Parking Changes Pose Problems
Mobility challenges are tough enough without the city making them tougher, yet here we are.
The City of Edmonton is moving to Automated Parking Enforcement. That means payment for parking in city E-park zones will be monitored by a camera attached to a vehicle instead of Parking Enforcement Officers monitoring vehicles on foot. Tickets will now be issued by mail rather than placed on windshields.
This move has major impacts for Edmontonians who use accessible parking placards. The change to a digital system that scans license plates has no way at this time to read accessible parking placards placed within a vehicle. That means that when those who use the placards park in E-park zones, the system can't read the placard that has traditionally provided them with free 2 hour parking. For those requiring free, accessible parking spaces within the E-park zones the City of Edmonton has proposed 100 alternative spaces. The problem is that these spaces aren't as prevalent and they don't correspond with similar locations. For example, there is an E-park zone right outside the Stanley Milner Public Library. The closest alternate accessible parking space the City is proposing be used as an alternate space is 2 blocks away.
Our office and those of other Councillors are working to correct this and there will be updates as early as Tuesday when it's slated to be raised at the June 26th Council meeting. But, the big issue here is the clear oversight that's occurred through the planning of this change. This is exactly why we talk about Gender-Based Analysis+ to include different lenses in city planning and why we have an Accessibility Advisory Committee. We should be consulting with them and listening to their feedback.
