Some memories just don’t go away.
It’s been three years but Troy in Burnaby still remembers the feeling of coming out to his car to go to work in the morning and finding his tire flat as a pancake.
Someone had slashed his tire. Troy knows who it was.
“I can’t prove it, of course, but I know it was my neighbour,” Troy said after reading my series of columns on parking fights in Burnaby. “That guy had yelled at people forever if they parking in front of his house – even for a few minutes like if I was running into my suite to get something. He was a psycho and would totally have done that. It wasn’t long after that that I found a new place to rent that actually came with a parking space. I had had enough of homeowners freaking out because they think they own the spots in front of their houses.”
As the rules in Burnaby go, people only have so long they can park in one spot and enforcement is based on complaints.
Some want the rules changed so people can’t park for longer periods, but not everyone agrees.
Like J.T., who wrote me about the issue.
“The law is to prevent people from abusing on-street parking and it is predicated on the idea that every living space has the option to come with off-street parking,” he said. “On the surface, it is a good law. The street is paid for by everyone, and nobody owns the spot in front of their house; it's for everyone to use. Homeowners have the least to complain about for this. After all, I haven't seen many houses that don't come with a driveway or a garage (or both). If your household owns more cars than you have space for, use some imagination to ensure everyone is within the law. People who live in secondary suites and apartments with no off-street parking though are at a massive disadvantage. Fortunately I have two possible solutions: 1. A requirement that landlords of rental properties (including secondary suites) provide the option of off-street parking. If a tenant refuses and decides to use the street anyway, the onus will be on them to comply with laws including time limits. 2. A tiered permit system that provides a permit to persons who don't have the option of off-street parking to be exempt from time limits. This is fair and accommodates others' circumstances (particularly since those who live in secondary suites are rarely in the top or even middle income brackets). A simple proof that there is no off-street parking available would be all that's necessary to qualify.
“Leaving things the way they are is obviously not going to work, and I disagree with changing the law to remove time limits. You have people treating the public street and its tax-funded public parking areas as their private parking area for their car collections. I don't think that is acceptable. It is also not acceptable to expect people without access to parking to not own a vehicle. The single family neighbourhoods where most secondary suites are located are generally not well served by transit, and our society is still very car-centric. Either put the onus on landlords to provide parking or give those who don't have a choice a break, but don't allow the streets to become even more of a free for all (and obviously stop penalizing people who don't have a choice).”
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
