City council OK's renaming park after family of Transcona police officer despite concerns about process
Some councillors uncomfortable with nominations for renaming coming from council, as policy under review
A park in Transcona will be renamed in honour of the family of a former Winnipeg police officer, but the proposal to do that generated concerns from some city councillors about the process for commemorative renamings.
Council voted in favour Thursday of changing the name of Kildonan Meadows Park to Lucki Family Park.
Joseph "Joe" Lucki started working as a police officer for what was then the City of Transcona in 1959. He retired from the Winnipeg Police Service in 1989.
That same year, his daughter Patricia died when she was hit by a drunk driver.
"I'm a little jittery," Joe Lucki told reporters at city hall before Thursday's council vote. "It's quite an honour to be more or less selected to have a renaming of a park."
Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt brought forward the motion, which he said had widespread community support. His motion included attached letters of support from the late Nello Altomare, who was the MLA for Transcona, as well as Winnipeg police Chief Gene Bowers and former police chief Danny Smyth.
Lucki choked up when speaking about the death of his daughter, who worked as an early childhood educator and is honoured with a memorial award from Red River College Polytechnic.
She went overseas to do humanitarian work, and was killed just a month after returning home, her father said.
"She was killed by a drunk driver close to our home, just a block away, with another friend of hers, Kerri Campbell," he said.
Report on policy coming
But several members of council said they were uncomfortable with nominations for renaming coming directly from council, as the city is in the process of overhauling the mandate of the Welcoming Winnipeg committee — the body responsible for advising the city on the naming of public spaces.
Earlier this year, a report commissioned by the mayor's office found members of the committee, which was created to increase the use of Indigenous place names, were frustrated and confused about whether the work of the committee aligned with its core purpose.
A report recommending changes to the city's policy is expected later this year.
Mayor Scott Gillingham, along with council speaker Coun. Devi Sharma, voted against suspending the rules to allow a vote on Wyatt's motion, but later voted with the majority of councillors supporting the name change.
"Here's a gentleman who's served the City of Winnipeg and the people of Transcona diligently as a police officer for decades," Gillingham said in a news conference.
"And so when we're honouring public servants, people who've done good work in our community, I think we should be supportive of that."
Process 'unfortunate'
St. Boniface Coun. Matt Allard said it was "unfortunate" that councillors had to discuss the merits of the nomination and concerns about the process while Lucki was seated in the public gallery, suggesting "a modicum of vetting would be good."
St. Vital Coun. Brian Mayes said the vote to approve the name change would lead to a "land rush" of other nominations from councillors who had been waiting for the city to complete its review of the Welcoming Winnipeg policy. Mayes, along with councillors Sherri Rollins and Cindy Gilroy, voted against the renaming.
Wyatt said he was motivated to push the nomination forward due to Lucki's age. He turns 91 in October.
"I was told [to] wait until the [Welcoming Winnipeg] policy comes out and then bring it forward, and I was told that that will be July — and we know that sometimes that can become September, October, "said Wyatt.
"I didn't want to miss another season for the very nature of this dedication, because of Mr. Lucki and his youth, let's put it that way."
Gillingham said the Welcoming Winnipeg report was initially expected in July, but could not say for certain it would be ready by then.
Downtown councillors worry about loss of parking meters
Two downtown city councillors also expressed concern Thursday that a city plan to remove all parking meters this summer, and instead rely mainly on the PayByPhone mobile app for payment, could leave some people who lack smartphones without a way to pay for street parking.
The city announced on Wednesday all parking meters would be removed by Aug. 31. Gillingham said the idea has been discussed since 2018, and the change is needed because Canada is phasing out the 3G network, which the meters rely on.
But Rollins said while 80 per cent of people pay through the app, a significant number still use other methods.
"So I really think before we put an obstacle for one in five folks that are visiting the Exchange District or the downtown that we should have had a conversation," the Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry councillor told reporters at city hall on Thursday.
People who want to pay with cash will have to purchase prepaid booklets from one of three locations: the 311 counter at city hall, the Parking Store at 495 Portage Ave., or the Access Centre at 170 Goulet St. They'll be available as of July 2, which is when the city will start removing meters.
Daniel McIntryre Coun. Gilroy said the city needs to make those booklets more widely available.
"There is no plan in trying to get those into stores to distribute so people would have easy access to them," she said.
The councillors also worry the shift to relying on the app for payment could open the door to dynamic pricing, charging customers more to park during busy times, while potentially offering free parking at times of low demand.
Finance committee chair Coun. Jeff Browaty said there are no immediate plans to move in that direction, but it could help free up more on-street parking.
"[At] some future point years down the road, as we move even more heavily into an app-type setup, I think that would be an opportunity to potentially look at changing hours, changing rates," he said.
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