Since the opening of the Cascade Casino, parking has become a huge issue on Caribou Street.
What was once a street on Mayberry, is now quickly turning into a Nightmare on Elm Street. It was difficult enough with the ongoing events at SOEC, but now, several times a month, it is near impossible to find parking in front of our own homes.
The lack of parking is having a devastating effect on some residents on Caribou. We have 11 seniors and five individuals with disabilities. Several have difficulty walking and use some sort of walking device to assist them. They are often forced to park four to five homes down from their residence.
On the east side of the street, there is no sidewalk, but the uneven terrain in which the seniors have to walk on, or they are forced to walk in the street. This is very concerning for them as they take the risk of falling (which is the most dangerous thing that can happen to the elderly). Parents, along with the rest of us, are concerned with the amount of traffic that has increased with so many people searching for a parking spot. The risk of our young children and our elderly being struck by a vehicle has substantially increased. God forbid anything should happen, but if it does, it will be on the city for not protecting their citizens, knowing there is a problem. Also, tensions are already running high between neighbours and nearby businesses without adding another big business in the area like the proposed 95-room hotel.
We used to have a quiet, peaceful neighbourhood. Now, neighbours are confronting strangers parking in front of their homes, and a few neighbours are actually fighting over parking, to where not only bylaw has been called out, but things have escalated to the point where threats have been made, which have forced calls to the RCMP to resolve disputes.
With the South Okanagan Events Centre, and now the casino, we are also dealing with loud, rowdy drunks who are destructive to our property and some leave their vehicle parked in front of our homes overnight and far into the next day. Just this past weekend, three cars were broken into and those are only the ones I know about. Many of us, especially on the west side of the street, have barricaded our backyards for safety reasons.
SOEC, Memorial Arena, Okanagan Hockey Group Training Centre, Penticton Curling Club, the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre, two very busy yoga studios, and several other businesses along Vees Drive, and now a 95-room hotel which will create more parking issues, not to mention additional vehicle and foot traffic down our street. It’s just too much for our area.
We are in favour of a new hotel, just build it somewhere else. And I think we are all aware that is just a year or two before they ask for a permit to have a restaurant/bar located in the hotel, which of course will be approved.
In May, we applied for residential parking only. The reply from bylaw was as follows: We have reviewed the information you have provided and thank you for taking the time to complete it. We will be reviewing after summer to evaluate any additional zones to the resident-only parking program. I shall keep you informed at that time. Thank you for your patience. I thought that meant they were going to be short-staffed from summer holidays, but apparently, bylaw officers are too busy over the summer, picking up and counting 628 cigarette butts found on Skaha Beach, as mentioned in last weeks Penticton News.
We hope that our application for Resident Parking Only is approved as soon as possible so we can once again live peacefully in our neighbourhood, park in front of the home we own and eliminate the tension and ongoing conflicts that have risen due to the casino being part of our community. And we also hope that the hotel will be located elsewhere.
Ro Edwards
Penticton