Parking is far from free in any town

Re: “Parking is free in downtown Sidney,” letter, Feb. 19. I strongly disagree with Sidney Mayor Steven Price. There is no such thing as free parking.

There is a cost to parking. The price tag is very high. The question is, who is paying for the parking?

Should it be the taxpayers? The landlords? The tenants? All of the customers? All people who drive cars? The user of the space, whose personal vehicle occupies the space? Should the parking costs be part of the overhead and incorporated into pricing?

Roads are essentially for moving people. They cost money to build and maintain. If parking spaces happen to be provided, there is a cost for that. Who is going to pay for that? In parkades, there are building, maintenance, cleaning, security costs, property tax and liability insurance premiums. Who should pay for all of that?

In building new structures, building costs can be in the neighbourhood of $2,000 per square metre — whether it is a parkade or a garage at a home.

A parked vehicle requires about 15 square metres, and it’s increasing, as there are more and more trucks and SUVs looking for parking. The cost is $30,000 to build one parking spot. Who pays the $30,000? Parking spaces are used only on a part-time basis.

There is no such thing as free parking. The question is, who is the paying the bill to provide parking? R.D. Townsend Saanich