Downtown Penticton Parking

[XT225]

I am curious what other folks think in regards to parking on Main St, downtown Penticton. I personally have tried to patronize downtown this Summer but I have now received 2 parking tickets already and am getting frustrated. Its one hour free on Main Street on areas South of the 100 block (no meters) and after going for lunch and then wanting to look around a bit and partonize the shops, one has to move their car (an hour goes by pretty quickly). In SOME ways, I would rather see meters; that way I could plug it for 2 hours if I felt like it...or how about changing it to 2 hrs free parking? It makes NO sense to move the car after one hour to yet another spot on the same street; you're taking up the same space; just in a different spot. Yes, we could park on a side street somewhere or on the beach (free parking, no limits) but I'm talking about Main Street here. I would love to hear some comments from others on how they feel about parking on Main Street and how it could possibly be improved. We need to attract people to downtown.
ps: I have seen other cities of similar size to Penticton with 2 and 3 hour free parking downtown; I think thats great.

[process99]

Penticton has the most useless excuse for a downtown ever. Honestly why would anyone want to pay to park downtown so they can spend the majority of their time dodging the local crew of drunken fools drooling a *bleep* on the sidewalk if they are not accosting you for some form of material, money , smoke, a ride to the whatever. After all this you return to your vehicle to find it damaged by some vagrant or ticketed for being OT on the meter.
One can drive a few blocks and avoid the bulk of undesirables and find just about the same retail space and more with unlimited free parking minus alot of the damage issues and most certainly the parking ticket s on the window.
It would seem that for the most part 90 percent of the year the paid structure downtown is not condusive to local shopping or actually using these downtown storefronts.
I refuse to use them myself honestly for the above listed reasons. I spent the bulk of my life in cities that actually encouraged downtown shopping because of a HUGE retail sector across the whole city. So to bring the downtown up to par they encourage safe abundant parking free all day so if one chooses to spend a day downtown shopping or browsing or conducting business they know their car is safe and thier idea of a meter maid was actually there to make sure no one tampered with the cars that were parked there, not to ticket them.
This worked well and kept the downtown well stocked with productive stores and patrons and eliminated the issue with people messing with others cars tickets towing and all the stuff that comes with heavily controlled parking.
Pentiction is NOT the downtown Vancouver and does not need to reward its locals and visitors with a 50$ parking ticket because they decided to venture downtown for a looksee or a stop.
This city is suffering brutally at the hands of its controllers with the useless busuiness deals they let happen the ones that never complete and the ones that can't compete with insane costs associated with startup.
Look at the city compared to 12 years ago to now. The empty lots are there because of this. The empty business same reason and that combined with the local RCMP known Province wide for being a bit up tight here compared to any other city in BC.
Pentiction is a place one comes to die for the most part and the city caters to this. They don't encourage young families to come and stay and raise the little ones. In fact the costs here mostly prohibit that combined with the fact they tend to favor the old and dead no one really wants to bring a family here to live. Thats even before we talk jobs and could you care for your family here IF you did bring them here.
Again thats a NO, There is no money here for young professional workers of anykind nor is there any labour based work for the overall crowds either.
If your not a doctor , teacher, student, or home care aid then your not here period. None of these things add up to good solid commuity family setups and it keeps everyone away for the most part.
Sad it really is , it probably could be fixed with some creative planning and a bit of honest marketing and effort but this is never done because it would create friction with the geriatric crowd who have chosen to spend their remaining time here.
Many know this, some even talk about but no one actaully makes any effort to change it because its gone so far now they just like it the way it is. Quiet uneventful and prohibitively expensive to live here unless you are old and on a gov't approved plan of fixed income.
Things contiune to leave this town almost monthly and its just a shame, if it wasn't for the weather this place would be ghost town.

P99

[ToddT]

Agree 100%.
I am one of few in my age group that has a decent paying job, but for my family and I to survive in this town, we live in low income housing, and my wife works when I am not.
Our days go like this: Mon-Fri - I work 8-4:30 - wife shows up at my work, with kids, and I drive her to work for 5pm till 9:30.
Sat-Sun are my days off and she works full 8 hr shifts.

Imagine if the geriatrics had to learn how to raise a family like that!

2 incomes should mean a house in the Hamptons. Come on Penticton.

[XT225]

Agree 100%.
I am one of few in my age group that has a decent paying job, but for my family and I to survive in this town, we live in low income housing, and my wife works when I am not.
Our days go like this: Mon-Fri - I work 8-4:30 - wife shows up at my work, with kids, and I drive her to work for 5pm till 9:30.
Sat-Sun are my days off and she works full 8 hr shifts.

Imagine if the geriatrics had to learn how to raise a family like that!

2 incomes should mean a house in the Hamptons. Come on Penticton.

ToddT, what does you post have to do with the original question? Slightly off topic I would say. I was looking for positive suggestions to improve parking on Main Street, Downtown.

[rustled]

I like our downtown. If I'm there for a quick visit, I look for parking on Main. If not, I use the lot behind the Timmie's. I can get a slip from the spitter for a free hour, and if I think I'll be longer I can pay for the next hour--or two. Easy peasy.

[irish61]

I got a ticket a few years back for overtime parking and I asked the Bylaw officer why we had to pay in the downtown area. Her reply to me was that paid parking was to ensure people didn't park all day in the spots and to keep traffic moving in the downtown core. It makes sense to me because I work in the downtown core and if I could park closer to my work place for free all day, I would. But I'm sure the business owner/operator in the downtown would hate it if his customers couldn't find parking to get to his store because people are using the spots in front of his store for all day parking. He doesn't have a huge parking lot like the malls do. Having said all that, I don't like that you only get 1 hour in the non metered areas. It isn't enough if your doing lunch and some shopping. Two hours would be better and I really don't mind plugging a meter. It's much cheaper than the parking ticket! And those lots that offer an hour free are great!

[ToddT]

ToddT, what does you post have to do with the original question? Slightly off topic I would say. I was looking for positive suggestions to improve parking on Main Street, Downtown.

Absolutely nothing. I was responding to the comment. Parking here ain't so bad.

[XT225]

I got a ticket a few years back for overtime parking and I asked the Bylaw officer why we had to pay in the downtown area. Her reply to me was that paid parking was to ensure people didn't park all day in the spots and to keep traffic moving in the downtown core. It makes sense to me because I work in the downtown core and if I could park closer to my work place for free all day, I would. But I'm sure the business owner/operator in the downtown would hate it if his customers couldn't find parking to get to his store because people are using the spots in front of his store for all day parking. He doesn't have a huge parking lot like the malls do. Having said all that, I don't like that you only get 1 hour in the non metered areas. It isn't enough if your doing lunch and some shopping. Two hours would be better and I really don't mind plugging a meter. It's much cheaper than the parking ticket! And those lots that offer an hour free are great!

My opinion is that Main Street should be two hour free parking. This would allow enough time for coffee or lunch downtown and an hour or so to patronize the shops. Irish61, how do those ticket spitters work in the rear lots? Can you get a free hour ticket, then pay (at the same time for a further hour) or do you have to return to your vehicle after the free hour and THEN pay for an hour? I've honestly not tried them. I dont like the idea of moving to another spot on Main Street after an hour; that seems very inconvenient. One would think that a couple of the councillors who own businesses downtown would be on top of this.

[irish61]

The ticket spitter will add one hour to whatever you pay for. So if you plug $1 for one hour, you would get 2 hours of parking. If I remember correctly you only get the free hour added after 9 am, not before then.

[XT225]

The ticket spitter will add one hour to whatever you pay for. So if you plug $1 for one hour, you would get 2 hours of parking. If I remember correctly you only get the free hour added after 9 am, not before then.

Thanks for the info, irish61. Thats what I was looking for; good info without people firing out Political comments. Such a nice change from some of the other threads.

[rustled]

irish61, I push the spitter's green button without putting any money in and get a dash-slip that says I'm good for an hour. I can put money in before I push the green button if I want more time than that. (This is the lot behind Timmies/Guerards; there may be other spitters that work differently.) I've only parked there once before 9, and that time I did need a few hours. As I recall, I got the extra hour plus what I paid for, beginning at 9:00.

[XT225]

I have been away for a while and I noticed today that downtown parking signs on Main Street from the 200 to 600 blocks indicate TWO hours free parking now. When did this change and why hasn't anything been publicized about it? Its a big (and good) deal. I received a supplement in the Herald today with a notice of ONE hour parking in those blocks. Obviously this must've JUST been recently changed, to 2 hours. Nice to see a little GOOD news once in a while, downtown.

[bmbear]

Downtown area should be two hour free parking. Also there is no reason for three lanes. Have two lanes and go back to angle parking.