Our city parking trouble

WHO hasn’t bemoaned the parking situation in Geelong’s CBD?

The dearth of all-day parking in Geelong seems to be a favourite recurring issue among commuters, shoppers and city workers. It has been a bugbear for such a long time that several candidates in the past two city council elections have raised it as a platform. Former mayor Darryn Lyons brought in free parking in the CBD on weekends, where it remains to this day.

But as bad as the situation might be for most city workers, it is magnified for those requiring special assistance or disabled parking.

Motorcycle accident victim Simon Verhoeven has today raised the issue of a lack of allday disabled parking in Geelong, which is impacting his ability to work.

Mr Verhoeven was able to return to work after six months in hospital and multiple surgeries with the help of his employer, who provided access to a disabled parking spot. However, when the company moved into Geelong, access to disabled parking dried up and there is no permanent funding available for taxis or disabled parking relief.

There are around 200 disabled parking bays across the municipality but very few in the CBD that cover a full working day. Mr Verhoeven’s situation must be being felt by a large section of our community, but their everyday struggle is not being raised by aspiring politicians.

A key factor in rehabilitation is providing the opportunity for accident victims to return to work and to resume making an active contribution to society. The psychological and financial impact of not being able to work are significant for people living with a disability, and anything that acts as a barrier to employment can have serious ramifications.

This, as with all parking issues, is a problem without an easy answer. But with the increased awareness of Mr Verhoeven’s plight, perhaps there will be a greater emphasis of finding a fix — be it legislative or otherwise.