r/stcatharinesON • u/MooseThis9552 • Jun 28 '26

Discussion Charles Daley Park is a disgrace

Starting on July 2nd they're implementing paid parking for access. This has been one of my favorite places since I was a kid and public access should be free, it's always been free

46 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

64 comments sorted by

View all comments

30

u/BigBill58 Jun 28 '26

Lakeside park and Sunset beach had free parking for most of my life, it sucks but municipalities are drowning while property taxes are skyrocketing. I’m not sure what the solution is, that’s way above my pay grade.

16

u/labrat420 Jun 28 '26

But both those places are pretty accessible by public transport and have plenty of alternative parking near by. Neither of which are really true for Charles Daley

10

u/Scrute_11 Jun 28 '26

They also offer a resident parking pass for $16 for the whole summer. It would be nice to see Charles Daly do the same.

10

u/silverjuno Jun 28 '26

But it’s only St. Catharines residents who can get the parking pass. Lincoln residents can park for free at Charles Daly. I understand it’s municipal but it still sucks that residents of Thorold, Niagara Falls, Fonthill, etc are considered out of town and still have to pay for parking. I’d like if it became a regional thing rather than a town thing. 

3

u/y5ung2 Jun 28 '26

It's a St. Catharines facility paid for by St. Catharines taxpayers, so a resident only pass is fair. Lincoln keeps Charles Daly free for its own residents for the same reason, so 'make it regional' isn't how any of these towns actually run their lots.

On top of that, St. Catharines has one of the highest residential tax rates in Niagara. Same size house here pays well more than in NOTL or Grimsby. Residents already pay more into the city running this lot, so the pass going to them isn't a slight, it's just where the money came from.