Yellowknife (Mar 29/06) - Do not feel sorry for Josie Gould because health problems prevent her from being as active as she would like.

The sign that Cecily Hewitt, executive director of the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities, points to and that program manager Linda Noseworthy is holding means those with disabilities and a parking placard are the only ones permitted to park beside it. - Dorothy Westerman/NNSL photo

But don’t put your vehicle in the one parking spot that prevents her from quickly entering a building.

“People say, ‘I’m only going to be here a minute’,” Gould said of the reaction of those who are confronted after illegally parking in one of the spots set aside for people with disabilities.

“But if you do it once a day, another hundred behind you are doing the same thing,” Gould said.

“They are displaying a lack of compassion for others. I want to be able to do my daily chores.”

Gould has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which makes breathing difficult. Because walking any distance is out of the question for her, Gould needs to park as close as possible to a building, qualifying her for a disabled parking placard that hangs from the mirror of her vehicle. In Yellowknife, about 244 people qualify for the parking permit.

That small sign allows her to park in any of the 18 designated accessible street parking spots in the city or those in parking lots.

Gould said parking at Shopper’s Drug Mart, the Elks Club or Tim Hortons is especially difficult.

Cecily Hewitt, executive director of the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities, said healthy drivers should appreciate the difficulties of those without mobility.

“It is a hardship for people when they can’t get an accessible parking spot and have to turn around and go back home because they can’t walk,” Hewitt said.

According to municipal enforcement officer Doug Gillard, people parked illegally in one of the reserved spots can be fined $250.

“The downtown core is proactively enforced. In 2005, we issued 121 tickets and this year we issued 29 thus far,” said Gillard.

Now is the time to renew parking placards for another two-year term if required.

“It’s a free service,” Hewitt said of the renewal, which is funded by the Department of Health and Social Services.

It is important to note that the placard is only for the person with the disability and not to be used by others who may drive the vehicle, she said.

“We’ve had some incredible things happen with placards. I think they are the hottest commodity in Yellowknife,” she said. A number of the placards have been stolen over the years.

Temporary permits can be issued to people who have a short-term disability, such as a broken leg, said Linda Noseworthy, who manages the program.