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A park when you need it
Parking officers are a big part of the City Council’s
public face on the streets of the city, and beside their
primary job of watching over on-street parking, have to
be ready for a range of questions from visitors. “You get all kinds,” says officer Archie Byron. Late on a
Tuesday afternoon he is working a grid of streets south
of the Arts Centre, writing tickets and checking cars’
warrants and registrations, joking with passers-by and
generally keeping an eye on things. A day’s work might also include helping someone who
has locked their keys in their car, changing tyres, keeping an
eye out for missing children, reporting in about roaming
dogs or traffic lights that are not working and pointing out
the sights for tourists. Because officers regularly cover the
ground they notice changes and are able to report about
vandalism and shop alarms being triggered. Team members back at base in Tuam Street pass the
information on to whoever needs it. “It’s a pretty big city and it’s easy for visitors to get lost
when they’re not used to it,” Archie says. “People ask
where’s the best place to get a park or how to get to
where they want to go. They ask us for help in getting
back to where they’ve left their car.” Road-safety issues issues – things like double parking,
parking on broken yellow lines and watching for driver
behaviour at school patrols – also get a strong effort from
the officers. The parking team has about 18 officers out on the
streets every day. On some beats, they can walk up to
20km a day. Their job is often not well understood by the
public, explains team leader Kay Hazlett-Brown. “It’s pretty simple and it’s all about turnover, keeping the
cars moving, and giving everyone a fair chance. The street
parks are for short stops, only an hour or so,” she says. “If
you want to park for longer, then use a parking building.
“It’s a question of fairness. If the street parking spaces
keep turning over as they’re supposed to, then every
driver coming into the city has an equal chance of being
able to get a spot close to where they want to pop into.” And, despite what you might think, parking officers say
they are not often confronted by angry people. Archie
Byron’s been in the job for about 14 years. “I reckon the town’s busier now than I’ve seen it in my
14 years. It’s been chokka since August last year, but I’m
still smiling most of the time,” he says. “You get a good
walk, meet a lot of people. It’s a good job.” |