Editor,

Regarding the Dec. 23 article on Langley parking, ”Plenty of parking, intern’s study says,” I found Mr. Yormick’s report on the downtown Langley parking situation disingenuous to the point of condescension.

Anyone taking a close look at Second Street should be able to see immediately that whatever spots are available on the street are due largely to the generosity, if not largess, of the two biggest parking lots on the street.

I refer, of course, to the Star Store and the U.S. Post Office. That both these lots are regularly used by non-patrons is obvious at a glance. Despite signs to the contrary, by my estimation the entire west side of the post office lot is continually used, all day long, pretty much every day, by non-postal service customers.

And at the Star Store it looks as though at any time up to one-third of those spaces are routinely occupied by shoppers not accessing the Star Store. A few minutes observing the comings and goings of parkers will easily bear this out.

From what I’ve seen these infractions occur regardless of how much open space is on the street, many just heading right to the lots directly upon entering Second Street without looking further. As well, many of these violators seem to leave their vehicles for, easily, an hour or more, tying up spaces reserved for true patrons.

That parkers are hesitant to drive up the hill to the graciously offered parking spaces at the two churches is obvious as well, as Mr. Yormick points out. But to assume this means there’s “plenty of parking” in Langley skews the truth. While that may be, it’s not because there’s plenty of public parking on the street. It’s because of the sense of entitlement of those not wanting to drive any further than necessary, and thus feeling emboldened to ignore the few simple rules as printed on the signs in each of these two lots.

GORDON SANSTAD

Langley