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Pay Parking Hurting Seniors and the Sick

By 250 News

by Jack deWit

Recently the Victoria Medical Building, also known as Prince George Enterprises, has outsourced the management of its parking lot to Imperial Parking Canada Corp. from Vancouver (where else?). Since this has taken place there has been more tickets handed out than ever before. I understand the need for all landowners to see some return on their investment, however, private companies (not from Prince George) are just too eager to take our money. Furthermore, it is not the building management that receives most of the complaints from patients, but rather the doctors whom are tenants are the targets of the majority of those complaints.

It is frustrating enough for patients to be sick and have to visit their doctor. So here is your added punishment for ignoring to pay while visiting your doctor. The ticket is $18.50 but the feds must receive GST for a total of $19.80. If the fine is not paid within 48 hours, the cost is $27.50 plus $1.93 GST for a sum of $29.43. To pay your fine you must call a 1-800 number (a call center probably in one of the major urban centers) and pay by Visa or Master Card. If you don’t have one of these you can also mail in your amount but with Canada Post it may take several weeks to be processed. I wouldn’t take a chance on that method.

These parking lots are so full at times it is difficult to find a spot for a car (don’t bring a truck!). Sometimes a patient can be very anxious about being late for an appointment and simply forget to limp over to the parking meter and to limp back to the car to place the receipt on the dash then limp back to the building again. No one can predict how long one will spend in the physician’s office with any certainty! A doctor may be running late or your examination may take much longer than expected. What about those who have gone to get change for the parking machine? Not to worry, one thing is for sure; the overzealous contractor has been pacing the parking lot ready to pounce like a vulture on any vehicle not displaying a valid receipt. Believe me, it takes only minutes. What the hell do companies from outside Prince George care about people in our city?

In addition to being very aggressive at the Victoria Medical Building, my research shows that there are at least 6 parking spots that are partially on public property. Yes, six spots exceed the boundary of the owner’s property and are actually part the sidewalk of Spruce Street. Six additional spots appear to be part of the parking lot but are actually the sidewalk. After yours truly received a ticket in one of those sidewalk spots the building manager, Kevin Braet, claimed that vehicles in those six parking spots would not be ticketed from that point on. This, however, still leaves in question those six that are partially encroaching on city property.

Legally, the city could ticket vehicles in these spots and the fine would be much higher, but the taxpayer would be the benefactor. Now a private property owner, PG Enterprises, is collecting money for vehicles parked on city property and sharing it with Imperial Parking Canada Corp. Cute!

I am not in opposition to building owners receiving revenue from their parking lots. There are, however, much better ways to accomplish this. One, include an additional charge to the tenants. It may not be popular but it is a much better for patients. Two, incorporate meters like those used at the upper level parking at the airport. Three, use their own security service to patrol the parking lot, have change available, assist and escort patients in need and to be somewhat compassionate. The fourth and best way to solve the problem is to do away with paid parking.

It is not surprising to see doctors moving to smaller clinics rather than rent in either of the two large medical buildings in Prince George. Not only are they not wasting earnings on rent, they are providing a better service for their patients. With smaller parking lots they have a shorter distance to walk and no cost to park their vehicle. .

As for the Victoria Medical Building, I will avoid its parking lot at all costs.
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