Let’s talk about… parking in Wynnum. Wandering around Wynnum Central talking to shop owners and shoppers generally I often hear the phrase “Parking in Wynnum is terrible”. Depending on whether I’m looking for an argument, my response varies between “Oh?” and “Compared to what exactly? Parking in your driveway?”
The very idea that parking is an issue in Wynnum is laughable. Almost every time I come in I can park directly outside the shop I want to visit or pretty damn close. Go to any other (popular) shopping centre, park your car and then count the number of steps you have to take to get to the shop you want to visit. I bet it will be three times further away than any distance you have to walk in Wynnum. Nobody seemed to complain about parking when there was not one space available in Edith Street on the day of the market. It didn’t stop a lot of people coming down that day. No, parking really isn’t the problem.
Having said that, there is a sort of a problem with the parking that is signposted, that is the parking down the laneways. Signs like the one above imply that there is general parking available. But turn into one and look for a space. Good luck. Almost all the spaces are marked for use by specific shops. In fact in many cases it doesn’t even say they are for customers! So then you’ve wasted time driving in only to have to do a three point turn (or more – they’re pretty tight) and go out again.
In our view a blue parking sign with ’20 car parks’ written on it implies these are open public spaces, not all reserved. If any parking problem in Wynnum needs to be fixed, it’s this one.
What do you think? Do you agree? Or have we got it wrong? Let us know in our Facebook poll. Or tells us your experience in the comments section below.
Could not agree more, one of my many pet hates is the over used “there is no parking in Wynnum Central”, absolute rubbish, people are just too lazy to walk 100 metres and yet they will walk huge distances at a shopping centre and not bat an eyelid.
And yes there is parking behind nearly every building and rarely all full.
Some of the parked cars belong to staff or shop managers – maybe they could make them available to customers?
The shop owners, managers and staff usually only have one or two parking areas behind their shops, so making any of these available would not be plausible, as it is it staff often have a problem finding a park so when people park in these well signed (staff only) places it is infuriating, making it difficult for staff to arrive on time for work!
I think the the short parking times in some places could be increased to one hour making it easier for people to shop and frequent businesses that require appointments.
I agree Phil they are to lazy to walk 100mtrs so instead they just illegally park in no parking areas like outside Peretts pie shop & yesterday I saw a guy park in the taxi rank so he could go over and get a coffee…so the problem seems to be a lot of laziness (mostly) as well as not enough parking.
Talk about laziness… the parking in the Wynnum Post Office/NAB precinct is atrocious! So lazy that people actually park in the driveway limiting the entry/exit to one lane. This should be policed period. I understand that it is ‘private property’ however it should be raised with the Owner/Managing Agent that by parking in the driveway, it causes many hazards to cars entering/exiting and pedestrians. God help us if Edith ever became a Mall! What would these lazy sods resort to then??