The Green Party opposes “whipped” votes, something the 3 biggest parties engage in as a matter of course. If you want to understand why whipped votes are a problem, and to better understand the GPO position, join us on Sunday join at the WRGreens Campaign Office (6 Duke Street East, Kitchener, Ontario) for a screening of Sean Holman’s excellent documentary, “Whipped: The Secret World of Party Discipline”

The WRGreens sign is up!

The Waterloo Region Greens are ready to make history by sending some Green MPPs to Queen’s Park!

0l

Drop by 6 Duke Street East, Kitchener to pick up a sign, or to volunteer, donate, or just say “hi”!

Special thanks to Tori, who created a fabulous banner, and thanks to the sign crew– Greg, Mark, James, Elliot– who did an excellent job hanging it today!

This year’s WRGreens Campaign Office is located downtown at 6 Duke Street East, Kitchener, ON N2H 2G9.  We will be having an Office Opening Party here Sunday night, when parking is free and relatively easy.

But generally the parking situation is much more complicated than it was at our 2015 Office in Waterloo.

Since the office is shared by all 5 WRGreens campaigns, we’ll have visitors and volunteers from across the region. This post is intended to identify the issues to help those arriving by car steer clear of parking tickets.

LRT

Even though the system isn’t up and running yet, the ION is being tested throughout the city, and the LRT Track runs right in front of our new office. Last week Zdravko mentioned he hoped we’d get an opportunity to see an LRT train come by.  As exciting as that may be, in practical terms it means the loss of about five parking spaces in front of the Duke Food Block.

All vehicles except the ION itself are prohibited from driving or even stopping on the LRT tracks. There are huge fines if you do, and we’d rather not see that happen.  If you need to unload, you can always stop in the roadway on the other side of the LRT track, put on your hazzard lights, and unload quickly.  If you’re on your way within  10 minutes or so it shouldn’t be a problem, although it may annoy traffic behind you.  If you proceed past the office and go around the corner, turning right on Queen Street you can park in the loading zone.

Parking Regulations

Kitchener has complicated parking rules, and we don’t want our volunteers and visitors to get ticketed.

RED ZONE

Street parking is allowed in the area marked within the red streets allowed for 2 hours. After which there is no parking in the zone again for 5 hours. You can either find a space outside the zone, or park in a pay lot or parking meter.

Outside the 2 hour Red Zone, the the City of Kitchener default is 3 hour street parking from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. year round.  Outside of winter (April 1st through November 30th).   the City of Kitchener allows overnight parking on any city street from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. UNLESS this conflicts with other posted parking regulations.

NO PARKING

• on, or over any sidewalk
• paved or grass covered city boulevards, including the bit between the sidewalk and the street
• facing the wrong direction
• on private property without the owner’s permission
• within 3 metres of a fire hydrant
• in a designated fire route
• in a space designated for disabled people (unless a valid MRO permit is clearly displayed on the dashboard)
• if your vehicle’s license plate is expired
• Trucks exceeding 4,600 kg weight

“If your vehicle is found in violation of any of our parking bylaws, you may be issued a ticket and your vehicle may be towed at your own expense. Parking violation fines can range from $15 to $300.”

— Kitchener Parking Regulations

OPEN HOUSE

We hope you’ll be careful about parking when you join us at our WRGreens Open House on Sunday night.