Dear Editor:
As a Burnaby resident, I frequent many areas of the city in which many of these locations have parking restrictions.
While out the other day, I came across a very pleasant City of Burnaby parking enforcement officer. We had a pleasant conversation about the officer's job and the city in general. Through the conversation I found it very interesting to hear that parking enforcement officers for the city stop working at 6 p.m. daily and don't work statutory holidays. I found this particularly odd, since many of the parking meters in the city are in effect till 8 p.m. and on statutory holidays. This equates to the effect that parking is a free for all after 6 p.m. and all day on statutory holidays, except for the odd ticket an RCMP officer may be inclined to issue if they aren't busy dealing with serious issues.
I find this absolutely absurd that a city wouldn't have parking enforcement officers working later in the evenings and on statutory holidays when parking meters are in effect and to address residents complaints. How much potential city revenue is lost because of the limited hours of enforcement?
Could our continued rise in property tax be subsidized if the city properly ran the parking enforcement department like the City of Vancouver does and I'm sure other cities are?
Josh Jackson, Burnaby
