07-08-2015, 06:27 PM
(07-08-2015, 08:23 AM)MidTowner Wrote: These aren't fair comparisons. Parking on the street is rarely a safety issue, as speeding often is. As for assault, I'm not sure what to say. If a municipality can find a way to accommodate some street parking in the wintertime and still keep the streets clear and safe, it should. Many cities are able to do this without excluding all street parking on all streets overnight all winter, regardless of weather conditions.
As for the idea that "the road is not a parking lot," street parking has many benefits. It is not an "entitlement" to motorists, it is something that gives value to many different types of road users and residents. It preserves green space on private property, makes efficient use of land, and serves as cost-effective traffic calming. There are many benefits, and street parking is of course a common feature of dense, efficient neighbourhoods. We should be encouraging more of it, generally, not curtailing it.
You are right, the comparisons are not fair. I was exaggerating my point for clarity, but I still feel strongly that if you can do something "with permission", maybe it shouldn't be illegal to begin with. It's hard to enforce a law that a car is posing a safety issue/road clearing issue, but it's magically OK if your licence plate is on a list. Luckily, Kitchener didn't have exemptions to the overnight, so I didn't have to deal with that. [Although Markster's driveway issue would allow you more than 3 hrs. on street parking]
Yes, there are possible benefits, but like most things man kind does, if you get an inch, you take a mile, and people feel an "entitlement" to that asphalt in front of their house. I can't agree that we should be "encouraging more of it", as in some neighbourhoods its already out of control. [Fine example is the Activa Ave area. There is an S bend street there that had legal parking on both sides. The city allowed the developer to have single car driveways, so every house had 1-2 cars on the street. If I drove a car down this street and faced an oncoming car, one of us would be pulling into a driveway to let the other pass. Now lets think about a fire truck/ambulance on this same street and you know where I'm coming from. It's a drastic example of failure on the developer and the city's planning dept.]
Coke
(Even after I've moved on, still rocking the boat on parking issues... LOL)