Didn't the Royal Bank on Portage and Arlington have the same problem a few years ago and they hired a security guard for the hours the branch was not open? I think doing that cleaned it up and they don't have security at ATM anymore.

Simply put if the business and residents of the Village were actively using the TD branch there and supporting it being in the community it wouldn't have closed. It seems the Village has always appealed more the young adults and the current wave like to do banking over phones or computers and not in person. Can't say losing that branch if that trend is true would be surprising.

And prior to Safeway - Liquor Mart - Starbucks renovations, TD Bank had their branch at RIver-Osborne.

They moved ~2002 to Osborne-Stradbrook to make way for all that work. TD Bank had been in the Village for decades.

Yeah, I'm just confused as to why they're keeping that ATM corridor open with no one working in the rest of the branch.

--

In other news, Corydon BIZ put up new banner signs yesterday and they are absolutely horrific. So awfully designed it disgusts me, doesn't even fit in to any existing character or imagery in Corydon area. Looks like someone made them in Word: some have terrible stock photos of wine/beer glasses; one of them integrated the ugly new yellow bike-style bike racks.

The city needs to start taking control/oversight about what BIZ' can do/get approved for. Although it's funny because the Corydon/Osborne ones are arguably two of the most prominent, yet the worst offenders when it comes to bad/unorganized design. Yet St. James Village and West End BIZs clearly hired designers and carefully planned their upgrades. It's so brutal.

Augustine United on River is planning a daycare, dance studio, and arts centre:

That project would see space within the church redeveloped to create a 10,000-square-foot daycare, a 5,000-square-foot dance studio and not-for-profit arts centre, a new church sanctuary and performing arts centre, and a 7,000-square-foot space for the Oak Table Inc. community ministry, which provides meals to low-income, unemployed and homeless people.

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bu...448992873.html

Ugh. Looks like the townhouses in the development between Harkness Station and the Winter Club are crossed out and replaced with a parkade.

* deep sigh *

https://i.imgur.com/wgXJGNX.png

https://i.imgur.com/zlS3OxA.png

<sad trombone>

People, it's good enough for Winnipeg.

if they compensated by making it 3-4 floors higher I woulda been ok with this..

That really sucks. Parkades at the street should be completely forbidden anywhere. Neighbourhood killer.

I was just in Austin, Texas for a week. There are parkades EVERYWHERE (really, it's staggering), but they ALL have first floor commercial, and most of them are well designed. Anything that appeared to have been built this century, especially in the downtown/uptown areas are really nice integrated podiums or fully hidden where it's not even obvious it's a parkade.

While this wouldn't be the worst thing in some other areas, this being part of the TOD around Harkness Station, it should not be allowed without the townhouses or retail in the parkade.

The Fort Garry Place parkade is a good example.

Give or take a few cement faux-Greek statues.

^Yeah, and if it was cleaned up a bit, the Radisson would be as well. Bedford Parkade too.

One thing I noticed the other day is that on the god awful Ray Wan faux-heritage parkade between Lombard/McDermot, the Lombard side is actually finished way nicer (still awful) than the McDermot side. At least the "windows" on the Lombard side has glass panels and not just stucco. They clearly wanted to go as cheap as possible on this, so I'd assume the city made them put glass there, but why not on the McDermot side? Just seems so odd as McDermot is the main entrance and has way more potential to be a great street than Lombard, as the Fairmont/Richardson bunker is across the street.

Yeah... Either underground on in the podium. Many ways to make parkades that are less obtrusive to street level.

The Medical Arts building parkade has ramps already in place to more floors that could be added on in the future. The parkade on the east side of the arena has them too.

With the True North Center and other projects taking away parking and adding population density in the immediate area, I wonder if those floors could still be added. Rather than dedicating more land to parkades.

^ Those parkades are both so old that I have to wonder if it would even be possible to safely add more levels after nearly 60 years of exposure to the elements?

Perhaps as part of a refurbishing project.

It might help that cars are lighter now. That could add up for a parkade.

Although cars, apples-to-apples, are lighter now than in the 70s, the average vehicle weight is no different than it was in the 70s, due to a shift from cars to SUVs, vans, and light trucks.

The average vehicle weight (EPA data) in 1975 was 4060 lbs. It dropped as low as 3221 lbs in the mid-80s, but by 2015 it was back up to 4035 lbs.

^Where is there a parkade east of the arena?

Sorry; west.