By the Bobarian
The proposal from the Finance Committee to levy a user fee on members using the parking garage should be rejected by the general membership as unwarranted and unnecessary.
The question essentially is this. Once user fees of any kind are introduced, when will they end? If members using the parking garage are asked to pay $20 a month today, what about tomorrow? $50, $75 or more? The parking fee proposal is precedent setting and that precedent should not be allowed to pass because more of the same is the likely consequence.
Why stop with parkade use? Why not attach user fees to all areas of co-op life that all members are asked to pay for but not all use? The parking fee advocates are opening a road that out of logical consistency leads not to a co-op of sharing but of play and pay. No thank you.
Pray tell what other housing co-ops have adopted user fees?
Name some examples. Why haven’t most if any? Such practices contradict the principles of what co-op life is all about, that’s why. Such practices breed divisions among members substituting self interested groups over community minded solidarity. All one needs to-do is to watch and observe what will happen here at Four Sisters if the parking fee issue evolves into a long campaign.
Parkade users are not villains nor are they fat cats of privilege. Why do they use the parkade? They do because it’s there. Why is it there? It’s there because it was a requirement demanded by the city when Four Sisters was built. There was no conspiracy. Owning a car is more of a lifestyle choice than an evidence of affluence. There is no class wallowing in conspicuous consumption living here.
Why did the Finance Committee broach the subject of user fees in the first place? Is there a financial crisis or an emergency looming? It is incumbent upon Finance to explain to the general membership why and how this whole user fee controversy began. Letting the genie out of the bottle is easier than putting it back in.
Imagine for a moment that the membership at Four Sisters underwent a total green conversion and there were no car owners here anymore. There would still be an empty parking garage and the co-op would still be paying for it. What then?
Couldn’t the co-op simply lease parking out to the public? This would require a new legal framework to do so necessitating a great deal of time, effort and probably money to achieve. And then? The security situation here would face compounded problems with strangers having access to Four Sisters on a regular basis. Think about it. Increased administration stress, mounting insurance costs and the need for around the clock professional security are all factors in this scenario. Would Four Sisters any longer resemble what it is now or would it look more like a bad dream?
Four Sisters is a good and desirable place to live. Many members find it a privilege to live here and share the tradition passed on by the founding members. This is a proud tradition marked by cooperation, a strong community ethos, mutual respect and sharing. Why spoil it?
Aren’t user fees nothing less than the poisoned apples in our gardens?
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and not the Newsletter committee or the Board. We take no sides in this controversy and only seek to present both sides of the issue for the information of Co-op members.
JWL Editor and Chairman of the Newsletter Committee