After a pretty long absence from the "City Beat", I've decided it's time to start posting a little more frequently once again. There are some pretty insane things happening at the City of Regina, and election time is just around the corner. What better time to remind those on Council and the great residents of Regina what issues are important and need better attention!
Briefly: Have you heard about the "oops" by the City of Regina lately? Apparently, they said they released "only" 1,000,000 Litres of "filtered" sewage into Wascana Creek, which flows into the Qu'appelle River, but they made a slight miscalculation, and it was actually 15,000,000 Litres. I'm not sure about you, but that discrepancy needs to be considered more than just an oversight, and someone at the City of Regina needs to be held accountable. Will it happen? Probably not.
Getting to today's big story, however, a story that has garnered much attention on Facebook through the Global and CJME posts today - one which was brought to you first by yours truly on my Chad4Regina Taxpayers Facebook page - the City of Regina turning their attention from Parking Enforcement to Parking Education. Wait....what?! What the hell is "parking education"?? My sentiments exactly. As I've said on Facebook, if you need an "education" program to explain your parking bylaws, perhaps your bylaws are too complex - or even more to the point - ludicrous and needless. (DISCLAIMER: They are by no means reducing enforcement here, they are simply reallocating current resources to "educate" people about the City's ludicrous parking bylaws while still ticketing the hell out of anyone that dares park an inch further away from the curb than they are allowed, or have their bumper hanging past the "no parking" signs)
For those that really want to know, it is the City of Regina spending your tax dollars to get parking enforcement officers to tell you "how best" to park. For example, if they approach you and ask how long you plan to be downtown, and you say all day, their "education" is to suggest parking in an off street parking lot. Apparently, citizens of Regina are assumed to be too stupid to figure that out in their own.
Speaking of education, perhaps they should be educating their own staff?
The Million Dollar Question is:
What is the true purpose of this alleged education strategy?
One can only wonder.
Proactive planning for parking tickets perhaps?
Why is the City not investing it's time and resources and, more importantly, OUR MONEY, where it would be better served? Like actually working to provide additional off street parking locations for those that desire it. Leaving the on street parking for those that actually need it. You know, the customers that provide the necessary business to keep downtown businesses thriving?
DID YOU KNOW? The City has experienced a 30% reduction in parking meter hours as per the 2014 City of Regina annual report. This means that either people are parking off street more (unlikely), simply not plugging meters (the data suggests this is not the case as parking ticket revenues have not skyrocketed), or are just avoiding the Downtown altogether. All data (straight from the City's own documents) point to the latter being the case. Surely downtown businesses have noticed this, and yet the City continutes to pretend it is not an issue!
The solution here has to be far simpler than the City of Regina makes it out to be...
And the good news is that it is!
Come 2016, I plan to unveil a revolutionary plan that will allow all Regina residents, downtown visitors and downtown businesses to survive and
thrive together in harmony.
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