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In 2017, Vancouver council voted to give long-term West End residents a break on their resident-only permit parking fees. But the politicians didn't extend this to new people who would be moving into the neighbourhood.

At the time, I wrote that this was a discriminatory policy that favoured people who may have already paid off their mortgages but which punished millennials and immigrants who arrived after 2017.

I suggested that it might even infringe on Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of age and national origin.

Nobody's going to file a constitutional challenge against parking fees, so the councillors who voted in favour of this measure—the Greens' Adriane Carr and Vision Vancouver politicians—knew they could get away with it.

Long-time residents pay $77.90 per year for resident-only parking.

Those who moved to the neighbourhood after 2017 pay $360 per year.

Well, guess what's happened?

A report going to city council on Tuesday (February 26) shows that the number of resident-only parking permits in the West End exceeds the supply of spaces.

It's not because too many new people are buying permits.

No, it's because not enough of the grandfathered permit holders are giving up their deeply discounted spots.

"After the end of 2018 permit renewal period, the sale of non-market permits to existing permit holders decreased by only 21%, year over year," the report states. "This was projected to be a 36% decrease."

There's no explanation why—though one could surmise that the city's policy is going to lead to a black market in resident-only permits if long-time residents without vehicles decide to resell them at a higher price to neighbours who've just moved into their buildings.

There are 6,700 active permits and only 2,700 parking spots on the street.

But in 2017, city staff reported that there were thousands of unused off-street residential parking spots in the West End. They were vacant because the cost, around $50 per month, exceeded the less than $7 per month for resident-only street parking.

So what's the city's solution? Staff are calling on council to amend the street and traffic bylaw to allow more residents to buy discounted resident-only parking if they've lived continuously in the West End since before September 1, 2017 and if they've never purchased a permit at the non-market rate.

According to the West End community plan, the neighbourhood's population will rise by about 9,000 residents, or 20 percent, by 2040.

The city's approach to parking is simply reinforcing the discrimination that's existed since 2017. But I'm betting it will be approved because politicians usually aren't keen to alienate long-term residents, who are more likely to vote in elections.

Keep in mind that media outlets are often quick to pounce on stories highlighting problems involving immigrants to Vancouver. But they are more apt to remain silent on discrimination that's meted out to newcomers and younger people.

That's one reason why this story won't likely receive much coverage on Global or CBC or CTV—and the status quo will prevail once again.