Ottawa Now - Downtown parking garage ruffles feathers as parking tickets surge

Are shorter parking times bad for the survival of the Downtown Core? Since shifting to a pay-and-display system earlier this Spring, a popular city-owned parking garage in the ByWard Market has been dealing parking tickets to hundreds of drivers. Here at 87 George, a lot of employees can relate to this day-to-day stress, as they use this parking garage on Clarence Street very often. This new system has created no shortage of confusion and, in turn, a lot of parking tickets. To be more precise, 962 tickets since the end of March. But is this policy good for business, especially in sections of Ottawa where tourism thrives? Deek Labelle is a co-owner with The Laff, one of Ottawa’s oldest and most storied bars in the ByWard Market. She says decisions like this will actually lead to less business, arguing that businesses aren’t being prioritized in this policy. David Mangano, who owns The Grand Pizzeria on George Street, says customers are equally confused by the 3-hour limit because it’s not the norm of most parking garages in the Downtown Core. And by doing away with free parking after 5:30pm, he also fears that customers will be driven away during primetime dinner hours. Both join Kristy Cameron to outline their concerns on Ottawa Now.