PAY PARKING AT G.F. STRONG REHABILITATION CENTRE RILES DISABLED MAN
G.F. STRONG: A man and his sister got a $48 ticket because they didn’t see sign
Quadriplegic Byron Tracey can’t do a lot of things that most people take for granted.
But earlier this week the Coquitlam man, who has been in a wheelchair since a 1987 accident, discovered that — just like everyone else — he has to pay for his parking at G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre.
G.F. Strong is the largest rehabilitation centre in B.C. and deals with people working their way back from amputations, strokes or spinal cord injuries like Tracey’s.
He had been driven to the Vancouver facility Monday by his sister Bonnie Currie and they were a bit late, so they didn’t notice an addition to the handicapped parking signs that indicated G.F. Strong was charging for parking.
When Currie returned to the vehicle after walking Tracey’s dog, she found a parking official writing up a $48 ticket.
Currie said her reaction was “shock” because they’d never before paid for parking.
There are 119 parking spots at G.F. Strong, 84 for staff and 35 for clients and visitors.
Nineteen of those 35 stalls are reserved for disabled parking — and now carry a price tag.
For Tracey, the parking fee is “just a money grab, that’s all it is. One more way to get money for the medical system.”
Tracey doesn’t buy the contention that the handicapped, so many of whom are on fixed and limited incomes, should pay for parking.
“We’ve got enough on our plates as it is now,” said Tracey.
“You’re talking about amputees, paraplegics, quadriplegics. I don’t think we need any more of this.”
The pay policy came into effect in March, but Tracey isn’t a regular visitor to G.F. Strong any more and didn’t get any notification. He was there Monday only to get adjustments on his new wheelchair.
Fraser Health, which is responsible for parking under shared responsibilities with Vancouver Coastal Health, offered to waive Tracey’s ticket — but it isn’t going to change the policy,
Spokeswoman Tasleem Juma said the proximity of G.F. Strong to Vancouver Women and Children’s hospitals resulted in abuse of the formerly free parking.
“We’ve seen since March that clients of G.F. Strong have actually been able to get to the parking easier because people that were parking for free are no longer doing that,” she said.
But Juma acknowledged there has been resistance to the change.
“We understand it can be very frustrating for people,” she said. “We’re trying to make it easy and convenient for people.”
The parking changes have generated $24,000 in revenue, one-third of which goes to maintenance of the lot. The remainder goes to Vancouver Coastal.