Over the last three years, there have been 850 complaints filed to the city about wrongfully attributed parking tickets in the Somerset ward, or rather the Centretown area. That’s more than 40 per cent of total parking complaints , even though the Somerset ward is the smallest in Ottawa.
Mac Bruce-Fuoco had been parking in a residential area near Lees Ave. for the last nine months, free from fines or limitation times. So he was shocked when he received a ticket last week in that same spot. He then rushed to City Hall to fight his ticket.
“I was pretty confident because there was no sign anywhere,”said Bruce-Fuoco, a business student at the University of Ottawa.
But when he pleaded his case, he said the city official was quick to pull up a rule stating that parking authorities are allowed to ticket anyone who has been parked over three hours in a marked, or unmarked area.
“So the way I understood it is ‘gloves are off’ for anyone who isn’t in a paid for parking space or in a driveway. It just seems like a free-for-all,” said Bruce-Fuoco.
On the other hand, Troy Leeson, Ottawa’s deputy chief of Bylaw services in the parking division, seemed underwhelmed by the number of complaints, comparing it to the number of tickets Ottawa gives out a year, which averages to about 350,000.
“Some of it might be related to an officer just punching a one instead of a two,” said Leeson. Since tickets are doled out according to license plate numbers it’s possible that simple human error might send an innocent citizen someone else’s ticket.
According to Leeson, the Somerset ward simply has more people parking there, which leads to more complaints.
The Centretown Local Area Parking Study was prompted last year by concerns held by a group of members from the community chosen to weigh in on city matters.
The study has outlined Centretown’s parking problems with relevant data. The numbers show the biggest concern of those who travel downtown is finding a place to park. A quarter of people polled stated that they frequently have trouble finding a parking space when driving downtown.
Parking on Elgin and its environing side streets are frequently over capacity, even though most parking is limited to an hour.
And yet, although this information is open to the public, city officials seem squeamish to speak more about the study. Leeson refused to comment.
Somerset ward Councillor Catherine McKenney wrote that she is unable to involve herself in parking ticket disputes, and did not comment on the study.
Lindsay Thomas and Scott Caldwell, both leading officials involved in the parking study, are listed frequently as those to call if more information was needed.
The City of Ottawa’s media office would not connect me with either of them. Rather the city refused to acknowledge any request related to the parking study at all.
Why the reluctance to speak about parking in Centretown?
In 2013, the city raked in nearly $20 million dollars in total revenue on parking tickets. Seeing as Leeson mentioned that Centretown had more instances of parking than any other area in the city, Centretown is no doubt a lucrative part of Ottawa’s income.
“I find that the way the bylaw is written is so that they can win 100 per cent of the time,” said Bruce-Fuoco.
The city officer did end up voiding his ticket, so in his case, at least 99 per cent of the time.
But now the young student is challenged to find a new spot that won’t empty his pockets, but won’t earn him a fresh ticket. A cumbersome struggle that many drivers must face in the city’s core.