Tim Feick is asking city council to provide veterans with two hours of free parking in North Bay.
The retired Captain who served twice in Afghanistan during his 25-year military career started his presentation Tuesday night with a video of a repatriation ceremony, including family members of the deceased.
It played into his response to the argument that granting free parking on veterans’ plates allows anyone driving the vehicle to get free parking, not just the veteran.
“Getting into the weeds of who is behind the wheel and what-not, I think my wife deserves those medals more than I do,” says Feick. “I would suggest that this council look at free parking for the veteran plate, not the person driving.”
Feick says free parking for veterans is a small ask that is easily actionable and goes a long way in recognizing veterans.
“The budget says North Bay made about a million dollars last year on parking fees,” he says. “I crunched the numbers on the approximation of how many veterans licence plates we have in North Bay and it came down to about $10,000.”
He says the low cost is one benefit, adding the small gesture would be ‘very meaningful’ to veterans.
Feick also noted several communities around Ontario offer a variety of veteran parking initiatives.
