Balsam Avenue ‘parking spots’ raise concerns

By AMANDA GIBB

Two freshly-painted parking spaces now line the side of a street in the Beach neighbourhood.

Flanked on either side by driveways, the neatly painted white lines appeared on Balsam Avenue over the Canada Day long weekend.

The illegitimate spaces may be a result of neighbourhood disputes over parking.

“There have been problems with people taking two spots, and some nasty notes left on cars. Very nasty notes,” said Paul Andersen, a resident on Balsam Avenue.

As the summer heat intensifies and more people visit the Beach, the problem of too many cars and not enough parking space worsens.

The closer to Lake Ontario the street is, the more tightly packed the cars that are parked on the side of the road tend to be.

“People get pretty irate because in the summer it’s so hard to find parking. Non-residents come and they take parking spots and it’s infuriating for the residents who actually pay the monthly fee,” said Andersen.

A residential on-street permit allows residents to park their vehicle on the street within specific areas and times.

“I know how important the topic of parking is to our community. Since taking office, I have been speaking with residents to better understand their needs when it comes to our permit parking system,” said Beaches-East York Councillor Brad Bradford.

Bradford said he intends to bring forth a solution to Toronto-East York Community Council to help local residents with the parking issues.

“This is my third time living in the Beaches, and parking has always been a problem,” said Andersen.

For more information on City of Toronto parking permits and rules, please visit www.toronto.ca and click through to the street parking links.

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