Don't park and leave, Quinpool Centre warns

Management at the Quinpool Centre is cracking down on anyone parking their vehicles and then leaving the shopping centre site.

Lea Nicholas, who works security at the Quinpool Centre, says she hands out about 20 parking tickets a day to commuters who leave their vehicles in the lot and then head to work.

A ticket is $25 and can be handed out if a driver leaves the premises, even if they also shop at one of the Quinpool Centrestores. The shopping centre can also order vehicles be towed.

There are signs warning drivers of the rules, including the 2.5-hour time limit.

All the signage states that you can't leave the property, this is for businesses here, so technically you'd end up with a ticket if we saw you leave the property," Nicholas said.

Nicholas saidanother problemis nearby homeowners who are frustrated with parking restrictions along streets and choose to park at the Quinpool Centre instead.

But noteveryone agrees with the rules.Eleanor Moriarty parked at the Quinpool Centre on Tuesdayand then carried on down Quinpool Road for a massage and some shopping.

"We are shopping in this neighbourhood and using the stores and buying things and I think they should allow us to park in this neighbourhood, she says.

The owners of the Nova Scotia College of Early Childhood Education on Quinpool Road urge their night school students to use the lot.They received a letter recently asking them not to.

The problem is that the businesses here who pay rent, who actually pay for this parking lot and pay my salary, don't have parking for their patrons, for the people shopping at their businesses, Nicholas said.

Matthew Chisholm, a sales associate at The Trail Shop on Quinpool Road, saysit's just too easy and convenient not to use the Quinpool Centre.

"It's a parking lot, he said. It's the biggest parking lot on the street and you know folks are going to go there. There's empty spaces, they're gonna go."