Alex Lawson says his plan to remove all on-street parking metres is unconventional, but for him, that's part of the appeal

Mayoral candidate Alex Lawson is pledging to make paid on-street parking a thing of the past in Ottawa if he’s elected in the fall.

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After watching local businesses lose out on revenue due to evolving street-parking regulations across the city over the past few years, Lawson said he was inspired to think outside the box.

“If you go to a small business on Wellington, Somerset, Bank Streets and you get a ticket, you’re probably going to avoid going to that business again,” Lawson told the Ottawa Citizen. “(Paid parking is) really a tax on shopping local.”

Ottawa currently has 4,337 paid on-street parking spaces mostly concentrated in the downtown area, and Lawson is promising to turn every one of them into free parking.

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Paid parking brought in $19.62 million in 2025, but most of the revenue went to cover the $17.13 million cost of the parking program. The result was a $1.3 million profit margin, with the money going to a reserve fund to pay for future parking infrastructure.

The profits equate to the city getting just seven cents on every dollar, according to Lawson.

Source: Read the original article on ottawacitizen.com

Written by https://futureknowledge.in/