Pay Parking Defeated!
Monday, September 23, 2013 @ 7:56 PM
Prince George, B.C. – The return of paid parking to downtown Prince George has been defeated.
The motion was to award the contract to Aparc Systems, it was defeated unanimously, although Councillor Cameron Stolz would like to have more information he voted with his Council colleagues in saying no to the awarding of the contract.
Mayor Shari Green would have liked to have more information and have the decision delayed “I am really disappointed in what is a pretty significant issue with dollars attached has become politicized” She said by voting against the awarding of the contract “We are not solving theproblem, we are avoiding the inevitable.”
The question was on the awarding of the contract for a $1.24 million dollar pay parking system to Aparc Systems.
Councilor Albert Koehler says he now believes the return to pay parking was “shooting from the hip when you could barely see the target.” He says with what he knows now, there is a need for much more consultation with residents.
Councilor Frank Everitt says businesses need certainty, and he was not in favour of awarding the contract or delaying the decision .
“I don’t think we have a parking problem downtown” says Councilor Lyn Hall, “ I think we have a five block parking problem.” He says Staff need to be given the tools to enforce the time-expired parking. “We have to move along from here.”
Councillor Albert Koehler says “Why can’t we just admit the idea is dead?” He would not support the awarding of the contract, nor would he support delaying making a decision to the spring.
Councillor Garth Frizzell, says it isn’t fair to Aparc to delay a decision, nor is it fair to accept that the technology offered today would be the best in six months from now. “We’ve heard loud and clear this is something Prince George doesn’t support, and I won’t support it either.”
Councillor Dave Wilbur says this started out as a means to solve a problem and the problem hasn’t gone away. “ The difficulty is the devil in the details” says Wilbur, he says there is not real data to outline what the scope of the problem truly is. “In my view others in the downtown have ownership, those who have businesses down there, people who are suffering the consequences of what I have seen with my own eyes” what he has seen is not being able to park an any of the major downtown streets. But, having said that, he says he would not support postponement of the decision , nor would he support the awarding of the contract.
Council has directed Administration to prepare a report on converting to angle parking on 2nd, 5th and 7th Avenues. It is expected it will take about two months before staff can bring back that report.
Comments
Kudos to Rod Holmes, the downtown Business Assoc and all of the other objectors … now lets get on to the real task of providing the tools to effectively enforce the bylaws … a good evening for tax payers, law abiding citizens and small business owners
Wow. There is a God.
Wow.
Okay. I didn’t see that coming. Ditto stretch 55. Only thing is He doesn’t think he’s mayor of prince George. If only Shari realized she isn’t ….
Okay. I didn’t see that coming. Ditto stretch 55. Only thing is He doesn’t think he’s mayor of prince George. If only Shari realized she isn’t ….
Thank you for all those that stepped up and worked hard to get this put aside, and thank you to everyone who spoke up – don’t wait so long next time! Things area moving fast and furious these days, pay attention.
Mayor Shari Green doesn’t have a flipp’n clue. It’s almost like she is against anything the people of PG want or fore anything they don’t want. Maybe it’s time for her to climb down from her glass tower people and actually listen to the public.
Thanks to those who stood up and said “no” and thanks to the councillors that listened.
I guess they’ll have to introduce a carbon tax now??
My gosh!!! Councillor Koehler has come to that wonderful conclusion that the residents of this city should be listened to, perhaps heeded! So it took the Haldi people, the Pine Valley supporters and the McGuire Road people to make him realize this. And the other Councillors, must be that someone has taken them behind the woodpile for some lessons in ‘how to treat your residents’. 2014 elections can’t come soon enough.
WOW They actually made a decision on something!! Now get on with it and make some more to highlight this beautiful city!!
Kudos to the councillors that listened and to those that gave the an earful. Nice to see them working as a team. Her worship can miss as many council meetings as she likes.
I’m surprized but pleased by the decision.
metalman.
I am very proud of the Citizens who spoke up against this and kudos to the councillors who listened to the people! I know mayor Green is disappointed but she should accept the will of council and the people. Hopefully she doesn’t spend too much time pouting or worst yet apply punitive measures to those who are no longer towing the line with her and Stotz’s wishes.
I am very proud of the Citizens who spoke up against this and kudos to the councillors who listened to the people! I know mayor Green is disappointed but she should accept the will of council and the people. Hopefully she doesn’t spend too much time pouting or worst yet apply punitive measures to those who are no longer towing the line with her and Stotz’s wishes.
It was nice to see Council take a sober second look at this issue and then do the right thing, and get rid of pay parking
It appears that we are seeing some changes at City Council, and that the mantra of this is the way it is whether you like it or not, is going the way of the Doo Doo bird.
We need those Councillors that went out of their way to look into the parking issue, and do the right thing, to continue to do this type of good work. People appreciate it when their concerns are being addressed by those they elected. Kudo’s to those responsible for defeating this issue, and thumbs down, to those who tried to push it through.
By turning this down the city will save in interest costs alone enough to pay for a bylaw enforcement officer to police the situation.
Okay. I didn’t see that coming. Ditto stretch 55. Only thing is He doesn’t think he’s mayor of prince George. If only Shari realized she isn’t ….
Congrats to those that made enough noise to get the mayor and some others to flip flop.
I do wonder though, after all the time spent reviewing this and discussing this and preparing a tender and reviewing submissions and preparing reports and consulting downtown business owners – can our mayor or any councilor tell us how much money and staff time was wasted on this issue?
This decision (or lack thereof) simply returns us to the status quo which is costing all taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to subsidize downtown parking. Hell of a way to reduce our taxes.
This council is getting quite the reputation for expensive navel gazing exercises that produce nothing of value.
psst: “This decision (or lack thereof) simply returns us to the status quo which is costing all taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to subsidize downtown parking. Hell of a way to reduce our taxes. “
Bingo.
Downtown business owners and employees are elated that they’ll be able to continue to park downtown for free.
The City can now concentrate on strengthening the enforcement bylaw and get on with towing those parked illegally. That alone will improve the parking problem DT.
^^^^They need to get the proper people into bylaws and not someone that only does what they want at their own discretion.
Look at how it took bylaws almost 27 years to try and fine a resident in regards to parking of vehicles recently.
Thought city had policies in place for a reason? Why has it taken them so long to go after some of the slum lords?
Bylaws and planning need to be cleaned out from the top. They are costing the taxpayers to much money by not doing their job.
Why can’t people read? Nowhere does it say that the pay parking is not going to return to the downtown. Geez All this means is that council is not going to grant the contract to any vendors at this time, it doesn’t say that pay parking is dead.
People like to read more into what is printed than what is not. The city won’t be buying any fancy pants license plate recognition system or fancy pay parking kiosks, at least not for a while. The whole thing needs a good rethink, more time on being financially prudent instead of tossing our tax dollars around like it’s a charitable plan.
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