To pay or not to pay, that is the question. It鈥檚 a question you might ask yourself if you think you should not have been issued that parking ticket. Answering that question could become easier if the City of Victoria goes ahead with a staff recommendation to set up an adjudication process for disputed parking tickets.
Currently, Victoria鈥檚 disputed parking tickets end up in provincial court, where they are handled by judicial justices, rather than by judges. That鈥檚 a waste of time and resources, especially when courts are already clogged and it can take months to agree on a trial date.
It鈥檚 inconvenient for everyone involved, and a person with a valid reason to dispute a ticket might just decide to pay the ticket, rather than fight it. That鈥檚 not fair to the person involved and it doesn鈥檛 serve justice well.
Under the proposed program, a person wanting to dispute a parking ticket would complete an online application within 14 days of the ticket being issued. The person would then be contacted by a screening officer who would have the authority to cancel the ticket.
If the dispute is still unresolved, an adjudicator would make the final decision. If the ticket is upheld, the ticket-holder pays the full cost of the ticket, plus a $25 fee.
The city would need the province鈥檚 approval to implement the system, but that isn鈥檛 likely to be a problem. Since 2004, the province has allowed municipalities the option of having disputed bylaws adjudicated outside the court system.
The process was initiated through the Justice Ministry to reduce pressure on courts. The province oversees appointment of adjudicators, who are required to have specialized training.
Nanaimo has been using the system since 2013 to handle parking tickets, as well as a range of other bylaw infractions. That city鈥檚 parking manager, Rod Davidson, says it is working well. People are not required to appear in person, but can submit the information in writing or by phone.
Other sa国际传媒 municipalities that use adjudication include Esquimalt, Duncan, Parksville and Tofino. There鈥檚 no reason Victoria and other capital region municipalities shouldn鈥檛 follow suit.
Parking is a perennial problem for most cities, but Victoria has come a long way in a short time. And it has been achieved with sensible incremental changes: making parkade parking free for the first hour and after 6 p.m., and lowering the rate for other times, improving lighting and security in parkades, providing the ability to add to your meter time from any on-street pay station, and implementing a parking app that lets you pay with your smartphone and tells you when your time is nearly up.
And next year, apparently striving for a kinder, gentler approach, the city will not renew its contract with the Corps of Commissionaires, but will hire parking 鈥渁mbassadors鈥� who will not only write tickets, but will give people directions and watch for graffiti and broken sidewalks.
Parking regulation is necessary. If motorists were allowed to park wherever and for as long as they pleased, visiting the downtown core would be a nightmare. Residential streets would become clogged with parked cars.
The net revenue in parking enforcement in 2014 was $1.44 million, but the city missed out on about $1.28 million in uncollected parking fines.
The city should pursue the scofflaws with more vigour. It should not become too kind and gentle.
