A BAKER says a Lake Macquarie council proposal to replace a car parking space outside his shop with a bicycle stand takes the cake for stupidity.
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Whitebridge Fresh ‘n’ Tasty owner Peter Watson said the council sent him a brochure with three options for the proposal and asked him to nominate which one he liked.
He liked none of them.
‘‘We rely heavily on quick turnover of customers,’’ Mr Watson said.
A council statement said it was investigating the ‘‘possible trial of a bicycle corral at Whitebridge to meet high demand for bicycle parking in the shopping centre precinct’’.
‘‘Initial consultation has indicated general support for the proposal from businesses and the community,’’ the statement said.
The council said the three-month trial was planned to include parking for 10 bicycles on Dudley Road.
Mr Watson said one parking space outside his shop was already excluded for the Post Office.
‘‘The bloke turns up at 8pm, but no one’s allowed to park in it,’’ he said.
The council said its proposal would ‘‘remove one car parking space’’, next to the postal space.
The council said the bike stand would be installed in March, ‘‘if the project proceeds’’.
Mr Watson said his business was already suffering a 20 to 25per cent downturn.
He attributed this to workers and patrons from surrounding shops hogging parking spaces for longer than the one-hour time limit.
‘‘I’ve rung council rangers twice and they say ‘we’re understaffed, we can’t get anyone to check on it’,’’ he said.
Despite this, he said council rangers had booked people for parking on nearby public land alongside a roundabout, when trying to sell vehicles.
The council statement said ‘‘parking-patrol officers enforce time-limited parking restrictions in each business area, including Whitebridge shops, as often as possible’’.
Mr Watson said parking problems worsened when the fencing of a nearby development site removed an informal parking area for workers.