Re: "Bylaw officers harassing families at soccer game," letter to the editor, Friday, Feb. 17.

S. Mullen from Port Coquitlam writes that she was harassed by bylaw officers at Town Centre Park in Coquitlam because they had the audacity, if you can imagine, to do their job and were issuing tickets to illegally parked cars.

First, she should be made aware that Town Centre Park has approximately 900 free parking spaces, all of which are no cost to park visitors. If she took her grandson to play soccer in Vancouver, she'd be paying the parking meter. Coquitlam taxpayers have paid to build and maintain the lots, and non-Coquitlam residents like S. Mullen don't have to pay a penny to park at any Coquitlam field. All that she and those like her had to do was walk a few minutes from the northwest parking lot to the soccer field.

I never stop being amazed by the sheer laziness of people, and our obesity rates attest to this. People like S. Mullen take their children to Saturday-morning recreational sport activities for exercise, yet they can't be bothered themselves to walk five minutes. Heaven forbid one should be expected to park anywhere but within two feet of the destination. I suggest that the next time S. Mullen takes her grandson to play soccer, she take down the fence and drive her car right onto the soccer field, just to make sure no one has to exert themselves by walking.

And to the bylaw officers, I say put on a hard hat, grab a shovel and make sure you build a parking space right on the soccer field for every lazy, spoiled, non-resident of Coquitlam who ventures into our city on Saturday mornings, pays nothing for the parking space, refuses to walk five minutes from a free space and then blames you for it.

Make yourselves useful and let's build a better world, one driver at a time, so that every activity, from soccer to swimming, can be enjoyed right from the inside of the vehicle.

Swimming pools should have parking spaces close enough so little Mary can jump into the pool right from the car and mom and dad can enjoy SpongeBob on DVD. And if there's not enough spaces, by goodness, the bylaw officers should piggy-back everyone to their destination.

Dan Todd Coquitlam