Toronto

2135 readers

1 users here now

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Friends:

Support lemmy.ca

founded 4 years ago

MODERATORS

durablenapkin@lemmy.ca

‘I cannot afford this,’ Howard Park residents urge City of Toronto to address snowstorm parking rules as residents face fines (nowtoronto.com)

submitted 1 week ago by NarrativeBear@lemmy.world to c/toronto@lemmy.ca

4 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Howard Park Avenue residents say being designated a snow route leaves them with no legal place to park during snowstorms, forcing them to risk fines or park far from home.

“If we park on our street, it’s a $100 ticket, and if you park nearby, we also get a ticket, like $45,” Silva said to Now Toronto. “No matter where we park, we get a ticket.”

In recent weeks, Toronto has been hit by two snowstorms. Sunday’s storm brought a historic 60 centimetres of snow to the region in one day. Silva says residents have already received parking tickets as a result of these events.

As a result, Silva says he now parks his car at a friend’s home downtown and then takes an Uber or the TTC back to his home.

“See how much time I’m wasting in the day? And how much extra money I’m [spending], I cannot afford this anymore,” he said.

Silva, who already received a ticket in February of last year, says the situation has taken a toll on him.

“I cannot concentrate on my work anymore, because when I leave my work, I have to think, ‘Oh, where am I gonna leave my car?,’” he said.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] masterspace@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Honestly, your quotes are wildly selective and misleading. This is not a car vs transit issue, this is a Kafka-esque bureaucracy issue.

The full context, not just social media rage bait:

Silva says residents hold a special parking permit, identified by numbers only, that allows them to park exclusively on Howard Park Avenue. Parking elsewhere, he says, can result in additional fines, leaving residents with no viable options during snow events.

“If we park on our street, it’s a $100 ticket, and if you park nearby, we also get a ticket, like $45,” Silva said to Now Toronto. “No matter where we park, we get a ticket.”

...

Silva, along with other residents and neighbours, recently launched a petition calling on the city to allow Howard Park Avenue residents temporary permission to park on neighbouring streets during snowstorms.

The petition also calls for exemptions or accommodations during major weather events and adjustments to permit classifications to ensure equitable access to nearby street parking.

“We support snowclearing 100 per cent, but give us options to park in another street without getting penalized,” Silva said.

Silva says residents have reached out to the city regarding the issue and are often told to park on side streets. However, when residents explain that they legally cannot due to permit restrictions, Silva says they are told there is nothing the city can do.

To summarize:

These people have overnight parking permits from the city that only lets them park on Howard Avenue, literally no other street.
Yet Howard Avenue is a snowplow route that they can't park on during a snow storm.
When they ask the city where they're supposed to park overnight during a storm, the city says the side streets...
And then the city tickets them for not having a permit for side streets.

These are literally just normal people stuck in a niche bureaucratic hell hole that should be changed. Either the city should not be giving out overnight permits for snowplow routes, or they should have reasonable accommodation during those times or the city needs to be super up-front and explicit about the permit you're buying and the expectations around you having to find your own private parking during snow storms.