Parking Tickets
So! A spry eighty-year-old, still driving her car, checks out the parking spaces near her local post office and finds none available, at least not within reasonable walking distance. She pulls into a space just next to the legal parking area and walks into the post office to mail a registered letter. Three minutes later she walks out and finds that she is the not so proud recipient of a $30.00 parking ticket, a not insignificant amount for a senior citizen. Is this a rare occurrence? No way! The city of Toronto has a contract with the Toronto Parking Authority to supervise parking. The Authority has unleashed a horde of parking enforcers who are given a district of enforcement and are responsible for bringing in a minimum number of parking violations. Many are now provided with vehicles that are clearly marked but, rest assured, these wily enforcers park their cars on a side street so that they do not alert their prey and then they spring into action. The areas covered are not insignificant, residential areas near hospitals where visitors to the hospitals want to avoid the high tariffs in hospital parking lots, streets near theatres where the show is for 21/2 hours but where the maximum parking is two hours and of course the theatre-goer has to arrive early, near any public building where you may have to wait in line and you can easily stay longer than for the amount of time you have contracted for. Even in residential areas where the limit is one or two hours, they are there to make sure you do not overstay the allowable free time. Gardeners and service workers, as well as delivery trucks in the area, regularly get tickets. Where are they to park?
A few years ago you could mail in your ticket to request a court time. No more!. There are 4 locations around the city, and you or your agent are required to come in person to book a court time to fight the charge. You have to take time off work to appear in court which means it requires, for a 30 dollar ticket ,to miss work twice Why can you pay for the fine by mail but cannot arrange a court time by mail? Personally, I have had an experience where I received a ticket before the time was up. The agent probably felt it was not worth my time to appear and he or she needed a few more summons for the day to meet their quota.
Parking fines were started originally in order to move traffic and allow all drivers a fair chance to get a parking spot .That purpose is not applicable at present.. You can park in a regulated parking space as long as you come out every hour or two and pay your money. Traffic control is not an issue Money is the issue and every change is geared to producing more money for the city coffers.
It is quite obvious to all Toronto drivers that the issuance of parking tickets have become a legal “scam”. Literally a cash cow for a city, hard up for revenue, and willing to take any steps to raise cash. Why would city politicians use this unfair,sneaky method . The answer is very simple. They have no alternative.The right to tax is enshrined in our constitution and lies with the provincial and federal governments. By provincial act the city is allowed the following. It can charge real estate taxes, fees for permits supervising plans for new and old buildings and homes, fees for entry to city facilities like gymnasiums and swimming pools . All in all a system that does not allow too much revenue. Over the past 100 years Canadians have moved from the country to the city but the taxing system has remained the same The federal government is loaded with money and the provinces are saddling the city with more services for which they have to cover the costs.The situation is not going to improve as more immigrants coming to Canada head for the city.
Power lies with the right to tax and the province does not want to relinquish that power. Provincial politicians fear that the city of Toronto would become a power base to rival the province.Knowing human nature it is not impossible for the mayor of Toronto to become more important than the premier of the province. A more equitable system must evolve that will allow the city to meet its obligations and yet leave enough power and prestige for the province to represent all Ontario citizens. Up to now the province has resisted any meaningful changes. It is necessary for the people of Toronto to realize that the only way that they can elicit change is by concerted action, a very difficult task as they will be opposed by the rest of Ontario. Possibly if the taxing system is modernized the unfair parking scam will be changed.
