Am I the only one who is sick of reading in the news about the "Parent" parking stalls? Now people are complaining about it left right and center... this is just getting ridiculous... GET RID OF ALL THE SIGNS ( exception: Handicapped )! There.Problem solved. These stupid stores / malls who had all these signs for "SPECIAL PEOPLE" came up with the idea..now they have to deal with it. Besides..guess what? IT IS NOT A LAW !  No Bylaw exists on these stalls. I called City Hall to verify this and they told me it was the property owners who designated these stalls! They will not touch ANY vehicle unless it is in the handicap stall ( without a Permit )  So let's get rid of these signs...Parents hold on to your kid's hands and let's get on with life , shall we! These self-righteous, over-protective, yuppie, white collar A-holes with their " holier than thou" approach are making a mess of this! Times were a lot easier when you found a spot, parked, took your kids hand and walked to the doors!

Now, speaking of ridiculous... we have a "by-law" Officer at the airport who either does not know the laws or is just so high and mighty on himself in issuing tickets to just about anyone. The other night, a colleagues husband arrived at 9:39 pm to pick her up. He parked, but remained in the vehicle. Instead of asking nicely to do a lap around , he grabbed his ticket book and slapped a $25 ticket on the car. Now the car had only been there a minute and was NOT left un-attended. GIVE SOME TIME ! 20 minutes and no  one in sight..fine! 20 seconds.. GIVE ME A BREAK ! The guy barely had the car in park when he got a ticket. RIDICULOUS ! This is also the same guy who harrasses smokers when they are not in the "designated" areas. This "law" does not exist. The only thing the by-law states is that smoking is not permitted within 5 meters of any door, window or air in-take. So if you well away from that..you are SAFE from any ticket. (* see below for an interesting bit I knew about )

A few years ago, I was in my friend's car and we had parked on the departures level. She had to go to the office for a few minutes and took the keys with her. So there I am sitting in a car with no key. Oh great! Here comes SUPER-COP ! Right off the bat, she pulls out the ticket book and proceeds to write down the licence plate as well as the parking pass # ( which I covered with my hand so she could not see it ). I got out of the car to tell her it was only a few minutes and we'll be on our way. She asked for my name ( not telling ) . I ask if she is a by-law officer.. she says yes. I ask for her badge ( all cops..whether SPECIAL CONSTABLE, BY-LAW, ANIMAL CONTROL etc have to carry a badge ). She says she does not have one and that it is not needed. BITE ME ! So I took the ticket and went to the RCMP. They were not impressed that she "posed" as a BY-LAW cop when in all reality..she isnt!

So here is the deal... these "Parking Enforcement" folks need to be registered as a By-Law Officer by the Solicitor General's Office in order for their tickets to be recognized by the Province. Until such time, the tickets they write are about as useless as selling refrigerators to an eskimo! They work for a private company and do not work for the Province or the City ! They have about as much rights to write a ticket as you do!