Parking: Is it a right?
I commented elsewhere on this CBC story about a woman with parking troubles in Griffintown. I averred that the city is not obliged to provide drivers with free places to leave their cars. Someone else rather snottily told me that, since drivers pay fees, indeed they are entitled to street parking.
I admit I don’t see it but I don’t know what the law says here. I think as the car invaded our society it was just assumed you could leave your car wherever you liked, so by now it’s simply an assumption car owners tend to make unless a big sign tells them otherwise. Who’s right?
Ephraim 20:28 on 2019-10-19 Permalink
The fees don’t include parking. Even the parking permits don’t guarantee parking… but if there isn’t enough space when it comes to permits, the city does expand the permit area.
Dhomas 21:11 on 2019-10-19 Permalink
Seems to me she has two options: get rid of the car, or leave. The borough councillor straight up said it won’t get better for street parking.
To put it in perspective, she says she’s had 4000$ (if she’s not exaggerating) in parking fines since 2014, which is about 800$ per year. I can almost guarantee that this is cheaper than paying for a reserved parking spot in a parking lot. When I worked in that area of town, a parking spot in my building was 350$… per month!
Tim S. 10:12 on 2019-10-20 Permalink
I don’t think drivers are entitled to street parking, but they are entitled to some consistency in the locally understood rules. If construction companies can simply take over a stretch of street for months at a time, it’s not good enough for the city to shrug and say “cars bad.” Having a long-term plan to reduce car use that is clearly explained so that people can plan ahead (get rid of the car or move, as Dhomas said) is one thing, cooperating with construction companies to treat residents with contempt is another.
Spi 11:22 on 2019-10-20 Permalink
I have a hard time believing that anyone that accumulates $4000 in parking tickets is even trying to follow the parking rules. As for construction companies “taking over”, from my understanding of the article they are paying for the exclusive right to use those spots. You can do the same, they are called “Permis d’occupation temporaire du domaine public” let’s say on moving day you want the 2-3 spots in front of your house to be free for moving trucks you can go to your borough and pay for it. Most people will put chairs and what not to reserve a spot but there is a proper way of doing it.
Meezly 12:30 on 2019-10-21 Permalink
I feel that in high school, it should be required to take a financial planning & budgeting class, and one of the lessons should be how to budget car expenses as a car owner.
A few years ago, a friend of mine, who lives in East Plateau, took out a loan and bought a $50K parking spot in her condo complex, for the following reasons:
She got tired of moving her car around during snow clearing and street cleaning
She wanted to protect her car better from the winter
Street parking has simply gotten worse, as the neighbourhood has become more populated
She kept seeing parking spots increase in value by $5K each year, so she thought it’d be a good investment
In other words, my friend did some calculations and made a very grown-up decision.
So no, drivers are not entitled to free street parking just cuz they pay fees to have the privilege to drive.
And further to what Dhomas said, there are 3 options: get rid of your car, move somewhere less populated, or suck it up and invest in a permanent parking spot for your car.