A recent letter to the editor complained about the hassle of parking in downtown Vernon.
A recent article on the proposed new site of the Tourism Vernon office contained the following quote from Coun. Brian Quiring: “We need to do everything we can to bring people into the downtown core.”
I happen to think the proposed location is not ideal, but I couldn’t agree more with Quiring’s comment.
The problem is that Vernon council seems to want to do whatever it can to drive people out of the downtown core.
I understand that downtown parking meters are a source of revenue for the city, but is there not some way of making parking downtown a little more palatable?
Up until recently, the fine for a parking ticket was $5 provided you paid it within a certain time frame. Now as annoying as that was, $5 was a lot easier to swallow than the new fine, which is $10.
Add to that the fact that the meters take only quarters and loonies — you can insert a toonie, but only as a courtesy. There are a few meters just outside of the main downtown core that still take dimes and nickels, which is frankly very handy if that’s all you have.
The recent experiment with the new meters downtown was deemed a failure because customers did not want to use a credit card to pay for parking. I would be happy to use my credit card as let’s face it, most of us don’t carry a lot of cash in today’s cashless society, but I think they were a failure because a person of average height could barely reach the built-for-giants meters. I’m five-foot-seven and I could barely reach the things. But the credit card option? Loved it!
And it might be nice to offer free parking on Saturdays. This isn’t Vancouver — when back on the Coast, I have long ceased to be surprised by the cost of parking and fact that the meters must be plugged whatever the time of day.
I’m someone who loves to shop downtown, as some of my favourite independently-owned businesses are there, from book stores and toy stores, to the movie theatre, to great restaurants and coffee houses.
And of course, regular library patrons know that the Vernon library parking lot is the best value for money.
The Downtown Vernon Association does a great job of promoting the area with terrific events like the Sunshine Festival, the Halloween Treat Trail and Christmas Light-Up. It’s a great bit of community spirit and is a way for people to get a taste of what’s there. But there are too many people who will head to other parts of town where the parking is convenient and free.
Visit the downtown core on a weekday and it’s busy. Visit on a Saturday and while it’s not a ghost town, it’s not as busy as I’m sure the merchants would like it to be. On a recent Saturday visit, I ran out of quarters and overstayed my welcome. So my $3 latte cost me $13.
A number of downtown merchants have organized petitions to get the city to reverse the parking fines back to the old $5 rate, and I have been happy to sign.
In these tough economic times and with many of these downtown businesses independently owned and operated, it seems to me that we want to do whatever we can to support them by encouraging customers to come downtown to shop, eat or enjoy a coffee.
The bylaw compliance officers are just doing their job, and I get it, but it’s time that city hall took a look at its parking policies and helped get people into the downtown core instead of driving them to the north end of town.
