There's Nothing We Can Do About Getting ICE'D

[YusufT]

So I was trying to find parking in one of the underground parking garages at Yorkdale. As usual, all the spots were ICE'D and although I had to charge I had to opt for a regular parking spot. Now in comes another Tesla owner furious, saying that every time he's at the mall all the electric parking spots are either filled by electric cars using it as priority parking or ICE cars. He said he actually needs to charge to have enough to get back home. He went inside the mall to the customer service for mall security to perhaps do something. The mall security said they will check it out and to give them 5 minutes. The guy waited for 30 minutes and nothing. The security guy never showed. The guy sent an email to Yorkdale explaining the difficulty he has to charge and he was met with this response which he emailed to me as I was also wondering what response he'd get:

Now I spoke to a parking enforcement officer about this ordeal when I came across one and he said he can definitely ticket them, so I'm confused. Either the enforcement officer didn't understand what I said or Yorkdale is lying here because they don't care.

Just thought I'd post this here and inform you guys about this.

 

[Big Earl]

So I was trying to find parking in one of the underground parking garages at Yorkdale. As usual, all the spots were ICE'D and although I had to charge I had to opt for a regular parking spot. Now in comes another Tesla owner furious, saying that every time he's at the mall all the electric parking spots are either filled by electric cars using it as priority parking or ICE cars. He said he actually needs to charge to have enough to get back home. He went inside the mall to the customer service for mall security to perhaps do something. The mall security said they will check it out and to give them 5 minutes. The guy waited for 30 minutes and nothing. The security guy never showed. The guy sent an email to Yorkdale explaining the difficulty he has to charge and he was met with this response which he emailed to me as I was also wondering what response he'd get:

View attachment 383766

Now I spoke to a parking enforcement officer about this ordeal when I came across one and he said he can definitely ticket them, so I'm confused. Either the enforcement officer didn't understand what I said or Yorkdale is lying here because they don't care.

Just thought I'd post this here and inform you guys about this.

Regardless of whether or not it's legal to park in those spaces, the mall needs to improve signage. An email with suggestions should be sent to Travis as well as others on his management team (sales manager, property manager). Suggestions could include:

• adding signage stating that vehicles must be charging to use the spaces
• adding signage stating that there is at time limit, perhaps 4 hours to prevent workers from hogging chargers all day
• painting the spaces green or some other color that stands out
• adding road cones to the ends of the parking spaces to make it more obvious that they're intended for a special purpose
• mall security can put notes on cars that are in violation of any signage the mall adds, even if a fine can't be levied

All of these things will greatly improve the situation. I can't stress how far assertive communication on behalf of EV drivers can go. I recommend copying the sales manager of the mall since EV charging is a guest amenity that attracts customers to the mall's vendors.

 

[SSonnentag]

A private business can make and enforce any parking rules they want to. If it's posted, they can have violators towed.

 

[YusufT]

Regardless of whether or not it's legal to park in those spaces, the mall needs to improve signage. An email with suggestions should be sent to Travis as well as others on his management team (sales manager, property manager). Suggestions could include:

• adding signage stating that vehicles must be charging to use the spaces
• adding signage stating that there is at time limit, perhaps 4 hours to prevent workers from hogging chargers all day
• painting the spaces green or some other color that stands out
• adding road cones to the ends of the parking spaces to make it more obvious that they're intended for a special purpose
• mall security can put notes on cars that are in violation of any signage the mall adds, even if a fine can't be levied

All of these things will greatly improve the situation. I can't stress how far assertive communication on behalf of EV drivers can go. I recommend copying the sales manager of the mall since EV charging is a guest amenity that attracts customers to the mall's vendors.

Completely agree. Now that's just the problem, there's signage with Tesla logos stating parking should only be used for charging and green coloured parking however people use it for whatever they want and absolutely no action is taken from the mall. There's 2 charging stations in 2 different parking garages for the mall and same problem. The security mall will always say they will check it out and that they will send a guy over there but they never do. People never get confronted about it.

A private business can make and enforce any parking rules they want to. If it's posted, they can have violators towed.

That's the issue, they don't enforce it.

 

[Buggle]

So I was trying to find parking in one of the underground parking garages at Yorkdale. As usual, all the spots were ICE'D and although I had to charge I had to opt for a regular parking spot. Now in comes another Tesla owner furious, saying that every time he's at the mall all the electric parking spots are either filled by electric cars using it as priority parking or ICE cars. He said he actually needs to charge to have enough to get back home. He went inside the mall to the customer service for mall security to perhaps do something. The mall security said they will check it out and to give them 5 minutes. The guy waited for 30 minutes and nothing. The security guy never showed. The guy sent an email to Yorkdale explaining the difficulty he has to charge and he was met with this response which he emailed to me as I was also wondering what response he'd get:

View attachment 383766

Now I spoke to a parking enforcement officer about this ordeal when I came across one and he said he can definitely ticket them, so I'm confused. Either the enforcement officer didn't understand what I said or Yorkdale is lying here because they don't care.

Just thought I'd post this here and inform you guys about this.

If you really care, bump it up to the property manager.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-barnard-23603717/?originalSubdomain=ca
If you don't get satisfaction, go to head office, you should be able to find something like "central region operations manager", or maybe district manager on Linkedin. Yorkdale is managed by Oxford --
Oxford Properties

 

[YusufT]

If you really care, bump it up to the property manager.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-barnard-23603717/?originalSubdomain=ca
If you don't get satisfaction, go to head office, you should be able to find something like "central region operations manager", or maybe district manager on Linkedin. Yorkdale is managed by Oxford --
Oxford Properties

What do you mean if I really care? Everyone that owns an EV should care, not just me. And I don't only want Yorkdale but everyone to start enforcing rules on these parking spots.

I'll look into the links you have provided but hearing just one person complain about it isn't going to do much.

 

[Big Earl]

What do you mean if I really care? Everyone that owns an EV should care, not just me. And I don't only want Yorkdale but everyone to start enforcing rules on these parking spots.

I'll look into the links you have provided but hearing just one person complain about it isn't going to do much.

Strength in numbers. If they hear from enough EV drivers, they'll take action. Speak with other EV owners and encourage them to reach out to mall operations, as well.

 

[YusufT]

Strength in numbers. If they hear from enough EV drivers, they'll take action. Speak with other EV owners and encourage them to reach out to mall operations, as well.

Yeah to be honest that was the intention of this post. Was hoping for people to realize from the email that they really don't care end of the day, and unless we collectively say something nothing's going to change. Having a precedent will help convincing others to enforce theirs as well.

 

[mociaf9]

To my mind, focusing on the legalities is besides the point. If the property owner/management isn't willing to enforce compliance, the fact that cars could be ticketed/towed is kind of irrelevant.

If you want to make an argument for how an EVCS is different from reserved parking for pregnant women/carpools, etc. focus on how an EVCS is different from every other parking stall. I.e. an actual service is being offered there. It's not just a matter of courtesy. Non-charging cars are actually interfering with the ability to make use of that service which isn't available in other stalls. A pregnant woman/carpool which can't use one of those courtesy parking stalls and is forced to park elsewhere, gets the exact same use out of a more distant stall as they would out of the courtesy one. They are just inconvenienced by the extra walk. The EV blocked from using the EVCS doesn't get the same use.

 

[X.l.r.8]

It’s an attatude that goes with that shopping mall. I have been there twice, complained twice. Do I think anything will happen, it’s not worth the confrontation for the poor parking enforcers, the second time one did tell me I couldn’t park there because it was for Electric vehicles, this was as I was plugging in, so I don’t think we’re dealing with the sharpest tools there.

 

[bpjod]

On Boxing Day we were driving to Banff to go skiing. Needed a charge at Crossiron Mills which is a large outlet mall on the North side of Calgary. I was worried about being ICEd on one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Pulling up to the mall got me really worried - the parking lot was packed. The Superchargers are right near the doors to the food court. What to do if they're all ICEd?

Well, my worries were unfounded. The charging spots were all blocked by barricades and a security person moved the barricades to allow Teslas to park and charge. Now that's how it's done! Thank you CrossIron Mills. When we got back to the car we explained to the security person about paired charging and making sure the cars were on separate pairs and my wife gave her a generous tip.

 

[Lukez]

Is the charge cord long? Park in front of the ice and plug in, leave your number. See how they like being blocked

 

[Buggle]

What do you mean if I really care? Everyone that owns an EV should care, not just me. And I don't only want Yorkdale but everyone to start enforcing rules on these parking spots.

I'll look into the links you have provided but hearing just one person complain about it isn't going to do much.

Sure it will. You can have a conversation, see how it goes, and apply whatever small amount of pressure you're able. The guy who got that email should have called them out on the spot, but didn't -- "it's private property, you can do what you want, why does Yorkdale not have a clear and enforceable policy as regards EV spots, and why are you hiding behind a policy that isn't actually true and/or justifiable? Vaughan Mills enforces it, why do you not?"

If all the above fails, you can tell them you're emailing this whole thing to CP24, The Toronto Star, the CBC, along with the applicable councillor and the mayor, and have a nice day.

 

[YusufT]

Sure it will. You can have a conversation, see how it goes, and apply whatever small amount of pressure you're able. The guy who got that email should have called them out on the spot, but didn't -- "it's private property, you can do what you want, why does Yorkdale not have a clear and enforceable policy as regards EV spots, and why are you hiding behind a policy that isn't actually true and/or justifiable? Vaughan Mills enforces it, why do you not?"

If all the above fails, you can tell them you're emailing this whole thing to CP24, The Toronto Star, the CBC, along with the applicable councillor and the mayor, and have a nice day.

Do we have proof that Vaughan Mills actually enforces it? What exactly do they do, ticket or tow? Never heard that they enforce the rule. We can use that as precedent towards Yorkdale.

 

[TLej]

On Boxing Day we were driving to Banff to go skiing. Needed a charge at Crossiron Mills which is a large outlet mall on the North side of Calgary. I was worried about being ICEd on one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Pulling up to the mall got me really worried - the parking lot was packed. The Superchargers are right near the doors to the food court. What to do if they're all ICEd?

Well, my worries were unfounded. The charging spots were all blocked by barricades and a security person moved the barricades to allow Teslas to park and charge. Now that's how it's done! Thank you CrossIron Mills. When we got back to the car we explained to the security person about paired charging and making sure the cars were on separate pairs and my wife gave her a generous tip.

In part, this is because a number of us complained about being ICEd. I personally sent a letter, and it was only after a few months of non-response that eventually the mall started putting up barricades and having security monitoring the spots. A polite email noting the economic impact of having Tesla drivers stopping there is all I did, as well as many others, as well as posting to their Twitter account. I think some may have posted on Facebook too, not in a whiny entitled way but as a polite request along with some explanation of how important Cross Iron’s chargers are. A follow-up thanking them after the changes were made was sent/posted as well. I’ve done the same for the Sheraton in Red Deer, especially on social media.

 

[bpjod]

In part, this is because a number of us complained about being ICEd. I personally sent a letter, and it was only after a few months of non-response that eventually the mall started putting up barricades and having security monitoring the spots. A polite email noting the economic impact of having Tesla drivers stopping there is all I did, as well as many others, as well as posting to their Twitter account. I think some may have posted on Facebook too, not in a whiny entitled way but as a polite request along with some explanation of how important Cross Iron’s chargers are. A follow-up thanking them after the changes were made was sent/posted as well. I’ve done the same for the Sheraton in Red Deer, especially on social media.

Well thank you for doing that as it was really nice to not be ICEd that day. Hopefully some Tesla owners can have similar success educating the powers that be at Yorkdale. Isn't there a Tesla gallery there?

 

[SMSMD]

 

[mrElbe]

This should be legislated at the provincial level like some US States. Even Michigan has it. But good luck with our current administration. They are probably encouraging signage for ICE vehicles to please park here like on the Barrie Waterfront EV chargers.

 

[richyrich]

Now I spoke to a parking enforcement officer about this ordeal when I came across one and he said he can definitely ticket them, so I'm confused. Either the enforcement officer didn't understand what I said or Yorkdale is lying here because they don't care.

I presume you mean a parking enforcement officer from your municipality? If so they have zero jurisdiction over private property like a mall.

 

[5_+JqckQttqck]

Is the charge cord long? Park in front of the ice and plug in, leave your number. See how they like being blocked

They'll key you, bring on the sentry modes