Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt wants errant parkers to be thanked for shopping in the central city instead of being slapped with a soon-to-be bolstered parking fine.
Instead of instantly ticketing vehicles parked for longer than has been paid, Mr Shadbolt wants city parking wardens to first issue a softly-worded warning notice.
The notice would thank the driver for shopping in the central city, and would include a list of upcoming events to encourage the driver to visit the central city again.
It would also warn that the parking warden will return in 10 minutes, when an infringement notice will be issued if the car was still sitting on an expired meter.
The city attracted many big-spending rural visitors. They were often happy to part with $500 in town – but the $10 infringement notice was a very big deal, Mr Shadbolt – a longtime fan of parking wardens – suggested.
The suggestion came as councillors today voted to encourage parking wardens to make more than $100k more from parking fines, and to increase parking charges by 20c an hour, to help cut what the council needs to raise from rates.
Cr Darren Ludlow – himself slapped with a parking ticket a fortnight ago – said the city had comparably cheap parking even as Cr Geoff Piercy complained about the parking fine he got while on council business.
Mr Shadbolt’s idea went no further… but might be worth mentioning in a submission to the annual plan.
5 responses so far ↓
deckland // February 24, 2010 at 10:34 am |
Not sure about this, what’s it going to cost to print these flyers.Sort of defeats the purpose really.I still reckon they should close off esk st and make a 2-3 story car park at the existing site between Esk and Tay streets this would compensate for the parking that will be lost on Esk .This would open up Esk st for more foot traffic, plus bring more people into the city centre.Wachner concrete jungle is so out dated and needs to be bulldozed, but keep the clock but make it so you can drive under it allowing Esk st to be the street it once was.Esk st blocked off would become the new Wachner.(I know this is a bit of a rant, but the city needs to be reformed, parking flyers should be the last thing the council should be doing to get people into the city).
cracker666 // February 24, 2010 at 1:56 pm |
The notice would thank the driver for shopping in the central city, and would include a list of upcoming events to encourage the driver to visit the central city again.
10am today: Watch a knife fight in Wachner Pl!
11am: amateur aborists tear the limbs off cherry trees in Esk St
12 noon: Police arrest Mongrel Mob members outside kebab house…and so on….
Paulinem // February 24, 2010 at 4:22 pm |
How would the parks be policed to assure workers who work in town dont abuse the non policed meters and no fines given out ….by parking all day in the city parks …
Shadbolts purpose for no fines would then be lost as there would be no available parks for visitors to park in the centre shopping area
deckland // February 25, 2010 at 10:45 am |
The flyer is a friendly reminder, then the fine is issued next.If you read it again people still will recieve fines.I don’t think people who work in town will parking all day, but it will allow people a bigger time window to park which will take longer to get a park.
matt // February 28, 2010 at 4:46 pm |
Sounds like the recent meter maid promo. Only the people dropping fliers are the ones who also dish out tickets.
Inspiration ensues!