A friend is totally upset about getting a parking ticket for parking over three hours in the downtown restricted parking zone.
Why is she upset? Because she did not park anywhere near the length of three hours.
As the city's press release of September 1, 2016 stated: "a slight possibility exists ... that you could be found in violation" if you enter the zone park in the morning for 45 minutes, leave the downtown parking zone, and return to the zone in the afternoon, park and attend to an hour of business.
It does not stop there.
When one looks at the three-hour restricted parking signs, there is no mention of a zoned parking restriction being in effect. How is a visitor to know?
Residents who work downtown and those who have reason to go downtown frequently during the working week will eventually catch on, but not the visitors and not those who might come downtown occasionally. Their learning curve will start with a ticket with a hefty fine for not being mind readers.
Then there is our case.
My Jo and I go downtown in the morning for a coffee and end up parking on the street at 10 a.m. for 90 minutes. We drive home.
A friend calls at 2 p.m. and wants to meet us on Fourth Avenue to have a chat.
We drive down Fourth Avenue, find several parking spaces available, but risk the chance of getting scanned.
So we have to park three blocks away in a lot and walk.
Make it winter and we risk falling on icy sidewalks.
Even if we get scanned 15 minutes after we parked, we are in violation since the total time counts from 10 a.m. to say
2:30 p.m. for a total of four hours and 30 minutes.
Yet we only parked for one hour and 45 minutes.
Where did we go wrong? The signs all say there is a three-hour parking limit.
There is something missing.
They do not explain what that means. To explain it clearly, one would need a lawyer.
I understand the need to address the parking situation from the storekeepers' points of view. While we want to encourage storefront businesses to the downtown area, as well as office buildings which cater to many workers who drive cars, as well as clients who also drive cars, we cannot solve parking problems by creating different ones or adding problems.
According to bylaw services, it has been effective other than a few kinks. In my humble opinion this was a poorly-executed choice. I am looking for some real figures.
Are the storekeepers satisfied?
Has their business picked up?
How about the office workers?
And let us not forget about the clients who must program their smart phones to vibrate when they approach their time limit.
I have spoken to many folks who have simply stopped shopping or eating downtown during the week.
The British have figured it out.
They post signs at the entrance of a parking zone to caution that one enters a zone. They have many different zone types limiting parking appropriate to the area's business. They even have a knack of saying what needs to be said in four or five simple words right on the signs.
In addition, what is wrong with the kiosk concept?
It seems to work at the airport, the hospital, CNC and UNBC.
None of us like the thought of paying to park, but we also don't like death and taxes but they are still a fact of life.
This is upsetting. With all that downtown Prince George offers be it sports, entertainment, great restaurants or tourism, we need to make it welcome and financially successful for all.
I am looking forward to the end of fall when, I believe, the status report will be brought to council on the effectiveness of the scheme.
Hopefully the concept will be re-examined and suggested improvements included in the report.
