Winnipeg builds revenue through trickery

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2016 (3376 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For five years, a Winnipeg Parking Authority employee says, he’s been telling the city there are certain areas where parking tickets are being handed out unfairly. For five years, seemingly, his concerns have gone unheeded.

That is, until he took the Winnipeg Free Press and traffic-ticket crusader Todd Dube from Wise Up Winnipeg on a ride-along to point out “bait zones” where ticket enforcers lay in wait to hand out costly tickets.

Ambiguous, contradictory or hidden signage means there are areas where parking officers can hand out $300 dollars worth of tickets per hour. After the Free Press published a list of those “bait zones,” the city councillor responsible for the Winnipeg Parking Authority had something to say.

Coun. Jeff Browaty said Tuesday he will be presenting a motion at city council asking the parking authority to “spend some time and energy producing an official list of the highest ticketing locations (for reasons other than expired meters and parking over time in a limited-time area). Publicizing this list and, where needed, improving signage and other indicators required to make it more obvious should reduce the number of people getting tickets.” (Note: there is no commitment to followup on the complaints made public by Wise Up Winnipeg or from those interviewed in the Free Press.)

Mr. Browaty also said he will suggest, for areas where people are receiving a high number of tickets because of fire hydrants, the city could, as a courtesy, “make them more visible by painting the curb. I would stress it is only a courtesy and not a legally binding requirement. Snow clearing that doesn’t make the paint as visible as desirable would not be a reason to not issue a ticket.”

Well, it’s a response, at least — and given the city’s record on parking tickets, a lacklustre approach is perhaps not surprising. 

The city had to write off $11.5 million in parking ticket revenues earlier this year because the tickets were issued incorrectly. Some of them dated to 1992, but it wasn’t until August 2015 that the problem was discovered, when a justice of the peace threw out a parking ticket because it didn’t comply with the Summary Convictions Act.

Michael Jack, the city’s chief operating officer, said no refunds will be paid for any parking tickets already paid because, in the city’s mind, that money was collected legally.

Small point: it’s not actual legal if it didn’t comply with Manitoba law. 

But wait, there’s more. In December 2015, it was discovered that tens of thousands of invalid parking tickets were issued during winter parking bans during the past three years because someone in the city’s legal department missed a key provision of the Highway Traffic Act. Again, Mr. Jack said no refunds would be issued to motorists who had already paid fines. 

All right… the moral of the story seems to be: don’t pay parking tickets on time — just wait until they’re thrown out when they fail to comply with the law.

Who could blame Winnipeggers for feeling like city hall and the parking authority are relying on what could be considered illegal and deceitful practises in order to create revenue? And who could blame Winnipeggers for feeling frustrated when the councillor responsible offers a response that promises to publicize a list of areas to avoid and paint curbs as a “courtesy.”

Good government, Winnipeg.