Vehicles on the mall sparking pedestrian concerns: 'It's to the point where someone's going to get hit'
DON BUTLER, OTTAWA CITIZEN
More from Don Butler, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: March 10, 2016 | Last Updated: March 10, 2016 8:15 PM EST
Sparks Street businesses are handing out free parking passes to their customers.
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For a pedestrian street, the Sparks Street Mall sure does have a lot of traffic on it.
And at least one public servant who walks the mall to work says the cars, delivery vans and construction trucks that increasingly use Sparks Street are imperilling the safety of unwary pedestrians.
William Wells, who works in the Thomas D’Arcy McGee Building, says he regularly sees cars driving down the mall at 30, 40, even 50 kilometres an hour.
While crossing the street this past Tuesday, Wells narrowly dodged an SUV. “Had I not looked back and checked, I would have walked right into it,” he says. “The guy stopped and apologized because he saw how close it was.”
Wells says this was not an isolated incident. “I’m constantly telling drivers to slow down now. It’s to the point where somebody’s going to get hit.”
Wells isn’t the only person to notice a change. Last month, Ottawa resident Phil Gordon tweeted this: “So remind me again when Sparks Street became a thoroughfare and parking lot? So much fun dodging traffic!”
Vehicular traffic has increased for several reasons. Until 10 a.m., the street is often chock-a-block with trucks and vans making deliveries to shops and businesses.
For much of the day, vehicles belonging to crews working on several major construction projects are parked on the mall. And the mall’s own VIP parking program, introduced last winter, only adds to the traffic.
Click on graphic for larger view:
An auto invasion
The program, which runs from early December until the end of March, gives retailers — though not restaurants — two passes they can give customers providing an hour of free parking directly on Sparks Street from Monday to Saturday.
“The response from our merchants has been very positive,” says Kevin McHale, the Sparks Street Authority’s program and events co-ordinator. “It helps them create a very good customer experience during what’s traditionally the slow season for them.”
It also helps address the loss of business from hundreds of public servants displaced by long-term renovations under way at 180 Wellington St. and the Thomas D’Arcy McGee Building at 90 Sparks St. “These retailers down here have seen a lot of their customer base disappear,” McHale says.
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According to a notice on the Sparks Street Authority’s website, drivers taking advantage of the VIP parking program are supposed to slow down to five kilometres an hour and turn on their four-way flashers.
Most follow the rules, according to McHale, who says it would be “fairly impossible” to drive down the mall at the speeds claimed by Wells.
However, during a 75-minute audit by the Citizen on Thursday afternoon, none of the dozen cars and trucks seen entering or leaving the mall used their four-way flashers. None drove recklessly or came close to hitting any pedestrians, but most appeared to be driving between 10 and 25 kilometres an hour.
As many as 20 vehicles were parked on the three-block section of the mall around 2 p.m. Thursday. Most had construction permits or the green VIP permits visible.
But two drivers entered the one-way street from the wrong direction, parked and ran quick errands. One dashed into a sushi outlet and emerged five minutes later with a takeout order. Another returned an apparently defective suitcase to a leather goods store.
Another woman parked her Mercedes near Sparks and O’Connor, collected a permit from a nearby merchant, then strode the length of the mall to Elgin before disappearing in the direction of the ByWard Market.
McHale says the mall authority does what it can to crack down on speeding and people who abuse the ability to park on Sparks.
While the mall authority doesn’t rely on city police to curb speeders, it employs a site supervisor who patrols the mall, McHale says. “If he thinks someone is moving too fast, he’s the first one to wave them down and slow them down.”
The mall also calls in bylaw enforcement when it believes someone is parking illegally, he says.
McHale says he understands that some people oppose the presence of vehicles. “They look at Sparks Street and say, ‘You’re a pedestrian promenade. That’s what you should be. You shouldn’t have vehicles on there.’
“Unfortunately, the reality is deliveries have to be done, businesses need to survive. And one of the things the businesses were saying is they really needed a little bit of extra help during the off-season when our foot traffic on the street is greatly reduced.”
That’s little comfort to Wells. “What I loved about Sparks was it didn’t have cars,” he says. “Before, I could jog down there without having to worry about it. But now, I’m constantly looking over my shoulder.”
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