I wrote a couple of weeks ago about how I would be going around checking how long people are parking in the restricted parking spots in Alexandra and Clyde and how Community Board member Bob Scott has been doing the same in Cromwell. 

If you didn’t read that column, the reason we are doing this is to ascertain if there is actually a problem and if so, to get some data on how bad the problem is and where it is worst before a decision is made as to what council does next. 

We haven’t been issuing tickets, rather just putting little leaflets under the wiper blades of those who have been ignoring the signs.

So, is there a problem? 

Well, by the time you read this, I will have put over 100 of those little leaflets under wiper blades, so I am going to say yes. 

And, it’s not like I have been going out every day or going to each area every time. 

I’ve only gone around the traps, so to speak, seven times so far so on average [and] I am finding something like a dozen cars parked outside our retailers and businesses all day on any given weekday. It’s no wonder I’ve had complaints about it.

And really, there is just no excuse. 

One day last week, I only covered the Centrepoint carpark and handed out nine leaflets. 

I went and checked and at the same time the all-day parking behind the Warehouse 5 minutes’ walk away was almost empty. 

On another day, every single car on one of the side streets off Centennial Avenue was there all day while just one block further away with no restrictions, the street was almost empty.  

There’s no way of telling for sure, but my money would be on those cars belonging to people in nearby businesses that were hoping to make some sales from the holiday traffic, traffic that may have kept on going through Alex because they couldn’t get a park.

The answer is really simple. 

Businesses should be asking/telling their staff not to park in the restricted spaces and to park just that wee bit further away. I am ever the optimist. 

One good thing though is that I have not found anyone parked in a disabled park that didn’t display the appropriate signage to say they were allowed to be there. As the son of a disabled mum, I am really pleased about that.

Bob and I will keep up our efforts until the end of the month, then staff will collate the data and we’ll work out what we do next. 

Enforcement is the last option I would want to take, but it may just be the only way forward unless those people who are ignoring the signs don’t change their habits.