When it comes to parking in Banff, you have to feel some sympathy for Town administration.
After putting who knows how much time and effort into investigating possible options for introducing paid parking (and we assume there’s a staff time cost involved, though we’re not aware of a dollar figure), based on consultant’s reports and per recommendation of the town’s transportation master plan, staff is now switching gears to come up with costly ways of keeping parking free, more or less.
It’s rather like a dog chasing its tail. Whether or not it catches it as an end result is irrelevant – but it spends a lot of time and energy on the process.
Now, rather than moving forward in incorporating paid parking as a means of keeping traffic moving, avoiding gridlock, stopping locals and commuters from taking up spaces all day and ensuring there are some spots available when tourists drive through town, staff have been tasked with looking into all manner of procedures to avoid charging people for parking; from ramping up bylaw enforcement to a trial run of paid parking on one to three lots to investigating the cost of licence plate reading technology to the cost of adding to the Roam bus fleet and increasing service.
Whew. And all this with the busiest time of year in the tourist town approaching, quickly. There’s no way now to tell where the balance scale would tip between paying a few Loonies to park and being subjected to more aggressive bylaw enforcement of parking with associated tickets handed out.
It’s too bad, really, that when a given project is scrapped by a municipal government, in Banff or elsewhere, that a staff time cost breakdown isn’t included for public consumption. Would the appetite to avoid paid parking at all costs by the business community, some residents, and now council, be the same if part of the cost was tens of thousands of dollars of staff time and effort already invested? And with the knowledge that more tens of thousands of dollars in staff time would be needed for an alternate project where hopefully the same result would result?
People do love to complain about their elected municipal politicians wasting money …
Time will tell, possibly, if avoiding paid parking was worth it. But in the meantime, there will be very real costs associated with avoiding it – and, of course, there’s really no dollar figure that can be attached to staff aggravation and possible burnout.
Chins up, Banff adminstration staff, chins up.
Beware out there
Early in the year, as bears emerge from hibernation, or later in summer when they are feasting on berries in our valley, we urge caution when in the front or backcountry.
We’ve also urged caution when it comes to keeping dogs on leash due to the fact that cougars share our valley year-round.
Now though, we believe it’s time to warn of a tiny, yet still possibly dangerous critter – ticks.
In our May 15 Outlook, we had a story of a Canmore woman who contracted tick-borne Lyme disease likely while climbing in California. A psychologist and active woman, the disease reduced her to someone with constant pain, fatigue and neurological issues that forced her to stop working and give up all of the activities that she loved.
This week (page 30), we have a followup in regard to the debilitating effects of the disease. We also have a photo submitted by a faithful Outlook reader who found a tick had attached itself to him while hiking on the Castle Lookout trail.
Ticks are out there – beware.
