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I've had to spend way too much time at the hospital ER recently & see that parking meters nearby are paid parking 24/7. At best, the ones by the clinic are paid parking from 8 am to 8 pm. The latest I'm seeing is at the Cancer Center: again it's paid parking 24/7. People have no choice but to park when taking someone to the ER or for cancer treatments. However, along the street at AFM (a government agency) not only is parking free but there's a smoking area. Now, I understand that fighting one addiction at a time makes sense but 1) this is the only government "area" I'm aware of where people can smoke & park free of charge & 2) I hope when those who have overcome their initial addiction don't eventually have to go for e.g cancer treatments. Seems a tad of an imbalance to me.

Your post is all over the place, uneducated and a little gross (regarding AFM.)  
 
I am not saying paid parking is a good thing, I think it is terrible as well, but human beings are not all great and kind and having a pay parking system probably to deter people from taking up all the close parking spaces when using the hospital cafeteria or Tim Hortons for coffee.

"All over the place & uneducated"? I think you missed the poin(s) I was trying to make. I have no problem with paid parking but I believe that some places, like around the hospital - we could register at the ER - or for cancer treatments should at least be in keeping with parking all over the rest of the city. And nothing "gross" about AFM: simple factual.

Have you ever been to Winnipeg or any other large facility. Fee's around here are cheap in comparison.

which street around AFM has free parking?

did my treatments in Winnipeg so I know the costs there BUT this isn't Winnipeg.  
No streets around AFM have free parking: their entire parking lot is free unlike the parking lot at the Cancer Center. That's the only point I made as an example.

CBC Marketplace did a show on hospital parking. What they found is that though hospitals are heavily funded by the provinces, that funding doesn't pay for everything. So (especially smaller hospitals) have to be creative with how they offset the short fall. Larger hospitals will have restaurants and shops lease space within the building, which is why some are able to offer cheaper parking.

however the ones I'm referring to are City of Brandon parking meters.

Do the math. What are meters in Brandon now $0.50 per hour. That means in an 8 hour day the meter makes $4. Even around the hospital with 24 hour metering, that's $12 and only if the spot is occupied 24-7. Money grab, I think not. It about have a space for to park. If there was free parking on Dennis St, Russell St, and Frederick St, then all the spaces would be taken by the early shift working at the hospital and nothing for guests and visitors. The meters are there for people to use and then leave in a timely manner so others can use the space. $1 for a 2 hours visit at the hospital, come on people, its a buck.

but you've all missed the point I was trying to make. I don't think that many people park at the Cancer Center then walk to visit at the hospital. All I was suggesting was parity in parking but that's ok ; seems that a ridiculous idea.

I believe I understand MDG's point. I believe the point is that the hospital is a government run organization that charges for public parking, therefore, all government run organizations that have public parking, should also be charging for parking. Why is one government organization charging for public parking and not the other? I don't see it as a money grab, rather one of equity. I do not agree or disagree with MDG's point, but I think I understand the point MDG was trying to make.

More times than not cars park there for free and Tim’s is empty.some people just don’t the rules apply to them.

I give up. The parking meters at the Cancer Center are City of Brandon meters. I highly doubt that many people are going to park there & walk to the hospital to get Timmie's. I do appreciate freedom 55's post though re:parity. Someone got THAT point!

Is not part of the BRHC........so it is up to them what they do with their parking. That’s probably why there is a difference

I agree parking meters at the cancer clinic is disgusting. If you are a patient and or taking a patient in for chemo or radiation the parking should be free . There is enough stress on the patient and the family. If people disagree with that is obviously they have never been there In that’s situation.

I said I was done but have to say : thank Heaven that somebody gets it!!

If parking was free at the cancer clinic, simply, there would be no parking spaces available for cancer care patients - none whatsoever.  
 
Two solutions:  
 
Two hour time limit on free parking, strictly enforced, with boots placed on the wheels of offending cars. Won't deter neither the determined Horton's fan nor a hospital patient visitor from crossing through the nurses residence to the hospital proper but it's a start  
Or-  
some kind of token system by which Cancer Care patients with legitimate business can redeem or replace parking fees.  
 
Really, in this cheap town of entitled persons, too many will rush to take advantage of free hospital parking to the disadvantage of legitimate Cancer Care patients.

His facts are wrong. AFM kind of has free parking but it really doesn't, every parking post in each parking spot there has a red sign that says reserved for staff between a certain amount of hours. After those hours it's free parking that HE HIMSELF is welcome to if he so wishes. Even if he isn't visiting anyone at AFM. Then the whole smoking thing has absolutely nothing to do with his point.

my only point re:smoking is that AFM is a Government "agency" & as I'd said at the top, I don't know of any other Government place where smoking is allowed - that's all ! Geez, talk about picking a fight or what.

I also believe that a investigation was done on these hospitals and it found that the money generated by these parking fees actually didn't go back to the hospital. They had contracts with certain companies that regulated them and they obtained about 90% of the fees leaving as little as 10% to the hospital

You posted this to e-brandon. What did you expect?

I think I get the point. Cancer takes a big enough toll you shouldn't have to dish out precious dollars just to park for treatment. I totally get that.  
 
A simple solution would be have the parking closest to cancer care reserved for cancer care patients, and issue one-month parking passes to those patients on their first visit. Cancer care doesn't go on 24-7 so have those spots reserved for the parking passes during regular hours, and open to the public during the off hours.

It's not that I am trying to pick a fight with you, I stated that I didn't disagree with you when it comes to parking in the first place. What I do not like is when people come complaining about things without doing their research or checking their facts, or passing blame onto others that are out of their control. The gross part I neglected to comment further on was in regards to you stating "1) This is the only government "area" I'm aware of where people can smoke & park free of charge & 2) I hope when those who have overcome their initial addiction don't eventually have to go for e.g. cancer treatments, seems a tad of an imbalance to me." -It seems from your posts that you have dealt with this, or currently are and I am super sorry to hear that, and wish you the best in your journey through this wherever it might be, it just sadden me a bit that you would even bring that energy into the atmosphere for these people who are dealing with trying to overcome addictions, they smoke here because they live there for 3 weeks at a time. I understand you did say you hope they don't experience that, but more often then not when people make references in that way, its sarcasm and I hope I maybe just had taken it the wrong way (this is the internet after all) I am not condoning smoking either, but they have limits to where they are allowed to go and when so I am not sure where you would expect them to go if it wasn't allowed on the property, and I imagine their intake would really suffer if it wasn't allowed for the entire stay causing these problems to most likely get worse else where and the smokers aren't all grouped up in their free parking spaces laughing it up as you plug money into your meter. I do apologize if I am coming off a bit more harsh or aggresive than I am meaning to, I have nothing against you and I do think things need to change but personally feel like it would benefit our city if instead of complaining about inequalities to try and find a way to aid in the solution to this terrible parking issue. I will apologize again, I am sorry if I offended you in anyway but like the person above me said, essentially if you come to a public forum, you are going to find differences of opinion. I will say though that I have enjoyed conversing with a civilized human being. We seemed to have been able to have a half decent debate without resorting to name calling (aside from myself coming in hot in my inital reply to your original post.)

just to let you know , if you are a patient at Cancer Care you get reimbursed for parking . My hubby is taking treatment there and was given a sheet to fill out every time he goes . He will be reimbursed at the end of his treatments

I appreciate your last post - all of it. Please be assured that I wasn't being sarcastic regarding my comment about smoking & hoping they wouldn't need cancer treatments. We're a couple , & both have cancer so would never great it as anything but the serious condition of is.  
 
I/we didn't know about being reimbursed for parking. So far as we knew, we had to be a travelling a certain distance. Thank you.

Don't know where "never great it" came from !! If course I meant "treat it" .

So patients at Cancer Care should be able to park free because they have enough to deal with having cancer. Probably not a bad argument except then a value judgement needs to be made regarding every level of every disease. Once you have achieved a certain level of distress, you can park for free. There is no way such a system could work.

Re melvinsfan and “parking closest to the cancer care”. I appreciate your comments.  
 
The Cancer Clinic has it’s own dedicated metered parking but you imply that you’re thinking of metered street parking, a whole other kettle of fish. Metered street parking is, in my opinion, wide open for anybody, anytime, for any reason whatsoever, provided that the parking rules are followed. May the quicker parker win.  
 
The dedicated Cancer Care parking lot is indeed metered “24/7” even though appointments there are strictly daytime appointments. I don’t know if that’s a strategy to generate revenue or simply a way to ensure that when 8:00 a.m comes around, that there is an empty parking lot ready to accommodate appointments. My humble opinion is that parking fee schedules in, around and on hospital property are prioritized first to recover parking lot maintenance costs as much as possible, and then to deter the freeloaders. At least that’s how I would do it. And as I noted before, I’m not sure if Cancer Care Manitoba is actually part of Prairie Mountain Health Care and/or what arrangement they have..  
 
The monthly pass that you suggest would work, except that many of us are called up on a quarterly or semi-annual schedule. And then, too, pass parking would need enforcment to keep it working, implying additional expense. (But I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that the staff parking area in the same parking lot is carefully monitored and enforced anyway.) The ultimate solution to free parking is to install security at the entrance to the lot, where you get to show evidence of an appointment there and then. “Your papers please, Ma’am ... ”  
 
Myself I’m not at all insulted when I drop a loony in the meter at the Cancer Clinic. I’m just happy to pay for the opportunity to park 75 or so steps away from the front door, especially in January. And especially when I think of what I’ve paid in Winnipeg. Let’s just count our small city blessings. And I don’t believe that being dealt a bad hand in life results in an entitlement.  
 
It hurts to watch someone drop a quarter in the meter and then walk briskly past Cancer Care, across the street and under t Nurses Residence, probably to visit someone in Assiniboine Centre. Hasn’t happened often, though, but then I only go there 4 or 5 times a year. (Actually, it doesn’t hurt much – it’s more of an opportunity for a shake of the head and a private chuckle. But if I ever see one of my kids do this well...... that would hurt.)  
 
Parking fees - Cost recovery, profit venture, freeloader deterrent ? Maybe Adam can use his connections to elaborate on parking fee issues in and around our hospital. And/or the relationships between Cancer Care, AFM, etc., and PMHC.  
 
Edited by plane watcher, 2019-05-30 20:23:18

The parking lot would be full of employee vehicles. There would be no parking left for patients. Not saying it’s right it’s just the truth of what would happen

The nurses residence doors are now constantly locked, and only accessible with an employee card. I am sure that would now cut down on whatever parking issue is on that side.