NORTH BATTLEFORD - Those receiving parking tickets from North Battleford Community Safety Officers have a new option available instead of shelling out money over to the City for their tickets.
Instead, they can now pay it off by purchasing a toy set at no less than the value of the parking ticket as part of the city’s Toys for Tickets initiative.
The initiative was launched Nov. 29 and runs until Dec. 20. According to the city, unwrapped toys can be dropped off to staff at City Hall and they must include the purchase receipt. No toy weapons will be accepted.
The toys will be delivered to Battlefords Interval House as part of their Christmas hamper campaign.
The campaign was announced at Monday night’s city council meeting in North Battleford. At the meeting Director of Protective Services Lindsay Holm touted the initiative, calling it a twist on an old program they had going.
He said in the past instead of giving out tickets at this time of year the CSOs would put leaflets on peoples’ cars urging a donation to a charity. But “the tickets were never issued so we had no way of tracking it.”
“We want to change that initiative a little bit and have it so you’ll still get the benefit of getting a bit of a pass on the ticket if they were illegally parked during the holidays, provided that they bring a toy in that can be gifted to a child for Christmas that would be equal value to their ticket.”
The idea is for it to have a “bit more accountability” for the person illegally parked, he said.
