I support the winter parking ban on Halifax streets. The streets are there for the efficient and safe movement of motor vehicles and bicycles. The streets are not there for the free and unrestricted use by Haligonians to park their motor vehicles. It is not a birthright that a Haligonian with a motor vehicle be assigned a free on-street parking place, 365 days of the year. If you want a parking place then go and pay for it. If one does not exist near your residence, then sell your car. What? No car! Notwithstanding the unfounded rants about Metro Transit, there are thousands of people who rely on public transit in Halifax for their movement about HRM.
I have lived in Halifax for 30 years. Every year I see the impact of cars left parked on the street during snow removal operations. The snowplow operator is forced to circumnavigate the parked car. When the car is removed, the remaining snow drift causes a hazard and in many cases results in that portion of the street being no longer available as a legitimate daytime parking place because of the buildup of snow and ice, which was not removed by the plow.
There is agreement that, during or after a snowstorm, all cars should be removed from the streets. There are sufficient spaces for people to park off the street, otherwise, as Cameron Harding suggested (Letters, December 23), they would be putting their cars “up their asses.” The vast majority of the population finds a place to park the glass and steel cocoons, off the streets. These people could, and should, reserve and pay for these spaces for the months of November through April. The property owners who maintain these spaces should not be expected to hold these spots only for the 10 to 20 occasions during the winter when snow removal operations are underway.
I would go further and ban parking on streets 12 months of the year, in order to provide a safe lane for bicycles and other small vehicles, which are not equipped with engines to keep up with normal city traffic. A ban on street parking will result in safer streets because of improved vision at entrances to streets from driveways and side streets. In some cases we might consider the return of some of the thousands of square kilometers of paved streets to more ecologically sustainable functions, such as growing flowers, bushes and trees.
The footprint of the driving public must be reduced. This “wonderfully backward city” (as per Neal Durling’s letter) might just keep its “young, vibrant people” (as per Cameron Harding’s letter) with more learned policies to wean the population from the resource-wasting practice of free and easy parking. —Peter Allen, Halifax
This article appears in Dec 31, 2009 – Jan 6, 2010.
Mr. Allen,
Do you have any concept of objectivity, give and take, cause and effect, etc.? Your words reek of a Utopian society, where only those who value everything in a neat and tidy box seem to have worth to you. Sadly, your letter reeks of real disdain for those you are targeting.
It is either a rare gift of writing prowess or actual venomous seething which makes words come alive on the page like that. What about being part of the solution? What about partnering in spirit and mind with others different from you?
For the fact is, in this real world, (albeit in the oft inaccurate name of “progress,”) cars exist where driveways don’t. It is not only car owners who have been pushed out but yes, green spaces, music, sportsfields, etc. etc. – all in the name of progress.
Don’t just shout above all others in order to reclaim what you want. Look with objectivity, peruse, ponder and then, think about being part of the real solution.
My letter was a response to the two cynical (e.g., “I would like to personally thank the HRM for taking an additional $50 out of my pocket just prior to Christmas” – because HRM enforced the winter parking ban) and nasty (“Halifax will be left to die with its old, feeble, pathetic population” – because there is a winter parking ban) letters in the December 23 The Coast. Certainly the latter letter provoked some “real disdain” within me.
I am curious as to where the “venomous seething” comment comes from. Was it the “…sell your car. What? No car!”- which must be the most “venomous” words I laid down in my letter. I do not believe them to be venomous. Cynical – yes. Not nice – yes. Venomous – no.
I was writing in response to someone labeling Haligonians as “feeble and pathetic” and two writers who totally trashed the intellect and intelligent of many Haligonians.
Setting aside the cynical sentences in my opening paragraph I laid out several arguments with objectivity, and after perusal and pondering. Free on-street parking is not a birthright; there are serious problems with cars parked on the street during “snow season”; there are sufficient off-street parking places available at reasonable prices. And, the issue of on-street parking goes way beyond the winter parking ban in terms of safe streets and creating a “greener” city.
Limited or banned on-street parking is hardly aiming for Utopia. It happens in many places around the world. My side of the street has no parking 24/7, 365 days of the year, for no apparent reason. I have been fined, and visitors have been fined for parking there. Yet I still support very limited on-street parking.
Cars just don’t happen where driveways do not exist. A person made a choice to invest in a car when no driveway existed, or chose to live with an already owned car in an abode with no driveway. The citizens of Halifax should not be obliged to provide that person with free on-street parking, and especially not during snow season.
I would be interested in hearing reactions to these arguments, which I believe to be part of a discussion on the real solution.
Here is my thought on the parking situation in Halifax: The people who have a problem make it for themselves.
If you do not like the parking situation or the costs that it entails then guess what? There are alternatives that were created just for you!
You can take the bus: despite the complaints I have heard, Halifax has one of the better transit systems I’ve seen. It is reasonably priced, has good coverage of the city, and the drivers are polite and accomodating.
You can take a taxi cab: Sure it may cost a bit more, but no parking required, plus when can’t you get a taxi immediately in Halifax?
Walk: After moving from a city like Calgary where it actually is impossible to walk from anywhere to anywhere else, Halifax is very accessible by foot! If you can’t walk for 30 mins to get to a destination then you shouldn’t be driving as much anyway.. you’re health will improve.
Bike: Here we have all the benefits of walking, combined with even more mobility and speed. Plus no parking problem.
So now I hear you say: “But I don’t like any of those options!” OR “But I love driving my car!” or any combination of rebuttal.
What just happened was a crazy process where you were provided alternatives and you still CHOSE to drive and park. So why complain that you can’t find a space or that it costs money? That is the COST of your CHOICE! SUCK IT UP!
I’m sorry if this comment was long-winded.. it’s my first, probably not going to be my last, and maybe with practice I can get to the point faster.
As someone who uses a full size pick up with a rack on it, to allow me to work. I need this truck or I cannot transport the scaffold, I beams etc to do my job & run my business. I cannot fit this truck into a parkade. When i work in Halifax at the Metro Centre specifically or the Cohn which also has parking problems, I park on the street. We build & put on shows for the paying public & then we tear them down & that often takes us past 1am. So I get ticketed for still working on an overnight ban even when there’s no snow.I am not the only one with this complaint. many others who are parked because of work commitments are being punished when there’s no snow removal going on & that is why so many of us are upset & belive it is a tax grab.
I have already informed Producers of these shows that if ticketed while working for them they will be responsible for the fine, they can pass these additional cost on to the ticket buying public for all I care…I don’t care because as I see it. I shouldn’t be penalized by a draconian ticket system for simply doing my job !