The co-owner of a downtown Charlottetown business says police should be ticketing and towing cars.
Bill Watters of Northern Watters Knitwear said business owners, pedestrians and motorists are getting frustrated at how difficult it is getting to get around the city.
Late Wednesday morning, the City of Charlottetown announced a parking ban in the downtown for 48 hours in order to begin removing snow.
Anyone parking on streets risks getting a ticket and being towed.
The focus on Wednesday was on the narrower streets, such as sections from Kirkwood Drive to Water Street and Edward Street to West Street.
Many people were parking parallel to the snow banks on city streets on Wednesday and there were a few vehicles that were impeding traffic and pedestrians.
“People think they can park in the middle of the roads and leave their vehicles, that’s the problem,’’ Watters said. “The city should have tow trucks around here and they should be pulling these people. The city can’t do their work.’’
Many streets, already tight with snow in the parking metered spaces, were reduced to one lane because vehicles were parked on either side of the street.
Sue Smith, co-owner of The Comic Shop on Queen Street, said she agrees with the parking ban.
“I don’t see how it can be a bad thing right now because if people are parked there they can’t clean it,’’ Smith said.
“There is nowhere to park anyway. If you come downtown and try to park you’re just going to be obstructing traffic.’’
Smith said she wasn’t worried that the parking ban would hurt business.
“I’ve been busy all day. My customers can walk,’’ she laughed. “Mind you, I don’t want it to stay like this. I would prefer for it to be cleaned.’’
The parking ban was drawing lots of comments on Twitter Wednesday.
“Decided to work from home for this exact reason,’’ said @jmweb.
“I have sympathy for people who struggled to find parking today, but the situation won’t improve if removal crews cannot work,’’ said @jmlane.
Another man said the city should concentrate on removing snow at night.
“Clearing snow should happen from 9 p.m.-6 a.m. with cars off the streets,’’ said @PEI_Plumber. “Daytime clearing is foolish, IMO.’’
