2010 03 02 |
Here are three scenarios:
a) I go downtown with some friends, and it’s my turn to be the designated driver. It’s a beautiful, crisp winter evening, with no chance of snow. We spend the evening listening to a band at an Argyle Street bar and leave at closing time, around 2:00 am. I return to find a $50 “winter parking ban” ticket on my car, which was issued at 1:01 am.
b) I live and work in the suburbs, but I love to come Downtown at lunchtime on occasion because I love the sidewalk cafes. I park at a 90-minute meter, and hope I make it back in time. I enjoy my lunch and conversation with friends, and with 89 minutes gone by, I return to my car, only to find my friendly neighborhood enforcement officer writing me a ticket. “There’s still a minute left!” I cry. He informs me that he didn’t think I would make it back, and once he’s started a ticket he has to finish it. But I should feel free to take a day off work in the future and fight the ticket in court.
c) I own a coffee shop downtown. In front of my business is an area designated “no parking.” Whenever I need to make deliveries for catering, I pull my car up to the curb, put on the four-way flashers and load the food into it. The enforcement officer comes by and slaps a ticket on the car. I explain to him that I was not “parked” and that according to HRM’s traffic department, and indeed the motor vehicle act, loading commercial goods is not considered parking. Despite that, I get one of these tickets every day, but what can I do? I don’t have an alleyway, and my business depends on me loading goods in and out of my car during business hours.
What do these three scenarios have in common? They are common. They are ludicrous. And, the end result is the same - another reason not to patronize or run a business Downtown. Common sense would dictate that leeway would be given in such situations, and that a winter parking ban seems like overkill. Surely, if we can communicate to the public that there is a winter ban, we could instead communicate the simple message that cars will be towed during a snowfall.
But the truth is that safety and traffic flow is not the primary driver for parking enforcement in this city. Maybe not in any city. The primary driver is revenue enhancement. Meters and fines bring in a tidy sum to city coffers. Over $4 million per year. Cut that, and other programs would need to be cut. We all read about how many $50 tickets were issued on the first night of the winter parking ban, in 6 degree weather. The HRM budget gets to the point (especially in tough economic times) where it depends on those revenues. Common sense dictates that enforcing a winter ban when it doesn’t snow makes no sense. But any accountant would tell you that if you don’t earn those revenues that way, you’re going to need to earn them somewhere else (property tax increase?).
The accountants rule the day on this one, and Council doesn’t seem to care enough about the impact of hurting businesses downtown. Once again Downtown, with its unique needs, is merely painted with the same brush as the rest of the city. Does a 1:00 -7:00 am winter ban really inconvenience neighborhoods with two-car driveways? Probably not. But Downtown, business is still happening at 1:00 am. And it should matter if customers and businesses are then relocating to malls or business parks, because that is going to hurt the city’s bottom line far worse because a business downtown pays many times more in taxes.
It would be much more beneficial to the city’s future if the default position on many (dare I say any?) policies erred on the side of supporting Downtown, even if it meant making special rules to acknowledge that it is unique and, yes, important. Which is worse: a somewhat congested, but vibrant downtown, or one devoid of life?
P.S. In an attempt to help customers avoid adding to HRM revenues by avoiding tickets, the Downtown Halifax Business Commission has produced a “Park Smart” brochure. You can find it here.
Concerned Citizen
March 3rd, 2010
Well said Paul! The sad thing is that each one of those scenarios isn’t so hypothetical.
A city that clutches to parking fines as a key source of revenue is a city in desperation. The lack of a dominant business mindset among our elected municipal officials means that the city will continue to be mismanaged. Our vast resources and assets are ‘too complicated’ to utilize for some of the simpletons on council, so they reach for the easy money out of the public purse - taxes and fines.
Higher taxes and additional restrictions on business and ‘life’ in general certainly encourage people to seek better conditions elsewhere (outside downtown and/or outside Nova Scotia).
The more people who leave, the harder it is for the city to generate revenue from ‘people’ via taxes and fines. So what do they do when the cash starts to dip? Do they look for innovative alternatives to raise revenues by utilizing existing resources that are not people-dependent?
No! They raise taxes even more and put additional burdens on the few people who are left here. At times, it seems as if this death spiral is inescapable.
The parking ban issue has been handled in reverse. City staff figured out what works best for their operation, told council what they want to make it happen, and council told imposed a bylaw and told the public to figure out how to live with a winter parking ban.
The way this should work is this:
1. The PUBLIC tells elected councilors what they want.
2. Council tells city staff to come up with a solution.
3. City staff ‘makes it happen’.
4. Council passes bylaws that respond to the public’s will.
... at least that’s how it should work in a city with a functioning and responsive city council.