Regina’s downtown parking saga continues.
Beginning August 18, residents can only park for free for two hours on Saturdays. Drivers who go over this limit can receive a $45 fine.
The same bylaw was enforced several years ago by the police. Then the city took over parking services, and the bylaw was no longer monitored. Harold Hague, the owner of downtown business
Loogies Shoes, says it became a problem. “Our business is down. It's been down since October 2010, because it's just not in control.”
This is why the downtown business association fought to bring back the enforcement in hopes that it would change the stigma of Regina’s downtown parking woes.
“I don't go downtown because there is no parking. There are people who are working downtown or come downtown and leave their car all day and plug the meter continuously all day. This hurts the downtown business,” says Hague.
Regina's downtown has grown significantly since 2010. Close to 15000 people visit the farmers market on a Saturday alone.
Ada Bennett, the manager of the farmer’s market, says two hours of parking should be plenty of time. “I think it's enough time to get the cars moving around get some other people in the area to purchase thing. I would say the only concern is, what if someone wants to go through a whole trip of downtown? The point is to keep the consumers downtown as long as we possibly can.”
The city will monitor downtown traffic to see if their goals of turn-over and high volume of visitors are achieved by the end of the year. If the numbers change significantly, Saturday enforcement will continue.
