To Tim Bousquet,
If you looked closer into your “Liberal Party van blocks handicap
parking spaces” post in the Reality Bites blog (May 25), you would’ve
realized those spaces are only reserved for the disabled during bingo.
That is also why they are located so close to the doors to the bingo
hall.
There is no bingo on Sunday afternoon (especially when there is a
convention in the hall), and because of that, those spots were not (at
the time) reserved for disabled people. Additionally, there are four
disabled spots in front of the Sportsplex which are more frequently
used by the disabled patrons that frequent the facility, as they can
enter on the ground floor.
Horrible reporting, Tim. Horrible.
—posted by amypacer at thecoast.ca
Tim Bousquet responds: I’ll take your word on the limited hours for disabled parking, but like the hundreds of people who park in the lot and avoid those spaces, I’ve never noticed. Do disabled people need parking spaces to get to bingo, but not to get to other events? Regardless, as I say in the blog, the optics are still horrible, and a sensible pol would’ve parked elsewhere to avoid exactly this confusion. You don’t park in front of a disabled sign. No exceptions.
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2009.
Of course people park in front of disabled signs when it is not during the hours that the signs clearly state that they are in effect. Do you park in front of “No Parking Wednesday for Street Cleaning” signs on Monday? I do.
Also, without resorting to stereotypes, I’m sure we can agree that the Sportsplex likely has a higher number of physically disabled patrons during Bingo than during an open skate or a kickboxing class.
“A sensible pol” was likely told they could park there, and thus, a “sensible pol” did so. The parking regulations were certainly not the fault of the driver of the van, nor the Liberal Party of Canada. If your issue is with inconsistent handicapped parking times then take it up with the Dartmouth Sportsplex and the Municipality of Halifax – not a political party that offers us a possible alternative to the Conservatives.
I understand what you’re saying, and I shouldn’t have said “horrible” … I certainly should not have said it twice. I was just bummed. I should’ve said “mediocre.” It just seemed sensationalistic, which (as I’ve noticed as a fan for of your writing for the past four years) didn’t seem to be your style.
I’m sure the driver read the sign and thought “all right! empty spots!” and rejoiced at the thought of parking the vehicle for a few hours.
I suppose I just see Ignatieff as our only possible alternative to Harper and thusly feel passionate about defending him when people (read: fellow lefties) attack him for decisions a) he clearly had no part of, and b) were not in the wrong.
Also, while I’ve got your attention: why do you permit comments/bitches with the word ‘fag’ or ‘faggots’ or using ‘gay’ in a derogatory sense? I imagine you wouldn’t allow people to make posts using the N word, right? How is this different? It sucks that homosexual individuals can’t even feel comfortable reading The Coast. Homosexuals can’t even read Halifax’s most left-leaning publication without being offended and/or feeling marginalized? Shitty deal.
Just sayin’.
…still friends?
Hey Amy, Tim just stated the optics were bad, and they sure were. You would think the capaign manager would have seen this… Tim asked a very reasonable question.