Councillor Penner's comment "It's a business day. It's not too different from any other day." (SP Oct. 18/11) in reference to Sunday probably won't sit too well with the Christian community. And I expect the churches along Spadina and in the Broadway area won't be happy when parishioners are leaving services early to plug meters, or worse yet, not attending because of the parking fees they have to pay on Sunday. I guess this is managing the turnaround of those Christians wishing to worship in their church of choice.
And Council didn't even have the decency to enact the meter charge to coincide with Sunday shopping hours. This isn't about managing services - its a money grab.
I assume because of the reference to January 1 that free parking on statutory holidays is off the table as well. And those New Year's Eve revellers who might wisely leave their vehicles overnight because of over-consumption may now consider driving away when they should be cabbing it.
As for the restaurants offering Sunday brunches, forget it. After January 1 I will be heading to the malls and outlying areas where I won't get dinged with a $14 ticket because I visited over a second cup of coffee.
As for those who must go downtown, hit the parking lots. If you are 15 minutes late getting back to your vehicle you only get dinged with a half hour parking charge vis-a-vis a expensive ticket.
And now that Council has feathered the coffers with an additional $395,000 it can contemplate another multi-million dollar capital project.
October of 2012 can't come fast enough.
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I was shocked when I saw this. Are the really that desperate and insane?
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to following the lead of every other Canadian city? All I hear when they want more spending is, "Well (insert city) does it like this, so we should too". Not a single other city in the country charges for parking on Sundays.
Are we really this level of broke in Saskatoon? That we are stooping to the lowest level to snag a few nickels from the people.
Enjoy the slow death downtown, the revitalization was fun while it lasted.
There are a lot of other places in Saskatoon I can bring my kids on a Sunday afternoon. I know it isn't much, but why ding visitors of downtown an extra $4 to park when they are already bringing business down on a slow day.
ReplyDeleteClean Sweep 2012
It was interesting to here the downtown business group isn't against this additional fee. I take it they hate those of us that head downtown to enjoy a Sunday walk in the park. Again why is this council looking at ways to increase revenue over the cost of inflation?? Could it be they have overspent and given the public employees more than inflation in their wage increases and have an inefficient delivery system. I don't go down town much as it exists now and I doubt think I will be frequenting it any more if this goes ahead.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the process of moving to this fine city from another fine city that's about 2.5 hours south on Hwy 11. For years Saskatoon has had the reputation of being the more "business-friendly" city, but this Sunday parking idea flies in the face of that. The fact that Saskatoon already charges for Saturday parking (when places like Regina don't) is bad enough, but I can tell you as a new resident the idea of paying for parking downtown on Sunday is a HUGE dis-incentive for me to become acquainted with all the local retailers downtown.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I could take the bus downtown, but I hear that service is being curtailed too...
"It was interesting to here the downtown business group isn't against this additional fee. I take it they hate those of us that head downtown to enjoy a Sunday walk in the park."
ReplyDeleteThey don't hate you. They understand that parking meters mean turnover. They don't want you parking in front of their business for 5 hours while you go for a walk, they want actual customers, and parking spots for those customers.
"Again why is this council looking at ways to increase revenue over the cost of inflation?? "
Maybe the inflation a municipality faces is very different than the consumer price index. For example, the price of asphalt has increased what, 70-80% in the last year or two? Last I checked, asphalt wasn't a key component of the consumer price index. There is a reason it's called the CONSUMER price index. (Hint: it's because it is designed to reflect the inflation (or deflation for that matter) that the "average" consumer faces)
Municipalities don't buy a lot of groceries, clothing, alcohol, tobacco, restaraunt meals, appliances, etc, etc, etc,
On the other hand they do purchase a lot of gasoline, diesel fuel, electricity, nat gas, building materials, heavy machinery, etc, etc
"Could it be they have overspent and given the public employees more than inflation in their wage increases "
According to StatsCan, unionized employees (this includes non-unionized employees that are still covered by some type of "agreement" like the City's "middle management" association) in SK have averaged 2.5% increase over the last year. Meanwhile, non-unionized employees have averaged 5.2%.
Maybe that's why the City is understaffed in various areas. Who would want to work for the City when you can make more in the private sector. I know I wouldn't.
"And I expect the churches along Spadina and in the Broadway area won't be happy when parishioners are leaving services early to plug meters, or worse yet, not attending because of the parking fees they have to pay on Sunday."
ReplyDeleteThe churches can keep their mouths shut until they start paying property taxes.
If plugging a meter keeps people away from church they I guess church really isn't that important to them.
If our downtown was as empty on Saturday or Sunday as Regina is I wiuld give away free parking too. If the Casino wasn't there nobody would be downtown.
ReplyDeleteIf $2.00 an hour is part of your decision process for where you shop spend the $2.00 ON GAS AND GO TO WALMART.
ReplyDelete