Update, 2:30 Friday: This afternoon, owners of cars parked on Granville Mall were told to move them, or be ticketed. Regular parking enforcement resumes.
Victoria Page, owner of Gallery Page and Strange in Granville Mall, emailed The Coast pictures of what she says has been a regular occurrence over the past two weeks: vehicles parking up and down the pedestrian mall, directly under the dozens of “No Parking” signs. None of the vehicles have been ticketed, she says.
Many, but not all, of the parked vehicles seem to belong to contractors working on the Scotia Square renovation, says Page. “It looks like people have figured out you can park here without getting a ticket, so everyone’s doing it.”
Page tells us that she approached the parking enforcement people and asked them why they weren’t ticketing. “The city sold Granville Mall, so it’s not No Parking anymore,” one of the enforcers told her.
This is false. The city has not sold the mall, confirms city spokesperson Michaelyn Thompson. Moreover, there has been no change in parking policy for the mall.
“Poor Brussels!” says Page’s business partner, Victoria Strange, of the neighbouring restaurant. “You can’t even see their storefront because of the cars. At least we have a sculpture in front that keeps people parking directly in front of the gallery.”
A call to Brussels Friday morning was not immediately returned. But Strange says the restaurant’s manager has called the city “for weeks” to try to get the parking situation resolved, to no avail.
Page, too, has called the police department’s non-emergency line to complain, also without results.
Thompson, the city spokesperson, says that complaints should’ve been called into the city’s 311 line, not to the police department. She says that the people responsible for overseeing parking were completely unaware of the issue on Granville Mall.
“But we’re treating this as an official complaint,” says Thompson, referring to The Coast’s inquiries.
Friday morning, the pedestrian mall is still filled with cars, says Strange. None have been ticketed.
This article appears in Apr 4-10, 2013.
311 line? WTF is that? I can only imagine the ‘service’ one can expect.
This can be VERY costly to the taxpayer. The mall’s tarmac is probably not designed to withstand such high loads for longer periods. So it will have to be repaved sooner. Plus the cars’ weight puts stress on pipes below. They can break (with a delay).
Guerrilla parking? Autoccupy NS ? – this is great. If the city cannot or will not do anything to make the downtown more automobile friendly then it’s up to a leaderless and loosely knit coalition of like minded citizens to put real power back into the hands of the people.
Hasta la victoria siempre!
Ticketing those cars would require someone actually paying attention.
golocal-
why would ticket enforcers be paying attention on a regular basis to an area that is pedestrian only? Cars shouldn’t be there, so it’s not like they’d be expecting to find them parked there.
I see this as more arrogance from car owners who think they can do what they want and park wherever they please. See it all the time. Heaven forbid pedestrians should have a space to call their own without worry of cars mowing them down or being parked in their way.
And don’t give me the bull about lack of downtown parking. There’s plenty to be found, it just isn’t free. Don’t want to pay for parking downtown, take the bus.
Cranky-
311 replace the HRM’s 490-4000 number a little while back. So, expect the same service. Whether you think that was good or bad, is your view.
i know this opinion won’t be popular but i really wish they would make downtown transit and pedestrian only and dump the money they spend on trying to improve it into improving downtown transit. Only vehicles allowed should be delivery trucks
Page the Strange obviously isn’t parking anywhere in the city. Or she can somehow afford extortionate parking that Halifax is so well known for.
I think it’s wonderful. A total eyesore, sure. But a stark illustration of our city’s need for decent and affordable parking options. Quite frankly the opinion of some pretentious nutcase has never before been able to outweigh rationality. I don’t see how this will be any different.
TDF I dont’ necessarily disagree with you because from your point of view (Somebody who obviously doesn’t experience parking issues – either because of lack of poverty or lack of vehicle) it makes sense. Before i owned a car, it would have pissed me off too.
Downtown parking is horrific. I myself park illegally and I have an understanding with the business owner that i will continue to do so. He doesn’t mind and neither do i. But i’m not about to tell people where that is because it’s not a big lot and it’s RIGHT downtown. He’d be swamped.
I’m not saying people should be flippantly parking like this. I’m saying that this is a CLEAR ILLUSTRATION of the problems haligonian drivers are facing.
“Don’t feel like paying, take the bus” is a simplistic and overly naive view of the situation.
How come when a stanky hippie with no interest in contributing to society does it, they’re occupying something whereas when a regular hardworking 9-5er trying to save some money does it, they’re selfish assholes?
You people can’t have it both ways. I agree with Ivan. You can’t decide who has a right to occupy what based on how they’re dressed, whether or not they work for a living, what they drink in the morning or how prevalent their iPhone use is. That’s just silly.
no really – taking the bus IS an appropriate response. Park in a park and ride or at Mumford (for free) and take the bus if you live out in the back of the beyond with no bus service.
get over yourselves and take the bus