A tough year for parking authority

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/08/2016 (3556 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s been just over a decade since the baton was passed from our local police to the Winnipeg Parking Authority to do the thankless job of handing out parking tickets.

It did and does make sense to have our crime-busting crew, well, busting crime. So instead, nattily dressed officers patrol city streets, ready to hand out tickets to drivers who park too long or park in the wrong spot.

The parking authority has the unenviable task of ruining your day. Yup, it’s what it does, but it’s also, for the most part, an important job. How about a little shout-out to the stalwart group of men and women who, during the course of their diligent work, seldom hear the words “thank you”? Because without them, we’d have parking anarchy.

But there’s also politics at work here. No doubt in the past week, you have become familiar with the term “bait zone.” With the help of a parking-authority employee, a Winnipeg Free Press report this past weekend uncovered the big five locations in town at which the parking authority can hand out up to $300 in tickets an hour, thanks to unclear or unseen signage.

This is not an isolated event. In the past year, the parking authority has come under some fire for the way tickets were issued, which didn’t comply with the law when it came to collections. So authorities freed some tragically imprisoned vehicles and decided to give up on collecting for tickets issued more than six years ago. Oh, you’re still on the hook to pay — you just won’t be chased.

Who among us can forget the chaos around “Know Your Zone” during heavy winter snowfall? As you recall, everyone seemed in agreement on zones — which assigned parking bans on certain areas to aid in snow-clearing — but less so on whether the authority was properly ticketing vehicles parked in those zones. As it turned out, that system also required a little tweaking. Especially the part where zone bans were created contrary to the Highway Traffic Act with respect to times when ticketing was permitted, not to mention the fact street signs weren’t deployed in concert with media marketing of the message.

But it was all OK, because the city would reimburse us if we were ticketed wrongly, right? Yeah, not so much. Once a ticket was paid, the case was closed in the eyes of the parking authority. Todd Dube, founder of the traffic-ticket-fighting group Wise Up Winnipeg, threatened a class-action lawsuit over the matter, estimating the total value of improperly issued tickets at about $10 million.

A lot of information about parking in Winnipeg can be found on the Winnipeg Parking Authority website. They call it the Parking Store. (I know, right? The Parking Store — as in: “Hey, honey, just heading out to the Parking Store. Need anything?”) On the site, you can learn more about the new appeal process.

On Monday, the new process was revealed. Now, instead of going to a justice of the peace, there are screening officers who can adjudicate the heinous wrongdoings and clear your good name. Unfortunately, these officers work for the parking authority. Here’s a thought from “LarryS”, a Free Press reader: “There is something wrong with this even if the province has manipulated the laws to allow the city to be the accuser, judge and court of appeal. And the $25 penalty for appealing is a disincentive to seek justice for drivers who survive from paycheque to paycheque and won’t be able to afford $25 extra from their budget.”

You’re right, Larry. We shameful parking violators will be at the mercy of mood when it comes to pleading our case. Not to mention risking 25 bucks that could be used for gas. (Now don’t get me going on that!)

Dube says the new process avoids the issue. He believes the focus needs to be on the backlog at traffic court and why thousands of people are suddenly pleading not guilty.

In fairness, the new process is thanks to former premier Greg Selinger. The province enacted the Municipal Bylaw Enforcement Act in 2013 to provide a new way for municipalities to deal with bylaw offences, including cases of illegal parking. Colin Stewart, policy analyst with the Winnipeg Parking Authority, says they didn’t really have a choice.

All in all, it’s been a rough year for the parking authority, and Michael Jack, the City of Winnipeg’s chief operating officer, has surely spent a few aggravating days dealing with the politics of parking.

However, the bottom line is that parking anarchy just can’t work in today’s Winnipeg. Parking laws are required and must be enforced. No one will ever be happy to get a ticket, but the parking officers will continue their thankless chore, because that chore is necessary.

So let’s move on and focus our attention on something more urgent and contentious, like photo radar. Please, don’t get me started on photo radar.

Scott Armstrong’s career in media spans more than 30 years. He has taught journalism at a college level, and most recently worked as general manager at CJOB.