Parking in Waterloo Region

[danbrotherston]

I wouldn't say we have a "polar-opposite mindset." We may not be as bad as some places in terms of expecting and demanding other people to fund our free-of-charge parking on streets, but most people around here feel entitled to it, and complain loudly when it's denied.

By "mindset", I refer to the mindset of our parking regulations and road construction.  Roads here are mostly for moving cars at maximum speed. Parking is allowed, on side streets, if it fits, maybe.

In all my travels, I have not personally experienced more restrictive parking than we have here.
The bans on overnight parking in Kitchener and Waterloo.
There is almost universally no parking on arterials (save for grandfathered street parking on King St in Downtown and Uptown) I was shocked when I learned parking was allowed on Benton, because it's just so unusual here.
No Parking zones are liberally sprinkled through residential areas.

It's no wonder that students move into the Northdale neighbourhood, and are surprised when they can't find a parking space.  Most cities allow street parking, and that generally serves as a buffer for when a building's own parking is overloaded.  Waterloo is the odd one out.

This may be how it is used, but this is fundamentally wrong, public space should not be used for storage of private property.   Until I can use the parking space in front of my house to store a fridge, I shouldn't be able to use it to store a car.

But I wouldn't think this would be an issue in Canada, or anywhere it snows a lot for that matter.  Are overnight bans not common in the winter for plowing.  London has this as well.