Parking enforcement officer: Do as I say, not as I do

From the Department of “Do As I Say, Not As I Do”: Brian Cooper of Toronto was visiting his local Esso gas bar recently and came across an able-bodied motorist violating a clearly-marked handicapped parking spot. That’s hardly newsworthy: there’s no shortage of self-entitled boors who believe the law doesn’t apply to them, even if their actions inconvenience the disabled.

Full story here

City of Toronto to raise parking fees in 2010

Source: http://www.fightyourparkingtickets.ca

In addition to The Motor Vehicle Dealers Act (MVDA) coming into effect on January 1, 2010, the City of Toronto wants to raise revenue and will increase the user fees for paying for parking tickets, on this same day.

Read full article at fightyourparkingtickets.ca

"Parking" begins limited run in Toronto

Just a friendly reminder that Chung Mung-Hong's film Parking begins its two week run at the AMC Yonge and Dundas tonight thanks to Evokative Films.

On Mother's Day in Taipei, Chen-Mo makes a dinner date with his wife, hoping to improve their estranged relationship. While buying a cake on his way home, a car double-parks next to his, preventing his exit. For the entire night, Chen-Mo searches for the owner of the car and encounters a succession of strange events and eccentric characters: an old couple who have lost their only son and are living with their precocious granddaughter; a one-armed barbershop owner cooking fish-head soup; a mainland Chinese prostitute trying to escape her pimp's cruel clutches; and a Hong-Kong tailor embroiled in debt and threatened by underground loan sharks. Combining the different flavors of drama, comedy, and noir film, PARKING interweaves stories to create a moving and darkly funny film, served up in a superb cinematography that will have you transfixed to the screen.

Gifts as payment for parking tickets

Drivers in a suburban city east of Toronto can pay parking tickets with new toys or food for the first 10 days of December, bylaw officials said.

The city of Pickering announced its Toys for Tickets and Food for Fines program was in response to the economic recession that hit the city hard and will mean lean Christmases for many families, the Toronto Star reported.

"We understand that it's been a tough year for many in the greater community," said Kim Thompson, bylaw enforcement manager ...

Read the full article here

Toronto police officer parking backlash

A Toronto Police officer who parked his cruiser in a bike lane to get his lunch is getting no love from his superiors, who are coming down hard on his "stupid" and "unacceptable" actions.

On Sunday,the Sun witnessed a city cop sitting inside the Grillway Cafe, at Runnymede Rd. and Annette St., while his cruiser was blocking a bike lane on Annette.

The officer was parked there for at least 20 minutes before leaving the cafe with a can of pop and a paper lunch bag.

But instead of protecting their own, Toronto Police brass called the officer's parking actions "stupid" and "unacceptable."

Read the full article here at Torontostar.com.

Picture courtesy of mybikelane.com

Stiffer penalties for bike lane parking.

One of the items for the November 19th Toronto Police Services Board will be stiffer penalties for those who park their cars in the bicycle lanes. Lawyer Alan Heinsley has submitted this item to be discussed and considered. You can show your support for increased enforcement by sending an email to joanne.campbell@tpsb.ca and alok.mukherjee@tpsb.ca.

You can view Mr Heinely's submission here.

Road tolls, parking and fuel taxes for GTA

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says the greater Toronto area could tackle gridlock by creating incentives to get people out of cars, such as congestion tolls, parking and fuel taxes and high occupancy toll lane.

They suggested that the city could levy a tax on parking spaces based on a fixed charge per square meter or adjusted according to area or zone.

Cyclist safety

According to a study by the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation Toronto is ranked 7th out of 11 Canadian 'bike friendly' cities.

Here's an interesting website:
Images of people parking illegally in the bike lanes
http://toronto.mybikelane.com/

There are a list of other cities as well, but it seems Toronto has the most caught red-handed parking violations.

Parking FAIL

This is a few weeks old, but I can never get enough of this video.

A 62 year old driver of a BMW X5 tries to park but gets confused and steps on gas instead of brake, mounts the curb and runs over 2 cars. She drives away but is later arrested and charged.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do6pmYfNco0

One of the victims was Todd Jamison, who had just very recently paid off his 2004 Hyundai Elantra. Hyundai Canada was nice enough to surprise him with a brand new 2010 Elantra.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyD6arNlTE8

Welcome to the Republic

Welcome to the parking republic blog, I would like to introduce you to our novel idea; we are a group of people who are frustrated with the parking situation in Toronto, so we thought we'd gather as much parking information as we can and publish it to our website. Empowering the people with information.

www.parkingrepublic.com Parking information for the people, by the people.