ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Phil Salmon wants residents to stage a sit-in at the entrance of Orange Central car park to protest the parking conditions. Photo: STEVE GOSCH 0420sgparking
PHIL Salmon has called on residents concerned about the terms and conditions of Orange Central’s car park to resort to the methods of the past and stage a sit-in at the entrance with three trucks to block it off completely.
“It used to be the way we did it,” he said.
“If we have a sit-down in front of the car park we could get it on the national news.”
Mr Salmon said he was worried about the entry condition where managers reserved the right to break into vehicles parked in the car park.
He believes the clause should be challenged and council should continue to push for the conditions to be changed in line with the covenant signed with the centre’s developers.
“It’s all a bit messy,” he said.
“It’s very fascist ... it’s just a parking spot they should work out a better system so everyone can say that’s fair.”
The centre’s managers Charter Hall will save about $26,000 per year with the new parking system which would be passed onto the retailers through outgoings in their rent, a spokeswoman said.
The centre management is provided with all-day parking “in order to fulfil their role” while retailers are not permitted to park in the centre as part of a standard clause in all tenancy agreements, the spokeswoman said.
Mr Salmon said parking is a major problem for Orange.
“We’ve got 39,000 people and 29,000 vehicles,” he said.
“That’s a lot of vehicles to put somewhere.”
The spokeswoman confirmed the three-hour daily limit does not apply to disabled parking at the centre.
The car park is monitored hourly by the parking attendant to ensure an accurate record.
“As monitoring is electronic, there is no physical mark on cars parked in the car park - such as a chalk mark on tyres,” she said.
clare.colley@ruralpress.com