Halifax Hopes Tearing Up Parking Tickets Will Drive More People Downtown
HALIFAX—This summer, if you spend enough money at local businesses, the Halifax Regional Municipality will waive your parking ticket fees.
From June 1 to September 30, if you spend at least $35 at a business and receive a parking ticket while you’re doing it, you can submit your receipt to the city instead of paying the fine.
There are a few criteria you must meet to be eligible for the program.
Only tickets issued for pay station violations are eligible and receipts must be submitted within five business days of the ticket date. The city also won’t waive more than one ticket per person per week.
Receipts must be from a local business and display the business name and address. The purchase must also be made within three hours of the ticket.
The paid parking ticket forgiveness program is part of an ongoing strategy from the city to promote economic growth and drive people to local businesses that are still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sue Uteck, the executive director of the Spring Garden Area Business Association, says the program probably won’t have an enormous impact on local businesses but that it will still help.
She says it will be especially nice for shoppers who don’t come downtown as much and aren’t familiar with the city’s HotSpot parking app or don’t want to run back and feed a parking meter.
“I commend the city that they’re making every effort to [help] small business where they can,” Uteck says. “Anything that can help small business recovery [is incredibly important].”
While the pandemic is starting to recede from many people’s minds, Uteck says local business owners are still dealing with it, and its lasting effect on their businesses, every day.
“People think, ‘oh, look we’re out of this pandemic, things look normal,’ but these small businesses are carrying an average of between $125,000 to $160,000 of debt from the pandemic.
“It’s going to take the downtown a few years for the recovery. So you know, every piece helps,” she says.
How much the city is shelling out for the parking ticket forgiveness program is slightly murky, but it doesn’t appear its cost is too significant.
In the most recent municipal budget, the HRM set aside $275,000 for “parking initiatives to support business recovery.”
The HRM’s business plan appears to indicate that money will be split between two initiatives: the ticket forgiveness program and support for a “welcome back to downtown” marketing campaign.
Trevor Nichols is the associate editor of Huddle, based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].