December 2016 by Carol Jean
RANT (And I am going to try and be as respectful as possible)I try not to rant too often, because you know what, we're all just people, trying to get by, am I right?For several days in a row now, I have walked my daughter from my business (where I park) to Spitzee school, where she just started Grade 1. And every day, this church has their EMPTY parking lot blocked with Pylons. Front and back (though you can't see the Pylons blocking the back alley. They were there, I promise). Sometimes, they even had a woman sitting in a lawn chair in place of the Pylon. Yup. Really.Where is your sense of community, cooperation and charity? Isn't that what they are supposed to be teaching you inside that glorious white box called a church?Cooperation: I see parents struggling to park at a school with extremely limited parking. I have 20 parking stalls directly across the street, one of which is permanently reserved for the Reverend. What if I opened up the other 19 stalls to alleviate the stress? What if I even reserved 2 additional spaces permanently, in the rare cases someone does need to park at the church, and opened up the other 17 stalls?Does this church not believe in the spirit of cooperation?Community: We use these parking stalls Sunday mornings. Occasionally, Saturdays when there is a wedding or a church event. Sometimes, evenings when there is a church event. However, these stalls sit empty from 8:15 AM - 8:45 AM AND 3:00 PM - 3:30 PM, Monday to Friday, the PRIME time parents are picking kids up and dropping them off. We can work with our community to share some of the pressure, and alleviate stress for parents, who lets face it, are all just people trying to get by.Does this church not believe in the spirit of Community?Charity: I have so many spaces. I have an abundance of spaces to share. I should share them with people who are in need of them.Does this church not believe in Charity? Above all things, didn't Jesus teach about Charity?Now, I know this isn't directly a problem for me, as my solution is to park 2 blocks away, in the parking lot at the corner of 6th Ave and 1st Street SW - where I have designated parking for my business, and choose to utilize it. My walks to the school with my daughter are part of the routine, and we enjoy catching Pokemons on the way to school. However, some parents don't have time for this. Some parents might have physical limitations. And sometimes, it's just damned cold and no one wants to walk that far.In the time I have been walking past this parking lot, that's 11 times over the past week since school started - there was ONE TIME ONE VEHICLE in that parking lot. Yup. 1. Just one.Move the friggin' Pylons and let parents use the spaces you are clearly NOT USING.Not because you have to, not because people are demanding it, but because it's just the nice thing to do.And in the spirit of cooperation - the town technically designates 2 parking spaces to my business in that parking lot as what would be required for my business. I invite any parent at any time to park there and walk the 2 blocks to school. In fact, I invite anyone at any time to use my parking spaces, no matter where you're walking to, because parking in this town is outrageous.We're all just people trying to get by, right?ETA: Two or three times, I have even seen a person sitting in a chair in place of a Pylon... I chose not to take a picture of that woman as I don't want to single her and her smug smile out.
