i am a homeowner, and taxpayer in guelph although i currently reside in kingston. I was visiting family this weekend and received a ticket for parking overnight on the street. I know guelph has a seasonal parking ban for city streets. Living in Kingston for the last few months i became aware of their by-law, and forgot that the by-law in guelph is slightly different, and considering the winter we had, pretty stupid. In kingston, the seasonal street ban is Dec 1 – Mar 31, which is much more appropriate than May 1. Kingston also instructed it’s by-law enforcement to NOT ticket for overnight street parking for the last two weeks in March because of how unseasonably warm it was. Did i mention the overnight temperature when i was ticketed was well over 10 C?
So, why does guelph have a seasonal parking ban on streets? So that snowplows can have unrestricted access to safely, efficiently, and effectively move snow during heavy snowfall events, right? Please don’t claim it is for overnight work, or street maintenance – that is not true, unless there is an emergency watermain break, city crews are not working routine maintenance overnight where street parking would impact their activities. If that was the case, then the street parking ban should be year round. So why does guelph extend its ban to May? Here is a question, for you – would city operations EVER plow during April? My experience in guelph for the last 15 years has been that once april arrives, the typical course of action is to let the sun and cars melt the snow as that is the wise way to conserve funds in an operating budget.
So, why don’t we update this by-law? And why don’t we show some consideration for the seasonal conditions and suspend enforcement when temperatures are warm and the chance of snow fall is non-existent, instead of robotically ticketing the people who pay the municipal salaries? GM