(A woman parks her car on the sidewalk to use an ATM on Spadina.)
Parking on the sidewalk is super convenient. It’s so practical – you’ve got groceries to unload. You didn’t see any free spots. Plus, you’re only going to be there for 5 minutes. For drivers, it surely seems like one of life’s simple pleasures.
The practice has slowly but surely become routine in Toronto. On at least one street in the west end, it’s now completely ordinary, everyday behaviour.
So I have to ask:
Do we really want to live in a city where parking on the sidewalk is the norm?
It’s not hard to find examples of cities nearby where that’s already the case.
(Scenes from New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.)
It’s one of those problems that has certainly always subtly existed, but has so slowly gotten worse that I’m not sure our leaders at City Hall have noticed. A boiling frog situation. It’s also surely more acute in particular neighbourhoods and on particular streets that are narrower and have a greater demand for parking.
On that aforementioned block in the west end, I would go so far as to say that it is a rare circumstance when walking down the street to not have to leave the sidewalk and walk on the street because of a personal vehicle or delivery van blocking the way. What does that mean for those with strollers? Or those who require mobility devices?
(Sidewalk parking in Toronto.)
It’s a problem that has plenty of causes but also solutions that would be hard-to-swallow pills for the drivers amongst us. It’s a tragedy of the commons.
So, what do you think? Is your street an epicentre of sidewalk parking? Are you a little more sympathetic and willing to turn a blind eye to the practice every now and then? How can we solve this emerging trend? Let us know at [email protected] and perhaps a Part II of our discussion will feature some interesting insight from our readers.
