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Letter: No, sorry, street parking near Burnaby schools isn't 'reserved' for residents

Editor: Re: Are Burnaby’s ‘monster houses’ why we have parking wars? NOW Opinion You may have touched a nerve with your parking wars article with your readers - well done! Ludicrous behaviour by people who think they own the street
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Editor:

Re: Are Burnaby’s ‘monster houses’ why we have parking wars? NOW Opinion

You may have touched a nerve with your parking wars article with your readers - well done!

Ludicrous behaviour by people who think they own the street isn't just limited to owners vs. tenants. Pre-pandemic, my wife and I participated in many evening sports games typically held at elementary school gyms after hours.

Some schools, like Brentwood Elementary, have small parking lots that don't accommodate say 20-plus vehicles at once. I would say about 50% of the time after coming out of the gym and back to our cars, home owners would leave notes on our windshields telling us (telling!) not to park in front of their houses, as it's reserved for their use.

We'd always write back on the same note and leave it taped on their gates or front doors that:

  1. They live opposite a school. What do they expect?
  2. They don't own the street - public space and all that.
  3. They clearly have a garage around back where they can and do park their own vehicles.

Some streets have the "residents-only parking" street signs and we always respect those. However, if they don't, it's fair game. These homeowners need to read the room and need to read the bylaws.

Robin Wong, Burnaby