from 5 to 10 will house the Manitoba Clinic doctors and specialists offices. The old yellow building built in 1955 was to be demolished for the CancerCare expansion but that appears to be on hold now. The Manitoba Clinic is one of the largest and oldest private health clinics in Canada with a variety of doctors and specialists working of that location. Latest numbers are around 75 physicians.

The Manitoba Clinic started as the MacCharles Surgical Clinic in 1936 and became the Manitoba Clinic in 1946. It moved to the present Health Sciences campus in 1955 and was hugely influential on the development of appointments at the hospital. The Manitoba Clinic along with other clinics in the city represented in many cases family dynasties in the healthcare field.

The entrance to the clinic will face back towards the hospital in part to assist in drop off and pick ups. Still, the building despite the lack of Notre Dame doors has an attractive street presence in part because of the windows and its design.

The views from those windows is a full city view looking east and an airport view looking west. It is nothing short of spectacular.

It is important to note that Manitoba Clinic is private and yet is an important part of the HSC campus which includes the University of Manitoba medical, dental, nursing and other heathcare schools connected to the various hospitals comprising the downtown space.

The old parking lot which raised its fees to cover the costs of the new building kicked off some controversy. However, unlike the other parking lots of the campus, this one is not a hospital lot and paid for by the doctors themselves.

Parking is always going to be an issue of one of the larger hospital campuses in Canada. This will always be the shortcoming of a central location. However, if transit options become more attractive, it could also make for an even busier hub in years to come.

No word on when the grand opening of the Manitoba Clinic will be but expect a big announcement soon with even more details about its history and function.

How Safe is the National Microbiology Laboratory?

Canada's Microbiology Lab

In recent weeks the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has come under criticism for unsafe practices that resulted in possibly exposing people to rare and deadly pathogens. Lax security, inventory methods and complacency have been cited as some of the main reasons. Whatever the cause, the result was that small pox, anthrax and other infectious agents were not handled properly.

There are only a handful of facilities in the world at Level 4 containment for world's deadliest pathogens. The CDC lab in Atlanta is one, the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg is another.

The combined facility in Winnipeg is called the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health. It is the first facility of its kind to combine two laboratories for human and animals. The National Microbiology is run by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease is run for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Ground was broken on the lab near the Health Sciences Centre on Arlington Street in 1992 and work was completed in 1997. Public consultations were held to address fears about a national lab so close to homes in the city. The site had previously held a city works yard dedicated to road construction materials. There have been subsequent additions but the facility now houses 500 federal employees.

The fears people had were talked about at great length and emphasis was placed on how safe and secure the buildings were.

Shortly after the official opening in 1999, the building had a leak where waste water made its way into the city system.  This was something that was not supposed to happen but did again in 2000. More serious was a collision that took place in 2005 with a Fed Ex vehicle. It was learned that the courier was transporting deadly pathogens  including flu, tuberculosis and anthrax. Streets were closed all over as the intact cases from the collision were gathered. In 2008, around 30 lab staff had to be given antibiotics after being exposed to anthrax.

A liaison office at the virology lab is supposed to issue a report once a year but that ended in 2005.

The story at the Centers for Disease Control demonstrates that safety and security have to be regularly reviewed. There are deadly pathogens each year that race around the globe. Research after 9/11 is happening more and more. Often work is being done through a multitude of labs and handlers.

Winnipeg should not blandly look at the virology lab and think it is exempt from scrutiny. Thousands of people die each year in Canada and the U.S. of infectious agents.

It is time to revisit the safety of Canada's level 4 virology lab.

Is Grace ER safe?

In 2008, Grace Hospital was transferred in ownership from the Salvation Army to the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. In 2011, Greg Selinger announced that the troubled hospital would have a $22 million overhaul to the Emergency Room. Construction was to start in 2013 and finish in 2014.

Obviously, nothing is happening. The Free Press reports today that construction won't even begin till 2016, five years after the announcement by the NDP government. The completed ER will be in 2018, four years past the original completion date.

Grace is the hospital that serves the western part of the city on Portage Avenue. The catchment ares includes St. James, Charleswood, Tuxedo and Headingley. It is a large area. The area is growing. And no new ER till 2018?

It is a wonder if Greg Selinger will even be in political office then. This is no idle statement. It will be long time after the next election. Win or lose, he might step down by the time the ribbon ever gets cut on the new ER. In 2018, he will be 67.

At age 67, you might have concerns about healthcare. At least one of the two of people who died after being discharged from Grace Hospital was in their 60s.

Now, to be fair Grace Hospital is not the only hospital to discharges someone in their 60s only to see them die shortly after. Seven Oaks Hospital also has that deadly distinction from 2012.

It is obvious that discharge policies are flawed since the same poor outcomes are repeated. The assurances in 2012 that things would be different rang hollow in 2013 and now in 2014, you got to wonder if the government even wants to know what the problem is.

The first instinct of the Health Minister Erin Selby was that Manitoba had a taxi problem rather than a hospital problem.

The reports of morale and staffing problems at Grace are not new ones. The Grace very nearly lost credentials as an ER facility not too long ago. It has also been subject to scrutiny for deaths in the ER.

Once again, they are not the only hospital to have deaths in the ER. The Health Sciences Centre and Victoria Hospital are also in that category.

But let's get back to Grace. If Grace was in dire need in 2011 and the only major hospital in Winnipeg not to receive an ER upgrade, what will be situation be from now to 2018?

To put it more clearly...if you were Greg Selinger and you had an emergency health problem, would you not beg the ambulance to keep driving you to St. Boniface Hospital?

Is Grace Hospital ER safe? 

I don't think that is a provocative statement. I am sure there are excellent nurses and doctors there. However, are there enough? Is it overcrowded? Are they overworked? Is the equipment outdated?

And on it goes.

Grace is the closest hospital to me. I wonder though if it would be my first ER choice. I don't think so. And I'm not sure many other people including those in the government would or should feel comfortable at the highest level that it would be a safe choice.

To this end, the NDP government has failed. They have not made Grace Hospital a priority for emergency care and people are dying. And blaming tax drivers for the mess didn't fool anyone.

Canad Inns Hotel - Health Sciences Centre

Canad Inns Hotel from William Avenue

It was hard to believe that it would ever happen and after 8 years, I think Canad Inns owners might have wondered what they got themselves into.

It is the 12th hotel in the chain and the only one in Canada that is part of a health campus. At 16 floors and 191 rooms, it cost $40 million and will employ 300 staff trained in how to provide care to hospital patrons. This was not a HSC project. This was privately driven.

This hotel is not the solution for everyone. It is just one amenity among others at the hospital. The two restaurants and Starbucks are likely to be well used even by those who don't stay at the hotel.

Canad Inns Tucked in beside emergency and general hospital

I have some seen some online comments about the hotel criticizing private enterprise. Some suggested the hotel should have been paid for by the province and that room rates should be really low. I have heard similar comments about parking and other areas of hospital features.

I have a lot of sympathy for the rising cost for those who have to go back and forth to the hospital for treatment. Even for those in the city, the cost of parking can be brutal. Still, the cost to build the parkades run upwards of $50 million.

Who should pay for parking or hotels when needed? It is a tough question. If parking was free, chances the lots would be full all the time with staff and those coming to and from the hospital.

One of the reason parking rates and hours were changed downtown is because some people rolled up to a meter at 5:30 and that is where they remained for several hours.

There is no doubt that free parking is never really free. Even in a place like Polo Park, the price of parking is added to your bill of sale.

At any rate, the harsh criticism against Canad Inns for the price of their hotel likely ignores the fact the rack rate of a room is always negotiable. Long terms stays, members of automobile associations and government and university rates probably apply.

There have been several hotels that have gone up in the city. The prices generally create some sticker shock for those thinking Grand Forks or Fargo prices of about $60 or $70. The truth is that despite the amount of new hotels up, we don't compete at the level they do in the U.S.

It is probably best not to read comments on the news sites. It might lead you to believe this is the worst thing that has ever happened to the city. It isn't. The Canad Inns at HSC will provide other options for the hospital in terms of food and overnight stays for people. Even the university is likely to benefit as they will probably put an overnight guest lecturer at the hotel, host a function in the meetings rooms or have families stay there as their kids get situated at the medical school.

The costs of people having to park or stay overnight in the city continues to be a factor. Ronald McDonald House showed one way to help. We need others. But let's not pile on a private investment that has 300 workers employed and is like nothing seen in this city or country before. It will fill a need and may encourage others to follow suit.

Able Wholesale Apartment Conversion

Able Wholesale Erin & Notre Dame

Able Wholesale Looking North from Erin

Able Wholesale on Notre Dame

Able Wholesale Looking West on Notre Dame

Some projects that come across the city's desk truly are innovative and bold.

One of the last projects with excitement to it was the Avenue and Hample apartment conversion. That $12.4 million dollar construction took a few years to get done and needed $3.8 million in city and provincial funding to be completed.

It is probable that had government not helped that these two buildings would have continued to decay along Portage Avenue.  It has certainly inspired the developers to continue to build and they are doing work along Princess Street now.

The problem with the downtown housing development is that it is so expensive and risky that government money is always involved.  That is not to say that government money is not used in the suburbs as well. A new suburb like Waverley West receives a huge amount of infrastructure support in the form of roads, water, sewer, policing, paramedics, fire and the big ticket item: schools.

The developer does the initial layout but the costs quickly mount especially as the density is lost and the suburbs stretch out many kilometers from city center.

We are increasingly hearing exasperation from Bridgwater and South Pointe about the lack of schools for a quickly growing child population. The province should not be surprised as they are the developer of much of the land in the area.  In the end, the slush fund of money the NDP government expected from developing Waverley West is going to be eaten up by building at east six new schools for the area.

The subsidy to help bring people to where existing infrastructure is doesn't seem as bad when seen in retrospect.

But it doesn't always have to be that way.

In the meeting of Executive Policy Committee this week, we see two proposals to approve infill housing. One of them I already described in regards to Charleswood off Laxdal where 23 houses are proposed. It is an excellent use of the land and will help Royal School down the street with future students.

The other proposal is for land off Erin at Notre Dame. The Free Press mentioned a bit about the proposal in December. It has been refined a bit to finally go before council.

In a nutshell, it is to turn the former Able Wholesale building into around 72 rental apartments. Wintec Services is acting as developer and said they expected the conversion to cost around $4.5 million. That seems a little low for an older building but I expect we will hear more in the next days.

I expect the city will approve this development which doesn't appear to ask for money and which will be able to use existing infrastructure and schools. In short, it is a good use for an old building and helps increase density and better efficiencies for the city.

Floor Plans for Able Wholesale

Able Wholesale Conversion

Other things are happening along Notre Dame as well.

Spa Investments also wants to develop a strip mall across the street from Able Wholesale. Presently, it is home to Robin's Donuts. I have not seen anything in the form of a plan for what is said to be 20,000 to 30,000 square feet of space. Perhaps the housing across the street will help dictate what goes in the mall.

Farther down Notre Dame, the conversion plans for the Christie Biscuits/MWG Apparel building into the Specialized Services for Children and Youth Centre proceed. The Christie building is a fine building and this sounds like an excellent use.

It is easy to get discouraged sometimes in regards to the city. Despite the fact so much is available in terms of information on certain things the city does, it is poorly communicated.

Often some developers toil in obscurity, only revealed in zoning changes or once their projects are complete. No extra money is asked for and yet the city benefits greatly from the work.

Wintec's other apartment work was snapped up by Health Science Centre workers at Beverley and Notre Dame.

Beverley at Notre Dame

30 Apartment Beverley Street Block

So hats off to business people who have seen a need and have invested in their work and who make the city a better place.

Freeloading at City Hall

It was bound to happen sooner or later.

The empty civic parkade begged the question: Where did those displaced find parking spaces?

I had heard of some councillors getting rental space in the very tiny Centennial Centre indoor parking. Other councillors found space at the Bedford Parkade two blocks away on King Street. Many staff had to take a commuter bus from the Centennial Library even further away.

The Centennial Centre was renovated as recently as 2010. I can find no listing of how many spaces are there but I can't imagine it is more than a hundred. And most of the those spaces are allocated already to provincial employees of either the Museum or Concert Hall.

The mayor and a few councillors managed to get space there. The rest managed to find spots in the recently built five floor parkade at King Street (There is also a heated underground part of the lot).

I'll bet city councillors would have never bet they would need the Bedford Parkade this badly when they gave it $1.5 million three years ago. The parkade also got $500,000 for CentreVenture. This created 160 parking spaces in a building the city had allowed to fall apart in years previous.

The Civic Parkade was a 450 stall parkade. The Centennial Centre's possible 100 and Bedford's 160 stalls barely scratch the surface of what was lost.

The Grain Exchange Parkade has around 270 spaces but that has a lot of stalls spoken for by the Portage and Main crowd and it isn't exactly that close to City Hall. Nor would it be appropriate for city police cars.

The police and some city fleet vehicles have had to take over the space on James Avenue for the 134 cars they have lost space for. There is also an underground component to the Civic Parkade that is used for an undisclosed amount of police cars. I am still not sure what the structural integrity of that underground portion is.

How did we get here?

It was years of a tax freeze and taking money from the parking authority to balance budgets without fixing city owned infrastructure. The fire sale auction of the Winnipeg Square Parkade is directly related to the city's need for money and not wanting to invest in upgrading the lot.

And are we talking about what will happen next? No.

The budget is passed and I assume that what we are waiting for is the police to move to their new building on Graham Avenue. At that point, maybe some hard questions will come in regards to what to do with Public Safety Building and the Civic Parkade.

It has been pointed out the land must remain public and the city has no right to sell it off. Once the police go, the buildings are likely to be cost a lot to maintain as we have seen from the Kapyong Barracks debacle.

Ultimately, the decision to do something will have to come down to council.  If they were even more inconvenienced, that decision might be sooner. But how inconvenienced are they? A heated spot at Centennial and underground walkway to council is not bad. A little more inconvenient at Bedford Parkade but perhaps a little less bitter in the underground heated part.

A bus trip from Centennial Library daily would probably have resulted in an emergency meeting and a budget of tens of millions for a new parkade.

In some cases, free loaders have the best space in town.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

The Free Press picture of Phil Sheegl is the inevitable conclusion of the question of where are city officials parking now.

It is hard to believe that no one considered it. Or more likely they didn't care or figured it would not be important enough for people to care. How anyone thought parking permanently at a loading dock made good business sense, political sense or safety sense is beyond me.

I am sure the reaction from the top official is suck a lemon.

There are 450 parking spaces no longer in place for City Hall campus. If Joe or Jane Citizen need to do business with civic officials, they are fresh out of luck for spots close by. It isn't good enough telling people to use public transit. One day we might have that type of public transportation system but that day isn't here yet.

It is highly likely that if the Public Safety Building and Civic Parkade come down that we will see at least a $50 million structure.

The Tecumseh Parkade completed in 2009 cost $40 million at Health Science Centre.

Tecumseh Parkade at HSC

You can bet that we won't hear this bitter pill till after the next city election. However, a decision will have to made when people here it costs hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions to keep the decaying ruins of these buildings up.