I think you live in some parallel universe/Utopian society.
I've heard Parkdale referred to as a number of things...that's never been one of them.
Commerce thrives on convenience. Cars are convenient.
And like all conveniences, they come with a price tag. All I'm saying is, that if you think the rest of society is going to keep subsidizing the conveniences of car drivers, it is you who are living in some kind of post-war, Mad Men induced Utopia.
I love my car and use it to get to and from the deepest. densest centre of the city. I pay enormous parking costs for this convenience.
If you are parking in a private parking lot in the downtown core, then I'm sure you are. But the cost of owning and operating a private vehicle is not a municipal service, and therefore...your responsibility. The road system you use to travel around on IS a city service, and you aren't paying nearly enough for using it.
Parking on public streets is another under-charged service to car drivers. Car drivers want to travel on the streets...and they want to park on the streets....people want to park for FREE!!! then bitch about streetcars????????????
Just last week, I was talking to an old friend, and he mentioned how expensive his street parking permit was...$120 a YEAR. I said hmmm....ok...that's 32 cents a day (24 hours), to park your car out in front of your house on public property. He owns two houses on the street 3 doors apart...each house has a garage in the back. His wife parks her car in the one garage, and the other garage is used to store shit...and he parks his truck on the street. I said it can't be that expensive, if you have 3 parking spots on your own property you can use for free, yet choose to park on the street and pay for the permit instead.
Would someone let you park on their private property in downtown Toronto for 32 cents a day? I don't effing think so. So why is the city? Street parking fees are way too low....no wonder it's hard to find a parking spot....it's not priced properly.
I would lose half my business if people weren't able to drive and park as would probably half the retailers in this city. You my friend are very idealistic when it comes to how a city like Toronto functions. It is an extremely car dependent city.
First of all, I'm not suggesting we get rid of cars...just that it be priced accordingly and fairly. People are still going to be doing what they are doing now, only it will be the ones willing to pay the higher cost of doing it....and there's plenty of them.
And no, Toronto is not a car-dependent city...it is a transit-dependent city. The road system simply does not have the capacity to sustain the economic activity of Toronto if it were not for transit. Half (or more than half) of the businesses would either simply not exist, or be much smaller because of this fact. Congestion pricing ALWAYS results in a modal shift towards public transit. The problem is, Toronto's transit system is also at capacity during rush hours.
How do you expand transit service and capacity if the city is not financially self-sustaining? You don't do it by increasing users fees for transit, and cut service to transit...and then give tax breaks to car drivers at the same time. That's just bad business. And as a business man, you should understand this.
Hey...I'm not one of those people who hates cars...I like them (although I don't use one). If I were wealthy, I'd be driven everywhere in the back of a vintage Mercedes 600 Pullman (the one with privacy curtains rather than tinted glass....so much classier IMHO). Only I would PAY the real cost of doing it.
