Parking Ban
There's been a great discussion in the community about the Winter Parking Ban. It's been going on for years, but because of the way government is structured there is no way to communicate on this issue other than through public direct response.
Here are three simple ideas, by way of fairness and compromise, to help residents and businesses who are suffering because of the Ban and open up the Regulations to community consultation. If the Government could do even one of these things or come up with their own compromise it would help improve the situation for many.
1/ Allow parking on one side of the street on residential streets without ticketing when there is no snow to be cleared as is now the case with year-round street cleaning.
2/ Adjust the hours of the ban ticketing in the downtown core so that it doesn't interfere with established businesses and working hours when there is no snow to be cleared.
3/ Move the authority for the winter parking ban out of the Emergency Measures section of the Motor Vehicle Act and into regular legislation governed by council and open to public consultation in concerned neighborhoods.
We hope to work with government to try new ideas in the future about improving Traffic Authority Regulations on Parking Bans so that they create the safest possible streets at the lowest posisble cost and inconvenice to all residents.
Recognizing the importance of clearing main arteries, traffic routes and emergency service routes during snow events, we support the regulations as they now exist, but we believe that in a community as big and diverse as HRM a blanket approach does not best serve our shared goals and values. Subtle improvments could be made, as they have been in other municipalities, to reduce the overall burden on the residents until such a time that transportation policy and options can match the needs of citizens.
We request that Council organize Traffic Authority Regulations to allow for community input and discussion in the decision process, especially as decisions impact specific diverse communities and neighborhoods in the future.
