Thursday, June 17, 2010

My feedback to UNA Parking Bylaw Public Consultation

 

I live inside UBC of Vancouver, BC, Canada.  From http://www.myuna.ca/2010/06/una-parking-bylaw-public-consultation/, until July 5, 2010, the UNA (University Neighborhood Association) will be accepting comments regarding the UNA Draft Parking Bylaw .

Since I just settled a parking ticket recently, I felt personal interest in this.  So I went through the draft and found out they must copied a lot of terms from a parking company!  Here’s my email to them, which you can see why I said so.

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Dear UNA Board of Directors, here are some of my comments. 

I recently unfairly gave a tickets elsewhere and had to fight it off through BBB.  I realized we need fair process for giving parking ticket.  We should not use parking company's method to give out tickets.  My comments are as following:

43. A Parking Ticket must be signed by the Enforcement Officer and must
contain the following information:
(a) the date and time of the alleged contravention;
(b) a statement of the alleged contravention;
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(c) a statement of the penalty for the alleged contravention and the early
payment amount (which is a 20% reduction of the penalty amount)
for payment of the penalty or fine if received by the UNA within 14
days of the person receiving or being presumed to have received the
Parking Ticket as provided under the UNA Enforcement and Appeals
Bylaw, and the consequences of failing to respond to the Parking
Ticket;
(d) a description of where and when the penalty must be paid;
(e) the identity of the Enforcement Officer issuing the Parking Ticket;
and
(f) the address at which a Dispute Notice may be delivered.

I suggest to ask the enforcement officer to take photos for evidence before giving out any ticket.  This will reduce the error and prevent possible mis-behave of enforcement officer.  The photo should include the car window which does not show parking permit, license #, parking sign, and evidence that the vehicle did not park correctly.

44. The Enforcement Officer may issue a Parking Ticket in any of the following
ways:
(a) by placing the Parking Ticket on the Vehicle concerned;
(b) by handing the Parking Ticket to the driver of the Vehicle; or
(c) by mailing the Parking Ticket to the registered owner of the Vehicle.

I disagree on 44c.  If a ticket is not issued to the car, the enforcement officer should not mail the ticket out, unless photo evidence is present.  My case with the other parking company is exact this.  Their mis-behaved officer did not give tickets, but mailed them a month later.  You can imagine I've thrown away receipts that can prove my innocence.

53. A person may dispute a Parking Ticket, fine or other penalty issued by an
Enforcement Officer for a contravention of this Bylaw pursuant to the process set out in the
UNA’s Enforcement and Appeals Bylaw for appealing an Infraction Notice

I do not know where to find this document.  And I think we should lay the whole process out specifically for parking tickets. 

54. Residents of the Community are responsible for ensuring that their Guests
comply with this Bylaw. In the event that a Resident’s Guest fails to comply with this
Bylaw, the Board or its delegate, may impose any penalty provided for under this Bylaw
against the Resident and in the event that the Resident fails or refuses to pay the penalty, the
Board or its delegate may use the collection methods provided by this Bylaw in respect of
collecting penalties from Residents.

This does not sounds right.  1st, it's almost impossible to prove guest relation with resident.  What if they don't really know each other?  e.g. a realtor who's visiting client?  a insurance broker visiting client? Or even a health clinic visiting client?  How can a resident pay for penalty that they did not use?  What if a person visited 2 or more residents at the same time? 

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