One day, on July 26 to be precise, an article titled “Pedestrians sidelined by sidewalk parking” appeared in an issue of the Kyiv Post. It piqued my curiosity again. Apparently, entire civic groups are now concerned about this escalating practice of sidewalk parking; pedestrians are reported to express their indignation. Also, from the same article, an architect from abroad openly expressed his disapproval of this situation; in May 22 the Kyiv City Council ratified a development program to create more parking spaces. Finally, I was not alone in my quest. Or so I thought…

After a close reading of that article and Googling some of its facts, names and organizations, my enthusiasm for joining this collective effort to fight sidewalk parking practice began to dissipate a little. I wanted to take a closer look at the ratified development program, referred to in the same article by Volodymyr Kozorin, the head of a pedestrian safety group. Imagine my disappointment after my numerous Google queries yielded no results (It is available online only in the Ukrainian language – Editors). Things were not quite so transparent.

Then I wanted to see what Volodymyr Kozoriv and his pedestrian safety group does. He was quoted as criticizing the above-mentioned program for “creating more parking spaces and further congesting the city, instead of making room for pedestrians.” Since all this time I’ve supported the large-scale construction of new multi-level parking facilities, I was very curious about the reasons for his concern that “the ratified program favors vehicles over pedestrians.” I also wanted to understand why “banning ownership of private parking lots” is a bad thing and why it is important? 

Whoever owns them now has neither marked them with lines nor fitted them with parking meters. Again, no files on him and his activities were found online. Interestingly, his attitude, as reflected in that article strikes me as contradictory: on the one hand he accuses the City Council of creating more parking spaces, on the other hand he proclaims that the planned size of prospective parking facilities may not be enough.

Kozoriv suggested investing more in public transport, developing alternative means of transportation and charging an entry tax for the city.

At the end he offset all these ideas with some grave but very general statistical data on the number of pedestrian deaths on the sidewalks.

I also looked up Iryna Bondarenko’s activities as coordinator of Kyiv Cyclist Association, who, in the same article, complained about the rare, small fines for parking on sidewalks and the impractical procedure of filling out the fine form, which requires the car owner’s physical presence. I found nothing on her as a coordinator.

How come police officers in other countries don’t have this problem? I wish she’d discussed the possible roots of this inefficiency and opacity that we inherited from the Soviet past. The procedure can be easily simplified, if only there is leadership, commitment and funding. It would be so nice to see a fleet of towing trucks, constantly cruising around the city on the lookout for illegally parked vehicles.

Some upset car owners were quoted, too. They complain that, alleg