Parking ticket confusion discourages downtown shoppers, business owner says

The city may have reversed course and refunded drivers ticketed for parking on downtown streets this month but one Exchange District business owner worries the damage might already be done.

Tara Davis owns Tara Davis Studio, a boutique shop on McDermot Avenue. Business was hopping the Saturday before Christmas when one of her longtime customers came in saying she had just received a ticket.

Davis was surprised because like many others, she believed that parking was free on Saturdays for the first two hours. She checked the sticker on the meter, which said drivers get two complimentary hours of parking on Saturday.

"I have a pop-up gallery three blocks down McDermot, so I walked down there and every single vehicle had a ticket on it, which was rather disheartening for those who were down here doing their holiday shopping," Davis said in an interview with CBC's Information Radio.

After hearing about the tickets, she went out and put sticky notes on parking meters saying "You must pay on Saturday now!" to prevent more people from being fined. 

The city says it recently changed its interpretation and enforcement of a bylaw that has been in place for more than a decade. About 82 vehicles were ticketed under the new enforcement.

On Wednesday, the city said it will refund or cancel any tickets handed out downtown on Saturdays between Dec. 2 and Dec. 23, 2017. Going forward, drivers will be able to park for free up to two hours downtown on Saturdays between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., excluding hospital zones.

Although Davis says she's glad the city has decided to cancel the tickets, she worries customers who received a ticket will be less likely to return.

"What's really a shame is that people are down here, a lot are down here because they want to shop local, they want to shop handmade, and they want to contribute to the local economy," said Davis.

"Then when they get to their celebrations with their family and friends, the topic of conversation isn't how great it was there were all these independent shops selling local goods. It's more about, hey I got a ticket while I was down there."

'Rainbow' after parking ticket storm

Downtown Winnipeg BIZ executive director Stefano Grande is also glad the city is going back to its old interpretation and enforcement of the bylaw, but he disagrees with Davis that the tickets will discourage shoppers from spending time and money downtown.

"If anything, this error has probably given more awareness that you actually have two hours free on Saturday, brought about more clarity. There's probably a rainbow in this issue," he said.

He says if the city wants to change its Saturday downtown parking policy, it must demonstrate a need to do so. 

"We don't feel the demand is high enough on Saturdays to ask motorists to pay for the first two hours. If the research

and analysis tells us that, then we need to look at that analysis, but that research needs to come first before decisions are made. Anything short of that is a money grab."

For the last several weeks, Grande says he's been in discussion with the city about reviving the Winnipeg Parking Authority's advisory committee, made up of businesses and residents who provide feedback and direction on policy decisions. This latest incident underscores the need for the committee, he said.

He also said he'd like the city to clarify the wording on the meter stickers. "I'd love to see the stickers say 'first two hours free,' as opposed to two hours free. That would bring about clarity for sure."