Click photo to enlarge
Whai Walker, of Rockside Rd, in Dunedin, talks to neighbour
and driver of the 4WD Jeff Huuskes, as he tries to
negotiate a way past Mr Walker's two legally parked cars.
Photo by Linda Robertson
A one-man parking protest against the city council has
begun on a suburban Dunedin street.
So incensed over being issued his second $40 parking
infringement in a month outside his Rockside Rd home, Whai
Walker (58) has decided to take matters into his own hands.
Earlier this month, Mr Walker parked his car the wrong way on
the street and was promptly issued with a $40 fine from a
Dunedin City Council parking warden.
"That was a fair call, I can understand that ticket."
However the full-time taxi driver said he was "disgusted" to
be issued with another $40 ticket for parking his car on edge
of the kerb outside the house.
Mr Walker said it was common practice for people to park on
the kerb of the narrow road, which was popular because of its
proximity to the Ross Creek Reservoir.
"We have to give people room otherwise it is too narrow for
them."
Parking on the kerb allowed vehicles ample room to negotiate
the road, and prams and mobility scooters could still use the
footpath, he said.
"So what's the problem?"
Mr Walker said while he had paid his first ticket he refused
to pay the second, and to illustrate his plight has begun
parking his two cars legally on either side of the road.
"It proves my point that if two cars are parked properly
there is barely any room to move."
The parked cars left less than 50cm either side of a
standard-size vehicle to negotiate the road and could pose
difficulties for some drivers, Mr Walker said.
"In my job I see bad parking all the time, but this is just
common sense . . . I think the parking officers need to stop
being so pedantic."
Mr Walker said he would continue his parking protest until a
solution with council was reached.
DCC senior traffic manager Bruce Conaghan said council would
assess the parking situation if a request was made, and would
be taking the whole road into account rather than the
requirements of individual householders.
"The reality is it is a public space."
Some Dunedin streets had approval by council for cars to park
two wheels on footpaths, but "it is not council's business to
provide households with parking".
hamish.mcneilly@odt.co.nz
Parking - wrong way, or any other way
There was a time, admittedly years ago, when there were few cars parked on the street where we live. Nowadays, the Waverley bus struggles to pick a path through vehicles parked both sides. I have always regarded it as the responsibility of residents to 'park-on-their-own-patch', if possible, but the incidence of multiple cars in families, (occasionally with more vehicles than punters to use them), has seen the increasing tendency of people to park any vehicles which are surplus to immediate requirements, in front of someone else's 'pad', usually to keep their own drive-ways and street-frontages clear. This would concern me less, if the owners concerned had the nous to regard parking in front of someone else's place as something of a 'privilege', but no, it is assumed to be a 'right' and any attempt to enter into discussion with those concerned and point that out, invites, at a minimum, 'the fingers', personal abuse or an assertion of vigorously defended 'rights'.
So, we have been forced to suffer 'cars-for-sale' and vehicles casually parked, hogging the space outside our front gate for weeks at a time. As if that were not enough, these vehicles, (the one in this instance being a 'boy-racer's' chariot), invariably and arrogantly park right in the middle of the space, denying access to at least one other parked vehicle, where there would plainly be room for two if the miscreants possessed as much as a shred of intelligence, or consideration for others. You then find yourself in a situation where, apparently the person with least 'right' to park outside your property, in society's eyes, is you, yourself.
More DCC parking nonsense
Oh c'mon, "it is not council's business to provide households with parking". How dense is this man? Mr Walker isn't complaining about having nowhere to park as he can park without difficulty. His issue is that parking in the council approved manner causes motorists to have no room to drive. And last I checked, the DCC is in the business of providing roads that are safe and navigable.
Mr Conaghan, please address the problem of parking on narrow Dunedin roads, and stop coming up arguments to issues that haven't yet arisen in this case. The problem could be solved by either allowing cars to park with wheels on the footpath or making one side of the road a no parking zone. The first solution pleases both moving and parked car owners. Only with the second solution does the issue of having nowhere to park arise.
Either way, Mr Walker's concern is allayed, but the first solution means no one really misses out - except the council can no longer ticket concerned locals who park with others in mind. You really have to wonder about the the competency of some DCC staff at times.
Tickets for parking facing the wrong way on street
Good on you Mr Walker. I received a ticket earlier this year for parking in our narrow street (which runs off another very steep street) with my car facing the wrong way. I wrote to DCC to explain that often there are so many cars parked in our street that it is impossible to do a three point turn to get the car round the right way. This was of no avail so I paid up - and for the last six months I have watched our neighbours parking in exactly the same fashion, facing the wrong way, but they have never been ticketed.
Obviously my ticket was just a revenue grab at the time when inner city parking was so expensive that hardly anyone was parking there any more.
Car parking
I would have thought with the recent adverse publicity regarding parking in Dunedin a softening approach to situations might be more appropropiate.
The quote from Bruce Conaghan "its not the council's business to provide households with parking" seems high handed and to be at odds with what the Council actually does provide regarding parking spaces.
It is in the business to my knowledge and does provide "private parking spaces" for households who are having difficulty parking outside their house and are willing to pay for a park outside their homes call me a nit picker but ....