06 Mar Parking czar, please note – updated

Contrarian reader Jim Guild writes:

In Montreal, which gets a shitload of snow (to use a complex meteorological term), I believe they still allow parking on one half of most residential streets. On odd-numbered days, drivers can park on the side of the street where odd-numbered houses are located; on even-numbered days they can park on the other side. This means that local residents don’t have to rent parking for the winter, out-of-towners can visit overnight, Victor Syperek’s buddies can still be designated drivers for their drinking friends, and the snow ploughs can still make the roads passable.

Reader Gary Campbell disagrees:

You’re right about one thing, it is a small issue, so let it go. Hell, you are not even a resident of HRM. If it were not for you and a drunk nightclub owner, this would not be an issue at all. The so-called parking czar is indeed accountable to elected officials who have the power to change the bylaw. I noticed you mention nothing about how street parking prevents plows from opening the street to vehicles in an emergency. In the time it would take to have the offender towed, lives could be lost, but I suppose causing you some inconvenience is the greater evil. Let’s leave this issue to the residents of HRM many of whom agree with the ban.

I am, in fact, a part-time resident of HRM. The driveway my house shares with another often has one more car than parking spaces. The last car blocks everyone else in, requiring negotiations among three households (one house is a duplex) to determine who will be leaving in what order in the morning. Having one car (usually mine) park on the street avoids this.

That’s no problem when snow is falling and streets need clearing, but on clear nights when no snow plowing is underway, it’s an unnecessary imposition by overreaching officials who find it inconvenient to make distinctions between nights when a ban is needed and nights when it is not.

The safety issue is specious. Is there a single instance in the last five years when on-street parking has prevented plows from opening streets to emergency vehicles and a life has been lost as a result? I’m unaware of any. There may, however, have been cases where fear of fines encouraged the impaired to drive home when then should have left their car on the street.

I am not opposed to a parking ban. On the contrary, I favor vigorous enforcement—heavy fines, towing—during storms. But I oppose fines for that purpose when there is no snow clearing taking place.

Jim Guild’s suggestion of an alternate side rule would also solve the alleged problem.