MidlandToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via our website. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to story titled, 'Safety first’ drives council decision on Mundy’s Bay parking.'
As a longtime resident of Seventh Street, I have been asking council to resolve the parking problem around Mundy’s Bay school for literally years without ever getting a definitive answer.
At least this council is taking a serious, albeit flawed, look at it.
The incomprehensible parking ban (or close to it) on Sixth Street means parents, who are too lazy, too rushed or just don’t care, park on both sides of Seventh Street when dropping off or picking up their children despite the presence of ‘no parking’ signs.
This causes a serious danger to pedestrians and drivers alike. It also makes it difficult for school buses to navigate between the lines of parked cars.
My neighbours and I continue to wonder why the town doesn’t impose the same parking measures on Sixth as on Seventh: Allow parking on the west side of Sixth from Hugel right down to Yonge with no parking on the east side.
The west side has fewer driveways and a sidewalk, making it safe for parents to drop off and pick up their kids.
This seems like a simple and logical solution. Additionally, the school board could rework part of the largely unused front lawn to create more staff parking spaces.
By my count, there are nine ‘no parking’ signs and one ‘no stopping’ sign on the west side of Sixth and four ‘no stopping’ signs on the east side.
On the entirety of Seventh between Hugel and Yonge there are just four ‘no parking’ signs which extend from Yonge just to the end of the school’s property. Why the disparity?
I have a copy of a town document from 2015 that asks town staff to look into the problem.
So staff has had this on their docket for at least eight years and yet all they could come up with most recently were options they decided on without canvassing those most affected: Residents and parents of students.
I implore council to immediately put aside any future staff recommendations and instead make a sensible decision based on the suggestion above.
John Gordon
Midland
