I wish I could squander a pile of money that wasn’t mine and it sure would be nice to hear something positive out of this council!

Stupid does,stupid is.I guess there are too many people going downtown,no place to park. I havent been in years.

How does this “License plate recognition system” read dirty snow covered plates?

and what is wrong with a person checking meters as was done before?
will this be operated by an independent company and will the fine money go to the same company, same as the hospital and many others in this city? wouldn’t surprise me.
just some early mornin questions to ponder.
have a great day

The article fails to mention what the annual receipts the city estmates it would get for pay parking. How many years would be required to balance this “investment” ? Or is it like the way the garbage truck saved us money?

An SUV driving around all day, belching exhaust instead of somebody walking and checking? What a bunch of clowns.

….who thinks of these stupid ideas???? It’s time to get back to BASICS! We don’t need this no’r can we afford it.

I will not go down town period and pay for parking if the local down town businesses want by business, when most of these down town businesses are getting tax breaks already. Shari’s little shop; commonwealth and all the others should get their tax break revoked to cover parking. I challenge city to bring back pay parking just so I never need to go down town again or listen to another call from Wiggins adjustment harassing me over a parking ticket on a licence plate that I don’t even own.

So can just anyone find out who owns the car by scanning a license plate? I thought just the police had access to that information! Will the city have to get permission or even PAY to have access to this information from ICBC? So what do they do, drive around every two hours to see if you are still there? What if you move a block over?

Just another reason not to go downtown. The new downtown is college heights anyway.

It’s about time they brought back paid parking downtown. How many downtown businesses have lost customers because they couldn’t find parking due to all the workers taking up the spots? I was downtown last week and tried to go to the CIBC on 3rd at around 7:50 in the morning. Guess what? The entire block was full of parked cars. since nothing is open that early they sure weren’t customers of any business down there.

Time to make the freeloaders pay.

NoWay, this city (as well as all others) have the ability to run plates at thier fingertips and have had is access for a long time. This is not new.

Does anyone know of any other cities that don’t enforce pay parking in thier downtown or main retail areas?

Its not a question of having pay parking or enforcing it, it is a question of how they plan to do it. And as usual it is one of the most convoluted and expensive systems. Why not just use the meter maids as before. Every stupid move these city paid welfare cases make just reinforced my decisions a few years back to retire somewhere else other than here in PG. Couldnt imagine anyone actually WANTING to retire here or anywhere the citys’ greedy hand can reach.

Now you know why pay parking has caused people to go out of town to do their shopping. If they do this, the businesses will notice a drop in sales, and profits for sure. I already hate going into the PG downtown area. If I have to pay for parking I’ll just go elsewhere to buy the things I need.

250 News, do you have the figures for the $$$ that Bylaw anticipates will be made back once the new system is in place? Was this part of the report to Council? Also what are the details regarding the creation of a new towing bylaw? It is to my understanding that the city already has the authority to tow. Is this information available?

Bang on axman. If anything is to blame for the failure of downtown free parking, it’s the people who work down there.

Agree with Axman. Most cities the size of PG have paid parking for this reason and its time the city capitalize on this. Downtown has become more popular in the last few years and will keep growing as more private investment enters the downtown so its time to switch back to paid parking.

Does Bylaw Services not have to weigh costs and benefits in their reports when asking for such things? EX: cost of re-implementing and running this system vs. the old system of meters and meter maids. This system is not a new thing either, many other municipalities are already using it. Why? And are they having success with it? The article has not covered all aspects. What are the downtown businesses saying about it?
I’m not tring to defend anything here, just trying to get a bigger picture before I condemn it.

Walmart, canadian Tire, Home Depot, ….. second the motion.

I thought the Core Review was supposed to find ways to save money. Instead we get a new way to implement an old system (pay parking which was only removed a few years ago) at a cost exceeding one million dollars!!!

It sure would be nice if everytime we get a new government or council they would stop insisting on re-inventing the wheel.

It sounds like they are going to try a Parking Wars System. Just google Parking wars and you’ll see what I mean. They have this system in Philadelphia. I just hope it’s not as chaotic as there system.

Put it up tear it down and the circle continues. Like a bunch of monkeys playing a game.
Cheers

Can this System read dirty Plates, I can’t.
I wonder how many don’t even have valid Insurance and keep Plates dirty for that Reason ?

I suppose if I owned a store in Pine Centre I would like to have pay parking reinstated downtown. Conflict of interest? Do ya think Cameron! BTW all those vehicles parked on the street belong to Northern Health and Government of Canada not the business owners or their employees

stupid, stupid , stupid. I really don’t care what other cities do. This is the logic behind councils pay increase. Nanimo gets paid this so should we. This downtown has been an issue for decades, draconian fines and collectors will kill it for good.
I work downtown, this is a problem that dosen’t exist.

Tax the hobos and panhandlers

Will look forward to a cost/benefit analysis on this and pay keen attention to how long it will take to pay off this additional capital investment and high operating costs. Further, as this effects downtown businesses they should have a huge voice as it is their collective livelihoods on the line. From what I recall, their representative organization, DPG, is strongly against it…so what gives?

If the problem truly is, as others have pointed out, workers taking up customer spaces, why not find a way to deal with that issue as opposed to jumping straight into another huge investment that IMO, is counterproductive to downtown merchants and shoppers?

As dow says, I find it hard to swallow that business owners encourage their workers to park in customer spaces, effectively slitting their own throats with less dollars through the door.

Like anything, follow the dollar. I bet this is all a smokescreen leading to something else…just like the City is broke yet council keeps spending money like it grows on trees. I for one, don’t fall for it.

Paid parking downtown is a massive mistake. Put the freakn chequebook away.

Hey pg1234 what are you going to tax them…. 50% of the bottle returns they pack around? might help if you tossed out your empty beer can when you drive by a (hobo?) Really?

dpj:
“Downtown has become more popular in the last few years and will keep growing as more private investment enters the downtown”

Coincidentally that is the same period where there was no pay parking.

Then you go on to say that it is time to reverse that success strategy?

There is a bylaw where all businesses are required to have adequate parking for staff AND customers.

Very few businesses or commercial buildings actually comply with that bylaw, and often seek a variance to skirt that requirement.
No the only parking is a game of seek and fill every 2 hours.

shootsinfoot syndrome

I’d bet Brian Skakun will vote against it!!

dpj: “Downtown has become more popular in the last few years and will keep growing as more private investment enters the downtown”

It has? I think it appears popular due to the freeloaders taking the majority of the spaces.

Just who is the dumba55 to ask for pay parking?

Suv, that is a real laugh riot. Might cause the city to overheating. Hey might be a job for that golf cart. Wonder how that thing is working out?

How is it that nearly everyone who gets to the mayor’s chair or council, suddenly seems to have lost sight of reality and common sense??

I guess the really good people, those who could make a real difference, stay way for good reason.

The city makes peanuts on the parking meters and people that work downtown will abuse it whether they have to pay or not. This is just a dumb idea for a downtown that is trying to attract people.

Even if they went ahead with it, they could employ 3 or 4 people to walk the streets writing tickets for the amount of money they are going to spend on annual operation fee. People that would spend that money in PG and return some of it via economic spinoff. Under this plan, it probably all leaves for the LML or some other far off destination.

Who’s thinking this stuff up?

Posted by: Loki on December 3 2012 3:15 PM

Just who is the dumba55 to ask for pay parking?

——————————

I would gladly pay to park downtown if it meant that the freeloaders who work in the area weren’t taking up all the prime spots all day long. It’s quite a nuisance to have to circle a few blocks to find a spot.

If they have to start paying a buck an hour to park on the streets the monthly parkades will start looking good.

I was downtown a couple of weeks ago and saw a meter person chalking tires so I believe there still is a time limit on parking. A 3 hr limit would allow a thorough shopping trip or appointment but would prevent most workers from parking on the street.