FREE PARKING FOR ALL! - CITY EMPLOYEES THAT IS
One of the major discoveries of the Downtown Parking Study - and probably one of the prime reasons it was hidden from public view for so long - was that a significant contributor to the Downtown parking nightmare is FREE parking provided to City Employees and "VIPs". It should be noted that this does not come as a shock to the downtown parking enforcement officers, as that was the #1 complaint when surveyed about the downtown parking when I ran for Mayor in 2012.
While it is not discussed exactly how many city employees and "VIP"s get this privilege, it does equate to an annual revenue loss of $1.4 MILLION! This translates to 55% of downtown parking spots being occupied by City employees or "VIP"s while you are driving around, struggling to find a spot that you have to pay two dollars an hour for!
What's worse - If you factor in the total permits issued, which includes free and significantly discounted permits, they account for a whopping 91% of the 1,250 metered spots in Regina. NINETY ONE PERCENT! This means that at any given time, there may be only 9% of the metered parking spots available for you to use. Without question, this is one of the key factors that should have been addressed long before the meter rates were doubled. Thankfully, the consultants also agree.
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: As there are currently no repercussions to these permit holders for parking longer than allowed, on average over 50% of them are overstaying their welcome compared to an average of 20% of coin parkers. Not only are they taking up valuable space that the rest of us pay for, they are staying far longer which multiplies the problem.
For those that don't want to read the full document, here is a clip for your ease of reference:
Why, then, has the City
done nothing to address this situation?!
STAY TUNED FOR MORE!
No comments:
Post a Comment