A Salmon Arm man has racked up approximately $600 in parking tickets out of protest.
Charles Lentz lives in downtown Salmon Arm beside the Inner Core parking. While surrounded by parking, none of the nearby spots are designated to his residence.
Read more: Column: Parallel parking surveys and precedent
Read more: Council Report: Salmon Arm wrestles with parking spaces
The alternative parking spot he has been told to use is on Lakeshore Drive across the street from Lordco – a five minute walk from his house.
“I just want a parking spot near my home, that’s all I ask. I mean, who would want to walk that many blocks everyday after work to your own vehicle,” Lentz said.
In the same lot where his vehicle has been ticketed there are monthly parking spots that have two-year waiting lists. Yet he says several stalls remain unused most of the year.
Lentz sometimes receives two tickets a day, the fines totalling an equivalent of a days worth of pay for him.
Read more: B.C. woman with severely disabled son keeps getting parking tickets
Read more: B.C. Mountie’s warning to not talk on phone to driver at drive-thru sparks online rage
Marcel Bedard, a bylaw enforcement officer for the City of Salmon Arm, addressed the empty parking stalls with the years-long waitlists.
“People pay to rent them and if they’re reserved they don’ t have to use them but they’re reserved. Some companies buy them for clients so they’re not used every day,” Bedard said.
As for acquiring a parking spot closer to Lentz’s home, Bedard recommended joining the waiting list.
“You have no entitlement to anything when you’re renting; if you don’t have parking you don’t have parking. It would be the same as you living in an apartment building and the landlord tells you have no parking and you have to find you own, its up to your own means,” Bedard said.
@CameronJHTCameron.thomson@saobserver.netLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
