Written by Peter McIntyre 107.5 KISSFM Tuesday, 09 December 2014 06:00
The new Vernon council is looking to make the downtown a bit more customer-friendly, when it comes to parking. Councillor Brian Quiring wants bylaw officers to provide a five minute grace period from when a meter expires, to when a ticket gets issued. "I think you just want to be a bit more sensitive to the needs of the people that are shopping. People don't always have a loonie. I'm guilty of that all the time. I have to run in (to a business) to get change," says Quiring. Quiring got support from his colleagues for the change which city staff will look into. Bylaws manager Clint Kanester says his officers currently give a three minute grace period, and denies they are over aggressive giving out tickets. He says they normally only have one officer covering 19 kilometres of sidewalk meters and parking lots. "We're not trying to over fish the sea," Kanester told council. New councillor Scott Anderson asked Kanester if the city had costed out warning tickets. "Is it really important to enforce this to the letter of the law?" asked Anderson. Kanester says a warning system has been looked into and would cost up to $50,000. New mayor Akbal Mund says there has to be a balance that works for everyone."Free parking, I've said I would love to have it on Saturdays, give everybody the opportunity. I can also see people going downtown Saturdays and parking all day, and maybe that becomes our test to see if we do or don't need the meters," says Mund.
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