Dmajackson
Feb 26, 2009, 12:11 PM
What do you guys think about this?
Just on a side note I've seen Uteck riding around on her scooter and motorbike in the summer/fall and they are really tiny machines.
Uteck’s motorcycle gang
Councillor signs up 1,350 to petition for free downtown two-wheeler parking
By AMY PUGSLEY FRASER City Hall Reporter
Thu. Feb 26 - 5:39 AM
Coun. Sue Uteck has tried before to get the city to provide free parking for motorcycles in downtown Halifax.
But this time, she has a 1,350-strong posse backing her up.
The Northwest Arm-South End councillor came to city hall this week armed with a thick petition from a group called Halifax Rewards Motorcyclists, a two-wheeled take on Halifax Regional Municipality’s HRM acronym.
"We’re all being told, ‘Change out every light bulb that you have, do everything you can on a personal level to help the environment,’ " motorcyclist Jenny Hasselman said in an interview at city hall.
"Well, anybody who is driving a motorcycle or scooter is driving a vehicle that causes less congestion in the city, uses less gas, causes less wear and tear on the roads and has a lower carbon footprint."
The city could do a number of things to accommodate motorcycles and scooters without taking away parking spots from cars, Ms. Hasselman said.
"You can create smaller spots that are motorcycle- and scooter-friendly on the outskirts of parking lots," she said.
In October 2005, the city of Toronto amended its parking bylaws to exempt motorcycles from paying for spots because of a changeover from meters to a pay-and-display system.
"You can’t put a (pay-and-display) ticket on your bike safely," Ms. Hasselman said. "It will either get stolen or it will blow away."
There’s a move afoot to create similar pay-and-display parking spaces in Halifax, she said.
"So either they are going to deal with the (motorcycle) problem now, pre-emptively, or it’s just going to come back."
Ms. Uteck said the issue has already been idling for a couple of years. She asked the city in July 2007 to look into free parking for motorcycles but her request "got ignored," she said.
But the issue revved up again last summer when about 200 motorcyclists and moped riders were ticketed en masse underneath the Halifax Law Courts.
"It really prompted me to get onto staff to do more," Ms. Uteck said.
"Now, we’ve given the direction that staff has to begin looking at spots, and we’re going to begin with peninsular Halifax and try to take it HRM-wide."
The councillor has been riding a Honda scooter, a Big Ruckus model, for two years, at least during the warmer months.
"I was sitting on it last Saturday, fired it up in the garage," she said. "I just can’t wait, I’m so sick of my car."
Ms. Hasselman and her husband, a PhD student at Dalhousie University, can relate.
"Both of us chose to drive motorcycles because of the green initiative that it would cause," she said. "It’s really fun, and that’s a bonus."
Just on a side note I've seen Uteck riding around on her scooter and motorbike in the summer/fall and they are really tiny machines.
Uteck’s motorcycle gang
Councillor signs up 1,350 to petition for free downtown two-wheeler parking
By AMY PUGSLEY FRASER City Hall Reporter
Thu. Feb 26 - 5:39 AM
Coun. Sue Uteck has tried before to get the city to provide free parking for motorcycles in downtown Halifax.
But this time, she has a 1,350-strong posse backing her up.
The Northwest Arm-South End councillor came to city hall this week armed with a thick petition from a group called Halifax Rewards Motorcyclists, a two-wheeled take on Halifax Regional Municipality’s HRM acronym.
"We’re all being told, ‘Change out every light bulb that you have, do everything you can on a personal level to help the environment,’ " motorcyclist Jenny Hasselman said in an interview at city hall.
"Well, anybody who is driving a motorcycle or scooter is driving a vehicle that causes less congestion in the city, uses less gas, causes less wear and tear on the roads and has a lower carbon footprint."
The city could do a number of things to accommodate motorcycles and scooters without taking away parking spots from cars, Ms. Hasselman said.
"You can create smaller spots that are motorcycle- and scooter-friendly on the outskirts of parking lots," she said.
In October 2005, the city of Toronto amended its parking bylaws to exempt motorcycles from paying for spots because of a changeover from meters to a pay-and-display system.
"You can’t put a (pay-and-display) ticket on your bike safely," Ms. Hasselman said. "It will either get stolen or it will blow away."
There’s a move afoot to create similar pay-and-display parking spaces in Halifax, she said.
"So either they are going to deal with the (motorcycle) problem now, pre-emptively, or it’s just going to come back."
Ms. Uteck said the issue has already been idling for a couple of years. She asked the city in July 2007 to look into free parking for motorcycles but her request "got ignored," she said.
But the issue revved up again last summer when about 200 motorcyclists and moped riders were ticketed en masse underneath the Halifax Law Courts.
"It really prompted me to get onto staff to do more," Ms. Uteck said.
"Now, we’ve given the direction that staff has to begin looking at spots, and we’re going to begin with peninsular Halifax and try to take it HRM-wide."
The councillor has been riding a Honda scooter, a Big Ruckus model, for two years, at least during the warmer months.
"I was sitting on it last Saturday, fired it up in the garage," she said. "I just can’t wait, I’m so sick of my car."
Ms. Hasselman and her husband, a PhD student at Dalhousie University, can relate.
"Both of us chose to drive motorcycles because of the green initiative that it would cause," she said. "It’s really fun, and that’s a bonus."