Some Regina councillors oppose proposal to expand on-street paid parking

The idea of charging hospital patients and staff for on-street parking isn’t sitting well with some Regina city councillors.

“I think it would be worse than cutting the weed control,” Ward 5 Coun. Sarah Turnbull said Thursday. “I think it’s very short-sighted and not worth it.”

A list of potential budget enhancements presented to council on Tuesday includes a proposal to add paid on-street parking around Pasqua and Regina general hospitals, as well as in the Cathedral area along Victoria Avenue and Angus Street.

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The proposal estimates revenue from the added paid parking at around $110,000.

“We are affecting our healthcare workers. We’re affecting our most vulnerable, who are actually in the affordability crisis, facing the worst things ever, and it’s just a bad idea,” Turnbull said.

Turnbull described her own experience, with a daughter and mother with mobility issues, children in the neonatal intensive care unit and having spent four months in the hospital herself.

“When you are in a position of a health crisis, you are at your worst emotionally, mentally, financially, and the way people deal with that was like GoFundMe budgeting.”

Her post has received more than 250 comments and 70 shares in just a day. It was also shared by her Ward 7 colleague, Shobna Radons, who talked about her own experience when her father was in and out of the hospital over the course of three years.

“I along with my family and friends parked daily on the street, and not easy to find a spot,” she wrote.

Speaking on the Greg Morgan Morning Show Thursday, Mayor Chad Bachynski said he’d look at other revenue options before considering this one.

“I think we really need to consider that impact to people using services and where parking can be a potential barrier to those services,” he said. “I’m going to be thinking quite critically about whether the return on that, not just financially but the impact, is worth it.”

The administration report explains that other cities often expand paid parking zones in high-demand areas.

“In benchmarking number of paid parking zones per capita, Regina was amongst the lowest in the country,” it says.

Turnbull doesn’t agree with that justification.

“Aren’t we trying to be a better city?” she said. “Aren’t we trying to attract people, and aren’t we trying to be the most affordable city?”

Pre-budget information meetings are continuing, with a budget proposal expected to be released in November ahead of December budget deliberations.