YOGA teacher Kate Porotto says a strict new parking regime at Victoria Quay has ripped away half her custom.
The Fremantle Yoga Centre owner says no-one escapes even the tiniest infringement or overstay and it’s become so bad she’s seriously considering moving somewhere else.
“I pay $96,000 rent per year,” she says. “I am seriously thinking of shutting up and moving.”
Wilson recently won Fremantle Ports’ tender to manage parking, defeating the council which had previously done the job.
Mayor Brad Pettitt says the council had taken a “different approach which is not solely based on revenue raising…we view it from a whole-of-city perspective”.
Ms Porotto says Wilson’s other changes have also complicated matters: motorists no longer get tickets, instead they feed coins into a machine and are supposed to then key in their registration.
A yoga centre staffer said she’d seen several people put money in the machine and then leave without completing the process, but thinking they’d done the right thing.
The system puts an end to motorists passing along unexpired tickets.
“We’ve had lots of complaints and for some the $5 parking cost on top of the class fee means it’s not worth it for them, especially if they were coming a few times a week,” Ms Porotto says.
“People are prepared to pay for parking if they go out once a week to a restaurant but not three to five times a week to attend yoga.”
Wilson did not respond to the Herald’s enquiries.
Meanwhile, folk are hopping mad after being fined for illegal parking during last weekend’s Fremantle Arts Centre bazaar and George Street Festival.
With 11,818 people attending the FAC event and 10,000 the George Street festival, parking was at a premium in the area so people ignored “No Parking” signs along Burt Street to park on verges.
Resident Eileen English says the same spots have been parked on previously with no action being taken.
There’s been construction going on for a year in the street and “daily we have a barrage of vehicles, trucks, backhoes, bobcats, etc all parked in the same location. No-one was ever ticketed as far as I know,” Ms English says.
“No-one was ever ticketed during the frequent concerts held at the FAC when the audience parks in the same location. For the first time ever, there were two parking inspectors working furiously, writing tickets. What gives?”
Parking was available at John Curtin College of the Arts for $5 a car.
by EDDIE ALBRECHT