‘Greed and selfishness’: tow trucks, parking tickets greet Exchange theatre-goers By: Aldo Santin Posted: 7:00 PM CST Thursday, Dec. 6, 2018 Last Modified: 11:22 PM CST Thursday, Dec. 6, 2018 Updates

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City hall raked in roughly $12,000 Wednesday night, after ticketing dozens of vehicles in the Exchange District in a towing and snow-clearing blitz.

Social media lit up after tow trucks invaded the east Exchange and began hauling away vehicles while their owners were having dinner or at the theatre.

“We’re just trying to eke out a living here, you know, and get people to come downtown, and this is how the city treats them,” said Chris Brett, who works at the Tom Hendry Warehouse theatre on Lily Street and witnessed the towing blitz.

“If they really had to shovel those two centimetres of snow off the street, they probably could have waited until after the shows were out.”

A City of Winnipeg spokesman confirmed 80 vehicles were ticketed in the Exchange District on Wednesday night, with 57 of them towed away, for parking in temporary no-parking zones.

The tickets carry a fine of $150 (reduced to $112.50 for early payment). For those who had vehicles towed, there is an additional $120 fee to get the vehicles out of the towing compound.

The city spokesman said the temporary no-parking signs were posted, according to city policy, in the area Tuesday afternoon, as a precursor to a snow-clearing effort in the neighbourhood that began Wednesday.

However, Brett said he didn’t notice the signs when he went to work Wednesday, and he was shocked when he went outside at 9 p.m. for a coffee break.

“I noticed all the flashing lights going off in the street. There had to be at least a dozen tow trucks, and they were literally towing everything off Lily Street and Rupert Street.”

Brett laughed at the suggestion the temporary no-parking signs had been posted the day before, saying he only noticed the signage after some of the vehicles had been removed.

The signs had been placed in a position, less than one metre off the ground, where most motorists looking for a parking spot wouldn’t have seen them, he said.

“Unless you were 2 1/2-feet tall and looking for a sign that was blocked by another parked car, you wouldn’t have seen the signs,” Brett said. “It was just another example of the city using random, stupid signage. I never noticed them.”

He also questioned why city hall authorized a snow-clearing initiative for the Exchange District. While the civic spokesman said the city recorded 10 centimetres of snow accumulation Nov. 28-29, Brett said there was little snow on the ground in the area in question.

“This is the irony of all this,” Brett said. “If there is snow, it’s maybe a centimetre. It doesn’t look any cleaner (Thursday) morning than it did (Wednesday) night.

“What happened… is an example of city hall going out of their way to make things unpleasant for anyone who wants to park downtown.” – Chris Brett

“What happened… is an example of city hall going out of their way to make things unpleasant for anyone who wants to park downtown. It’s a bit hypocritical for the city to expect or want to drive traffic downtown but they don’t want people driving their cars here,” he said. “For them to come along mid-show and tow everyone’s car away is just a slap in the face to arts patrons, to us people who work in the arts community.

"It just reeks of greed and selfishness.”

Meanwhile, area Coun. Vivian Santos said she also questions the decision by the public works department for a temporary no-parking call, when Lily and Rupert streets are already identified as snow routes where overnight parking is not allowed.

“I think they could have waited for the snow-clearing until overnight, without needing to put a temporary no-parking earlier in the evening,” said Santos (Point Douglas).

She said the onus is on motorists to ensure parking is allowed on any Winnipeg street — but added she would encourage those who felt the tickets were improper to fight them through the available legal channels.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca