Winnipeg backs down on proposal to issue tickets based on photos submitted by residents

Plans to explore a system that could have led to parking tickets residents report parking violators by submitting photos have been ditched for the time being amid public outcry.

City council's public works committee voted in favour of temporarily stopping the Winnipeg Parking Authority from pursuing a photo-based public-reporting system for parking violations during a special meeting Monday.

The proposal was to "explore opportunities to leverage technology and community involvement" to identify parking violations through photo reporting, allowing the parking authority "to issue tickets by mail and redeploy officers to priority complaints," according to a city report.

News the authority was exploring such a system led to concerns among some city councillors and residents who worried the system would pit Winnipeggers against each other.

St. Norbert-Seine River Coun. Markus Chambers — who was in favour of the motion — said he's hearing from a lot of residents who are "absolutely appalled" by the idea.

"We don't have the resources to have somebody just drive around looking [at] what's legal, what's illegal. So I've explained that to them," Chambers said.

"But also in the same vein, [I] said, 'Yeah, I don't want to see neighbours pitted against neighbours.'"

But Ajaleigh Williams, the Winnipeg Parking Authority’s manager of strategic initiatives, told councillors during the meeting the idea has been misconstrued.

"The storyline was we're trying to get people to 'snitch' on each other," she said. "That's not accurate … unless we want to call 311 a snitch line. Basically that is what the purpose [of 311] is — so people can communicate problems and issues."

Parking authority officials told the committee the aim was to handle the complaints the city is already receiving more efficiently.

Randy Topolniski, general manager of the Winnipeg Parking Authority, said that out of 15,000 or so service requests the authority receives every year, about 6,000 already come with photos attached to them.

Williams said a lot of those photos would be enough to show there was an infraction by themselves.

'Cat's out of the bag'

The plan was to initially explore the system for more serious infractions, like people parking in disabled spots or fire lanes, and that an enforcement officer would still have to review the photos before a ticket would be issued, said Williams.

In about 53 per cent of the parking violation reports the parking authority follows up on under the current system, the violation is no longer an issue by the time the crews arrive, the officials said.

Waverley West Coun. Janice Lukes, who chairs the committee and brought forward the motion, said "the cat's out of the bag."

"Sometimes things happen that [get] out there into the masses, and now we could spend $10,000 trying to communicate otherwise and nothing's going to happen," she said.

"I think that the way this came out and blew up, maybe we are not ready for it right now, or just due to everything that's unfolded," Lukes said.

Lukes said the idea may be explored in the future, but not this year.

Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie voted against the motion. Old Kildonan Coun. Devi Sharma was not present during the vote.