The Dom Post editorial:

Does Wellington City Council think the capital’s residents are stupid?

Once again, the council is proposing increases to parking fees, and once again it is trying to pull the wool over motorists’ eyes by claiming the higher charges are aimed at increasing turnover at parking spaces, not raising revenue.

The claim is simply preposterous. There are already sufficient controls to govern turnover at parking spaces in the city, and in suburban areas as well, in the form of time restrictions. In some cases, limits for free parking can be as little as 10 minutes, while in the city centre, metered parking spaces are restricted to two hours. 

The Council seems to have an infestation of tax (rate/levy/fee) and spend politicians. I think we need a ticket for the next election of candidates who pledge not to increase spending in real terms. Wellington families and businesses can’t afford to fund a Council whose spending keeps increasing faster than not just inflation, but overall economic growth also.

Tags: Dominion Post, WCC

Well done to Dave at Big News who blogs:

The Wellington City Council is to waive and refund thousands of dollars of parking tickets to motorists after wardens and council contractors blatantly ignored Council policy in issuing parking infringements. …

According to the Council’s parking manual [not online], infringement notices are “not issued…until six minutes after a (clearway) restriction begins, or within six minutes of when the restriction ends”. Yet in the past two years, 181 were – including people parked for a matter of seconds, still in their vehicles. The Council’s manual also states that “when the person in charge of the vehicle is present, then he or she in the first instance should be moved on”.

So basically the Council had a camera that was photographing cars on a clearway and ticketing them – even if the driver was remaining in the car and just dropping someone off etc.

Tags: parking, WCC