Given the recently traditional Free Parking in December, that would be a good target date to get started. Put the "December policy" in place permanently starting in December and then work to replace it with the "final" version of the program.

Our city needs to learn to move faster with quick prototyping, beta programs and positive iterations.

Change the bylaw? How about one month from the date Council made the decision?

Print up stickers to put accross the meters to let everyone know that parking is free with a two hour limit?

I was under the impression that they were already looking for the two hour limit. In other words, you were not suuposed to be able to keep on plugging the same meter, you were supposed to move the car.

The new direction hardly has to wait for meters to actually be removed. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Looks like this is bureaucracy at its finest once more. If it can be done for one month in December, while the meters stay up and there is no sign on each meter stating to those who do not read the paper that parking is free, then I cannot see why the same cannot be done from September onward.

Remember, it does not state when in 2009. That years has 12 months to choose from as well.

God forbid our civil servants have to cut the parking meters in -10C. Lol. When they cut them they should cut the bloody red tape also.

Prince George, you can't be helped just put a bag over the Meters until you remove them one at a time and a 25 Dollar Ticket for Overtime parking will chase Costumers away from the Downtown forever to the Mall, used to go to the Barber Downtown, not anymore got tired being ask for money by the panhandlers. PG you created your own problem
and now you can't fix it anymore.

Ken Craig is another master story teller at City Hall that has many.

Cheers

Maybe city hall thinks parking meters are their drug of choice. Ya just can't quit them cold turkey, ya know. Maybe city hall needs an intervention. Like an army of citizens armed with pipe cutters and a $5 dollar bounty on the heads of said meters. Would work fer me.

With a cutting torch it shouldn't take more than 5 minutes per parking meter post!

Another 5 minutes to fill the hole in with
concrete.

"...so I can’t see that (meter removal) will happen before the new year.”

It's called job security.

DON"T cut the bases off. Put a metal circle on the post and then use them to lock up bikes, mopeds and strollers. If you look at downtown Toronto and Saskatoon that is what they have done and the entire block is usually full of people who ride to work. So why not take this opportunity to do something for the better. Instead they will just have to buy bike stands for the downtown. This way the locking facility is close to the where the user wants to be and at little cost to the city.

That's interesting that Saskatoon has people using bikes in the winter. Is it because there are no hills to contend with? It would be easy peddling down wind .. but going the other way would be tough.

Nope .... it is because they clear the snow in Saskatoon .......
http://saskminigamer.blogspot.com/2007/01/so-it-snowed-bit.html

Don't let the off topic posting negate from the value of the idea. We do have other seasons than winter :)

Good idea, lunarbase! Better let Ken Craig know about it, because he wants to chop them off at side walk level.

Removing just the meters should not take until 2009...under normal circumstances, that is.

With the new system, I don't like the idea of giving a "visitor's pass" to tourists. That's a set up for abuse - and I feel that local residents are just as important as tourists for our downtown's health.

I think the 2 hours should be free and then it should be $5 for the first ticket, $10 for the second - subsequent ones forevermore on the same vehicle could be $25.

There also should be a number to call if we wanted to contest the $10 ticket - perhaps it is tourists unaware of the parking policy (yes, give them a break) or perhaps it is me, getting my hair cut, conditioned and coloured and it took 135 minutes (like it usually does). Doing that would accommodate a movie theatre perhaps moving downtown again and showing movies that are a little longer than 2 hours...