Council, mayor out of touch?

Dear Editor:

Re: Extended Paid Parking

For over a decade, I served as a city councillor and mayor of our city. As such, I tend to allow council of the day some latitude to make decisions without comment from an armchair critic.

However, lately there seems to be some decisions that deserve public input and scrutiny.

The business case as presented to the public for expanding paid parking seems weak at best.

Many of our current employees remain laid off from recent months and yet council continuously seems to have a desire to create new positions.

How are the social needs of taxpayers being met through an expanded paid parking initiative?

It has been published that adopting all five targeted areas for paid parking would generate $840,000 in revenue, $440,000 more than was lost during the initial virus months.

If you deduct the cost of equipment ($390,000) from the anticipated $840,000 revenue and deduct a conservative estimate for two new positions ($200,000 per year), the net revenue would be $450,000, which is less than the reported $500,000 prior parking revenue.

Am I missing something? Council has two areas of responsibility when managing the affairs of the taxpayers — ensure economic stability based on reasoned and realistic research and, second, meet the social needs of the community.

The policy being considered meets neither one of those responsibilities in my opinion.

Significant investments in promoting Penticton to visitors is part of the City’s financial plan — as it should be. Visitors more than pay for parking through their spending in our community.

Residents have been isolated at home through a long winter and spring and should be encouraged to use areas such as beaches while the weather permits. They have already paid for the use of pavement in the targeted areas.

The economic recovery path for our business community will be slow and no one can predict when a major turn around will take place.

Do they need more obstacles to overcome?

I believe it would be expedient for council to stop this one before it goes any further.

After all, perhaps they should be more in tune with public sentiment than the authors of the relevant reports are.

Beth Campbell, Penticton