If the April 22 session with the Exchange District Biz is any indication, election-bound city councillors had better get ready to ask their own questions of the "award-winning" Hill before going door to door and soliciting support from disgruntled Winnipeg drivers.
Hill, most importantly confirmed what WPA victims Jason Ross and Phillip Fletcher have told us on-air, the Special Operating Agency (SOA) has NO complaint protocol whatsoever and all power is vested in Hill.
Ross was illegally towed by the WPA, as was Fletcher; the former claims he was assaulted at the WPA offices when he complained and the video did not get into the hands of police, while the latter was immediately slapped with a lien when he challenged the towing ticket and had it tossed out of court (ie an illegal lien).
Just last week, we broke the news that the Provincial Ombudsman ruled that the WPA breached Fletcher's privacy in 2 different ways, once by illegally taking his picture and then by leaking personal information in a smear to Coun. Mike Pagtakhan after Fletcher complained to the councillor. Fletcher has demanded a personal apology from both Mayor Katz and from Mr. "I AM the complaint department" Hill, who according to Fletcher denied either incident even occured.
Only 5 Exchange Biz members bothered to show up to the hastily called PR exercise. The Biz has thus far refused to hold another, more properly advertised and suitable for area businesses (ie a morning) session despite the request of Kick-FM management.
What follows is a very very long report from Kim that includes such areas as:
* Hill's excuses for refusing to enforce disabled permit, Saturday overtime parking, and other bylaws;
* his claims that the new pay stations (which flunked our time-compliance audit at the rate of 60%) somehow trump the long long-established bylaw that boulevard and street signage designating time limits;
* his desire for expanded powers and the battle inside city hall;
* a plan to enact evening paid parking in areas like downtown and Corydon/Acadamy, and that the meters on Selkirk that are opposed by mayoral candidate Judy Wasylycia-Leis actually "work great";
* Hill maintaining that inner-city neighborhoods were consulted on new paid parking in front of their homes 'by the city'
* that drivers in wholesale-city place a tertiary priority on "price", and that council is sidestepping the bylaw to give him blanket powers to charge whatever he wants for as long as he wants
* his denial 24 hour paid parking including Sundays existed on Ross and other inner-city streets (Coun. Jeff Browaty has seen the receipts that prove him wrong);
* Hill's assertion that meters near the Concert Hall have made the area safer, and that he'd like to boost rates in the area
* turning over scarce parking spots to the Bike Lobby
* sees public accountability sessions as unnecessary
* Hill's potential conflict-of-interest and questions about sole-sourced contracts
Plus assorted other contradictions, lack of familiarity with the bylaws, no genuine review of the 5 year performance of the WPA by city council ...
and if that isn't enough, WAIT TILL TOMORROW to learn how WPA officials told a different story than their boss on more than a few parking matters, to the Canada Day crowd in Osborne Village, right around the bend from the 'other' Confusion Corner.
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The coffee meeting with "the parking guy" at 75 Albert St., hosted by the Exchange District Biz on April 22/10 at 5pm had five Biz members (not included were myself, Bob Axford and the representative from the Biz, Jarret).
This meeting is an informal session for the members of the Exchange District Biz to discuss and ask questions about concerns or thoughts about parking issues.
Dave Hill began this discussion by giving a few reasons for the sessions as well as an overview of what the Parking Authority was, along with who was on the Board of Directors and Advisory Board.
Reasons for this session:
-general discussions with people around Winnipeg and with the Biz's who the P.A. talks to on a fairly regular basis.
-kind of open forum type of activity occasionally with local stakeholders
Dave Hill the COO of the Parking Authority explains what the Parking Authority is:
-municipal agency under auspices of City Council
-just like a City department except it has a little more latitude in how it operates
-don't have to go to council as much
-still respond to council, by-laws, council's directions with a little more latitude
-little more defined mandate
-run year to year with broad direction from council
Board of Directors are:
- The Chief Administrative Officer of the City
- His 3 deputies
- Representative from Legal Services
- Representative from Public Affairs
- Representative from Traffic Engineering
Advisory Board Members are:
Major stakeholders:
-Downtown Winnipeg Biz
-Exchange District Biz
-West End Biz
-The Forks
-Centre Venture
-Destination Winnipeg
(No residential groups represented, no elected representation)
The advisory board meets at the Parking Authority, according to Dave Hill "we just do stuff".
Dave Hill stated he was in charge of:
-on-street parking meters
-enforcement city wide
-doesnt' get to make enforcement regulations
-does get to interpret them a little bit
-does get to make recommendations to those who do make regulations with Public Works
-off-street parking lots which the city owns.
Some of the questions/comments discussed are as follows:
Comment was raised about to many loading zones, in particular 24hr zones in the city, including in front of buildings which are bricked up. Was there anything the Parking Authority could do to either remove some of the zones or convert some to time limited zones?
Hill's response:
-agreed there are to many 24hr loading zones
-Director of public works has responsibility for estabilshment of on-street regulations (no-stopping areas, no parking areas etc.)
-been trying to get that swung over to the Parking Authority, so the P.A. can do a cull, rationalize it (been trying for 5 years).
-was told in January by Brad Sacher (Director of Public Works) public works would delegate that to the Parking Authority shortly (including loading zones and timed parking).
-Public Works a little reluctant to give up that mandate.
-would open a lot of parking
-it's not about revenue, it's about the inefficient use of space.
There were questions and issues raised about handicap parking and the misuse of disability permits. Some of the questions asked were "there seems to be a miscommunication between you folks and SMD".
The person asking the question went on to say "SMD tells all of their clients you have free parking as long as you have that sign on your dash as for as long as you on any meter area the city owns". "You guys say no you have twice what you pay for". Anther issue raised was the abuse of disability permits. The issue being that the permits are being misued and what can be done about it.
Hill's response:
-by-law states do have to pay at meters even with a ministry permit
-council asked P.A to relax rules
-agrees there is abuse of these permits
-SMD has control of permit program and has pull with council
-by-law states they have to pay, it's not currently being enforced
Can the Parking Authority put notices on the vehicles? Hill states "they do that". "Not always, but they do". Hill further does go on to say there is a misuse of the program.
Question asked:
Parking Authority and SMD should be working together, SMD transmitting expired permits or permits of people deceased, then confiscate those permits when come across them. When ticketing handicap permits, allowed four hours, chalk the vehice. After 4 hours, come back issue the ticket.
Hill's response:
-would be helpful if SMD would share the information (SMD USED to transmit this information to the P.A., if the permit was found in some cases were told to confiscate if possible, if not get make, model and plate number of the vehicle. Enforcement staff USED to call in to dispatch with permit number suspected of being abused or KNOWN to be abused which was then called into SMD, until the P.A. told dispatch and the enforcement staff to stop because it was time consuming).
-due to privacy purposes, choose not to share information
-SMD is an agency of the Province, empowered SMD to run disability parking program province wide
-SMD sets terms and conditions of purchase and management of disability permits
-P.A. responds to council as to how to enforce them
-police don't empower the P.A. to confiscate things
-not in business of confiscating things, business of marking parking violations
A question was asked about "why would the city not have used the Square parkade as collateral to either repair aging facilities or build new ones instead of selling it for a pittance of what it's actually worth."
Hill's response:
-this is a political question
-would have been one option for that facility
-the thinking was:
* it could be sold to private sector relieving city from requirement to do some structural maintenance on building because it was 30 years old; council did not want to bear that burden
* could get cash out of it
* thinking it would still be a parkade, still operating at same standards
* get money out of it, go build new one
* council's call
I asked Dave Hill if he could please explain about tickets issued around Red River College last year that were issued to improper signage, was the Parking Authority in breach of the by-law? Paystations went in the signage remained 2hr limited time parking, no paystation logo.
Hill's response:
-sign designated time limit, meter designated terms and conditions under which payment was made
This had been limited time parking, had nothing to do with meters. Signage conflicted with meters.
Hill's response:
-it had always been like that
-in old metering system signage stated the amount of time parking permitted
-in areas of city where meters had been established, time regulation posted on a regular sign, city wide, all around the city
-meter was a payment device, on the meter was the terms and conditions for payment under that 2 hour sign.
-upgraded to new system, got new sign which reinforces fact that it's two hours and payment is to be made at the paystation
-real regulation says that the payment device is the thing that provides the instruction
I asked the question a second time as I felt the by-law question hadn't been addresed, was the Parking Authority in breach of by-laws when the paystations went in around Red River College with improper signage?
Hill's response:
-proposed a pilot project to put some pay units in there
-council approved project
-we installed the machines
-the signs took a little while to change over to the new signs
-allowed under the by-law by the old signage program
-new signs provide extra information
The issue of free parking on Saturdays was raised, one comment was that it is different for retail outlets than those who work in offices. One of the attending members stated that "if free parking was free across the board on Saturdays, there would be grid lock and there would be no place for those who wanted to shop, where do you put them? People who are working are taking up all the spots."
Hill's response:
-historically way we manage parking in the city is through regulation
-use the regulatory tool, decrease the amount of time people can park and hand out a lot of parking tickets
-was told "No we don't want this anymore, we want a more reasonable, rationale way to do this"
-can make a restrictive regulatory environment or can ease up make and environment where payment is used to turnover the vehicles, little less regulation
-is performance based pricing
-asked council to allow the Parking Authority to operate pilot programs in some areas where the Parking Authority charges differential rates at differential times see what the results are, see whether it's good or bad, understand the dynamics of the area.
-always had a problem enforcing 2 hours free parking, didn't have a mechanism to do it
-have to chalk the tire, find out what time to start, go back later prove they (the vehicle) was there to long
-the only way to actually time people parking on Saturday is to walk around downtown with enforcement
-not the optics for whats wanted on Saturdays
-have lots of options
-went to biz's said the Parking Authority was doing a promotion on Saturdays, is a promotion wanted, how do you want it, how should it work
-should it be regulated having enforcement people out on Saturdays
-not regulate, have something else, tell us
-easiest thing to do is charge for parking on Saturdays but honour that receipt for an extra 2 hours give people an extended stay
-can use a coupon system for 2 hours of free parking
-trying to encourage a behviour of "come back" come back in the evenings, on weekends when traffic is lower
-may consider doing something in the evenings
-evenings and weekends are really busy, maybe need to do something to manage the streets after hours and weekends now
-merchants around MTS complaining that even if they stay open in the evenings to take advantage of crowds at MTS Centre there is nowhere to park
-one thing Downtown Biz is thinking about is the time on the meters and if it's appropriate
Questions and issues were raised regarding broken meters. One person commenting that "at one time the regulations didn't allow for people to park at a broken meter", this person also went on to indicate that in winter the meter (paystation) would be completly frozen and people had to put notes on their vehicles to indicate a broken meter. The question of "why is that the parking persons responsibility to make sure a meter they are trying to use works?" "Why can't they stay there?"
Hill's response:
-have trouble with vandals
-when a meter is malfunction, it reports back to Parking Authority in real time
-if we have a malfunction we know that, we manage ourselves accordingly
-get repair out really fast
-had some issues with them (paystations) first couple of years with cold temperatures.
-not related to cold temperature, related to humidity in big temperature swings
-printer mechanism in system, thermal printer needs certain amount of heat to generate a ticket in the morning
A question was by one person saying she had heard the new credit card with chips don't work in the machines. This person raised the issue that with the new cards, would the machine be able to read the cards?
Hill's response:
-they do read the chip, there is a chip reader built into the mechanism
-because it's a low value transaction the chip doesn't kick in
I revisted the original question regarding broken meters, asking the question if the Parking Authority is ticketing at broken meters.
Hill's response:
-if there is a meter that goes down for whatever reason it is broadcast to the enforcement staff and we take action accordingly
I repeated the question asking "so are you saying you do ticket or you don't". Dave Hill replied with "we take appropriate action".
The question of why some busy areas in the city don't have meters but downtown does citing Corydon as an example. This lady went on to say that Corydon was "hugely busy, yet they have free parking all the time, why?"
Hill's response:
-doing secondary plans for those areas, it's only because this area have traditionally had them
-parking meters are typically used as a tool to generate turnover of vehicles on the street
-if area becomes busy first thing to do is set up a 2 hour zone, but is difficult to enforce
-have to be there every two hours, with a person and a car, take action against the people there to long, time consuming, resource intensive
-more technology to deal with it
-100's of miles of 2 hour and one hour zones, never been able to get to all of them
-with new technology able to get to most of them now
Dave Hill went on to say "it gets so busy that it's not working". Hill further responded saying that:
-businesses complain that there is not enough turnover
-the only thing to do is charge a fee, put up parking meters
-where they have those complaints and asked to look after the problem, that's the next solution in the string of solutions to too much traffic
-in certain areas of the city, just about there
Dave Hill did go on to say that businesses and residential groups who are in the very busy areas are "understanding they have a problem but not going there yet".
Dave Hill went on to say that what they try to do is "wait until there is a secondary plan which is a zoning thing. One's a neighbourhood plan to try to identify what the parking opportunities are."
Hill went on to say that areas such as Corydon and Academy are starting to get "tense". Hill did indicate the next solution for those areas could be paystations. Selkirk Ave. was pointed out that paystations had been placed at the request of the Biz. Dave Hill said "they think they (meters) work great". According to the Biz. Dave Hill did admit that some areas are "getting pretty close to the point where there are no other options."
Dave Hill did say:
"Last year we tried to be a bit proactive, found that some of the neighbours objected to those things, so now we're going to the neighbourhood councillor and saying will you think about this, in some cases councillors saying ok let's give it a try. Other areas are saying no let's wait until there is some demand from the public to do it".
The issue of additional parking on the East side of Main St. around the theatres was raised by Bob Axford who said "I've been going downtown weekends for 30 years now there's less parking on the street than there was before. Are there plans for a structure in there somewhere?"
Hill's response:
-We're pushing
-Province owns land on James St., as part of the redevelopment of what used to be the Nygaard building
-want to put condos in there
-significant long term demand for parking spaces service the condos
-Museum, Concert Hall, Sport Manitoba want to expand and other developments
-creating more demand for parking space, streets can't cut it
-no more room for surface lots
One gentleman raised a concern about vandalism in the area north of the Concert Hall. This person did say he'd "been broken into a number of time" and that "if you park north of the Concert Hall you're taking your vehicle and you're life in your hands."
Hill's response:
-what we did a couple of years ago, metered the streets north of Pacific
-created some extra capacity on the streets
-in vandalism territory, partnered with the Biz to provide security patrols for that, vandalism is one thing to look for, grafitti, clean up
-when meters go in all that (security patrols) comes along with it
I asked the question of how is the Parking Authority involved with security?
Hill's response:
-partner with our stakeholder
-improve our on-street parking, more people park, we make more money
-it is in our interest in that area to partner with our stakeholders to provide that extra servicability cleanliness, tidiness on the street, more security
-parking hierarchy when people looking for a parking space is available and convenient
-second thing people look for is safe and secure,third thing people look for is price
-charge the rates necessary to do that
-one of the costs incurred is ensuring that the safety, security and cleanliness is there
-do that in parking garages, but also on the streets, to do that partner with the Biz organizations
-Biz organizations are also City agencies, they know the community best
A discussion arose when the issues of safety and parking around the Concert Hall was brought up by Bob Axford that parking around the Concert Hall "a structured parking system would benefit all the performing arts". Bob Axford went on to say that "people are staying away from that area, a guy who used to park at the Concert Hall, it's just too dangerous and a lot of people feel the same way".
Dave Hill did say he had been asked to do a feasibility study of putting a parking garage on the north side of James St., by the old bus barn which is owned by the Province. Hill said "there is a potential to make a deal and we were asked to look at that and see if that property receives a vote for putting a parking garage up".
Hill did say that there is "enough activity there" and that there is "tons of demand there and it's probably a pretty good winning business plan". Dave Hill did say this proposition would be included in the Parking Authorities next five year plan being called "Downtown Parking Strategy", this plan is due to be given to City Council in May.
One lady brought up the issue of whether or not there will be enough space in this new structure, she wondered if it would be big enough for the demand.
Hill's response:
-if 450 stalls are added would do it
-would buy a little bit of time in the longer term
-this building will be architecturally similar to that area, fit in that area, have some other use on the ground floor such as retail or commercial
-will have wider sidewalks for an active street front
-working with Centre Venture and hoping to merge this with other developments and some possibilities for the pump house, potentially a Farmers Market
Question is raised as to whether or not 450 stalls is enough. One comment made was "it's better than we've got right now". Comments are being made that the demand is there now and "it's just a nightmare" and that "it's not gonna get better, it's getting worse".
The next question deals with last years Fringe Festival and that repairs to a sewer line were done when the Fringe Festival was due to begin taking away half of the parking for the area. The question was raised as to who would be the person to contact regarding these issues. Dave Hill answered that the person to talk to would be Brad Sacher who is the Director of Public Works.
I raised the question of Hill did say that the structure could go up another floor adding another 100 stalls but that would be more expensive. whether or not the Parking Authority would support paid overnight and Sunday parking in residential areas. Asking "does the Parking Authority support paid overnight residential areas or on Sundays"?
Hill's response:
-doesn't think there is any paid overnight parking in the City
I asked again, "Does the Parking Authority support paid overnight parking or paid parking on Sundays? Metered parking?"
Hill's response:
-if there was a need and asked to do it, but doesn't think there is currently a need
-there are residential permits with the one and two hour signs that exempts residents in that particular area from the time limit
-part of purpose of time limit zones where residential areas are combined with a small business district like on Corydon residents object to traffic on streets
-can apply for restriction, 70% of block approval is needed
-residential permits will allow the vehicle to park all day, all night, exempts from time
-cost is $25.00/year
Dave Hill further went on to say "I've been all throughout the back lanes in this city and there is ample parking, absolutely almost everywhere".
One person noted that there wasn't alot of residential in the Exchange District. Dave Hill indicated there was a limited residential program for the Waterfront Drive Condos, saying "I think there's probably ten permits out there, it's very limited and not in high demand". Hill went on to say that "probably as the downtown advances and gains more of a residential footing, we'll divide that up and we'll create specific areas for those folks to park in, typically they park overnight with them, typically".
When asked again if the city supports or has paid overnight parking in residential areas such as Pacific.
Hill's response:
-depends on how you define those things
-residential permits are available for a fee would allow parking
-if there was a demand for it from the neighbourhood, could be done
-where regulations exists it's because the residents want it, or by petition or if there is more demand for parking than there is supply, regulation then required
- some areas of the city where there are business districts or hospitals, where there is an intrusion into the residential areas of traffic that is related to that facility for example Health Science Centre. The residents can buy permits for the programs.
-where there are meters those with residential permits park for free
Next question by Bob Axford "Does the Parking Authority have a formal complaints policy?"
Hill's response:
-yeah it's me
-generally if there is a complaint it either comes to Dave Hill through a Councillors office, Mayors office or from an individual
-if it's a complaint about a rule or a clarification, Dave Hill answers it
-if complaint about one of the enforcement staff, they are contracted, there is a manager to looks after that, he would investigate that, would take it up with the employer of the enforcement officer, deal with it that way.
Question, "is the parking authority going to have an open house, take questions from the public?".
Hill's response:
-have had them in the past
-had them for the first three years on Portage, no one showed up
-city service open Monday to Friday 8:00-6:00, open on Saturdays for six hours
-have email, phone access
-people write letters
-most inquiries are (with the odd complaint about an individual who is working with us, not to many), complaints about snow routes (public works issue)
-now get complaints about things that involve cars, not necessarily parking
-such as car alarms, extension cords being run out to vehicles on the street (block heaters)
-the parking authority cannot enforce the by-laws that are covered by those violations
-have to contact another department
-the parking authority is willing to write these offenses and have made suggestions that they could do those things for other departments. Made suggestions at the beginning of the year
-complaints of parking tickets, but now that pictures are being taken, better to show what was seen
-allows parking authority to do some quality control on errors made on a ticket
-if error was made on the ticket, tickets written under provincial court auspices, can go to provincial court requesting a stay based on an error made by the officer or by an error written on the ticket (such as a missing sign)
-missing signs are reported to public works.
A question of flexibility and parking was raised, the person indicating that with the matinee's which happen at some of the theatre, people can't find anywhere to park and parking is not allowed for longer than two hours. This person went on to say that the "lots were full with daytime parkers". This person was wondering if with the computer capabilities if would be possible to extend the time for parking when matinee's are playing as opposed to being restricted to two hours.
Hill's response:
-would like to lengthen the time, but to lengthen the time and still get the turnover, still have to change the rate.
This person goes on to clarify that when speaking about matinee's, lengthening the time doesn't have to be done daily.
Hill's response:
-it's possible to establish a rate structure that does that, in that specialized are of the city can be done
-what was done at HSC demonstration project last year
-HSC had paid parking all around it, HSC has outgrown that, so expanded paid parking out a couple of blocks, increased length of time to four hours
Comment made that "the only thing that is not clear is that it is more expensive unless you really read your ticket".
Hill response continued:
-it says it on the front of the machine
-the results are you try to get to a point of "parking harmony" which is where there are enough fee and time restriction which allows people enough time to park and still have 15% availability of parking on every curb face.
-goal is to establish two free spaces out of ten
A comment indicated that this goal of two free spaces out of 10 was not working in the East Exchange as people had to keep driving around to find a place to park. The lady with the question about parking and flexibility further went on to say "when you have matinee's on you need more street parking for a longer period".
Dave Hill said "I'm thinking four hours but we gotta charge more, generates the turnover".
This lady did indicate that the four hours were not needed everyday, the matinee's are scheduled months in advance. She wanted to know if it was possible with the computers that on those days the machines be programmed for the four hours. Dave Hill replied that "it becomes more a little complex for most normal people to understand".
This lady went on to say that most of the people who would take advantage of those matinee's are season ticket holders, saying "that's part of their season ticket package telling them that your parking issues can be dealt with this way".
Hill's response:
-if we had a facility
A point was made about how many spaces would be taken by daily parkers. It was stated that there was a huge demand for parking, citing Sport Manitoba's huge demand for employee parking.
The next question was for on-street parking. The parking authority have working with the Active Transportation people, I asked the quesiton "are you going to take on-street parking spots and turn them over to bicycle parking and will it be paid parking for the bicycles?"
Hill's response:
-pretty impractical to charge bikes for paid parking, people are hooking up to trees and racks now
-in the garage facilities there are bike corrals a secure environment
-with the new machines the parking authority is now able to measure the activity on individual street fronts
-have a good idea of where the high demand areas are and aren't
-volume of cars parked increases in the winter, decreases in the summer
-the thinking now if reduced demand for curb side parking in the summer, can pick some strategic areas around the city that are convenient to bike paths, find some way to put some free bike racks in to accomodate the bike riders that are using the riders using the bike paths
-Hill thinks that demand drops down enough in summer that 10 or 20 spaces in downtown can be used, won't hurt anything
-has to be a portable system put it in spring, take it out in fall
-has been asked to look into it, have a prototype at the moment
I asked if there were plans for actual on-street parking spots where bikes will be parked
Hill's respone:
-might plunk down a bike rack
-will be on street
-Hill's suggestion is to work with Active Transportation to find some spots to put some temporary platforms with some bike racks, similar to what is seen in Europe
-wouldn't stick to the busiest areas of the Exchange District.
Bob Axford asked a question regarding the first five year report for the organization, asking the question of "what is the mechanism for renewal? Does the Council have to vote for the second five year, does it have to approve the process for the first five years to continue on or what is this mechanism?"
Hill's response:
-Council set up the parking authority in 2005 as an agency of the City
-has an operating charter established at that time, intended to be a permanent organization
-laid out what the first five years would look like, does an annual budget but wanted Council to see what they could expect in five years
-just trying to do that again
Axford asks "what is the purpose of the five year report if there is not accountability for some specific performance and will that report be in any manner public?"
Hill's response:
-everything before council is public
-approved in 2004
-financial accountability for budget that is addressed every year by council
Bob Axford continue on asking "no specific mechanism to say we are going another five with these boys, just keep on going?"
Hill's response:
-public talks to councillors
-not in a vacuum, is at city hall half the day
-expertise is on and off street parking
-expertise is also enforcement at some level
-trying to do is run a safe secure on and off street parking facility for people
-run enforcement in such a way that it's very fair, manageable and transparent
Box Axford states that he is interested in accountability. Axford wonders "the other area of accountability I'm sort of wondering about is contracts for those various pieces of machinery that are on the street and the contracts for the various pieces of machinery the enforcement officers use. Are those contracts public?" Dave Hill does indicate the contracts are public.
Axford asks "where are they?" Dave Hill answers "they are purchased through the material management division of the City". Axford asks "are they tendered?"
Hill's response:
-yes they are tendered
-unless there is a sole source that is determined for a unique reason, could be a specialized function or a particular element of our environment that determines a certain used as opposed to another
-case of hand held computers, number of companies considered, the selection made on best value, lowest price, lowest long term price, decision was made in 2004
-in the case of the on-street equipment, some experiments made, weather testing suggested these (current) would operate the best given our winters
Axford asks about the hand held are a single source? Hill replies:
-enforcement program went out to public tender in 2004
Axford asks about the hand held equipment saying "I thought you just finished saying that it was specifically requested that you had a specific product you were after".
Hill replies:
-same policy that governs the rest of the city
-if there is a specific product that does some specific thing that you need to do in the city there is opportunity with authority from the city manager, the CAO or his designate through the purchasing department to create a sole source opportunity
Axford asks if "this was one of the things that had sole source?"
Hill replies:
-not the enforcement program
-not the hand held computers, not the software that went with them
Axford "what about the paystations?"
Hill:
-paystations were tendered, the requirement in tender document, had to perform at -37 at an acceptable level
-only one organization at that time who could meet that requirement
Axford: "Reason I asked those questions has to do with your past employment with some of the firms that you end up buying equipment from, I'd like to know what you've done to protect yourself from conflict of interest?"
Hill:
-recused himself from those decisions
-worked for T2 Systems briefly in 1999
-familiar with the product
-but was not involved
Axford "same thing with G4S?"
Hill: I was not involved with those decisions
I asked "how many paystations does the city actually own? Or are they all leased?"
Hill's response:
-deal with supplier, get them at no payment for the first year, then pay for them another successive three years
-at the moment approximately 630 paystations, around 4000 metered stall areas
I asked "so how do you justify the large investment in the equipment that isn't being returned?"
Hill's response:
-it's being returned, meter revenues $4 million dollars
I asked "when there are zero cars parking on Waterfront by Higgens and there is a paystation there that will never see any return, how do you justify that cost?"
Hill's response:
-it's a pilot, put it out there, see what's happening in that area
-lots of activity going on in that part of the city now, more activity on those street corners, make more capacity for that 15% availablity of parking
-if at a point with some of these if there is no activity in the area, they (paystations) are moved
I asked on Waterfront, south side of York at Waterfront. Dave Hill answers that it belongs to the Forks. Approximately two years ago it was sorted out as to who owned the property.
Bob Axford speaks of the pilot projects put in place in some of the residential neighbourhoods and that there have been complaints particularly about the lack of consultation in those neighbourhoods. Axford points out that Hill had talked about acting on the neighbourhood desire.
Hill's response:
-when parking authority set up, had years or problems to deal with
-last couple of years has been some suggestion back to the parking authority that some things should be done in different ways based on experience before
I asked about consultation specifically residential streets, where people found about the paystations on their streets when the machines went in, why was there no consultation in many areas?
Hill's response:
-what rule changed for residents?
-paystation generates turnover in traffic
I stated that these were purely residential streets, nobody had told the residents about the paystations. Where was the consultation with the residents saying you're going to get a paystation?
Hill's response:
-went out the year before talked to a lot of people, not everybody became aware of it (Hill guesses)
Question of where these areas are located I answered Assiniboine, HSC, Pacific
Hill's response:
-in the case of Assiniboine, went door to door and had support of the councillor there
(Kim) - actual door to door or did you go knocking on the supers door, handing out the letters in everybody's mailbox
(Hill) -"little of both we talked to everyone"
(Kim) -I spoke to alot of the residents and they said they knew nothing up to and including alot of the businesses
(Hill) -(Hill did an aside to the other members in the room saying "this isn't an exchange issue)
-in that scenario what actually changes for the residents, except their parking improves? What changes
I said, "what they wanted was consultation?" "How about some of the residents, Pacific, Alexander they didn't know this was happening" Businesses up on Logan didn't know about the paystations.
Hill's response:
-"public works dug up my front yard this morning, I didn't know it was happening".
-things happen in the public right of way, it's public property
-is governed by council, by the whole process
-if people have specific complains, they are not shy about calling or letting the parking authority know the complaints
-what found from Assiniboine, is going to be turned into a bicycle way, limited parking
-with pressure thats on parking south of Broadway, there is a need to create a greater turnover of traffic
-had a number of consultations with that
-nothing changes for residents except for parking meters, transient traffic moves on farther away, it thins out
-for residents overall situation improves, residents aren't paying at the meters it's the people who aren't really supposed to be there in the first place.
A zoning question arose asking if any new developments required parking spaces to be provided. Dave Hill answered saying that the zoning by-laws had changed and parking does not have to be added, residential or commercial. Hill did say that there is no permanent parking on the streets for condo owners, the street is public property.
Hill went on to say that "in the future they may have to work with the residential permit program a little bit downtown." Hill went on to say that he (Hill) had been in discussion with Councillor Browaty about this issue.
I asked a question about the meter permits, asking if permit holders were allowed to sit at a meter all day?
Hill's response:
-meter permits are for 3 hours
-police them every 3 hours, but with time restrictions hard to be there every 3 hours
-did say that typically they turnover quickly
I asked if it was a three hour permit in a two hour zone, doesn't that violate the by-laws? Dave Hill answered "no".
I asked how it didn't violate the by-laws.
Hill's response:
-it's sold for a three hour period
-it's in our budget, budget goes to council, the budget constitutes an act of council, if there is changes in the by-laws it's incorporated in the budget, changes to operating charter it's incorporated in the budget, if changes to schedule of fees and times it's in the budget
I stated the meter by-law section 5 and the traffic by-law section 26 states you can't exceed your parking time, so wouldn't the three hours exceed the two hour limit.
Hill's response:
-is it the current by-law? I replied yes
-"when we put our budget together we said here's the permit we're selling, here's the time limit on it, council approved that, has the same basis as a by-law".
I asked if the parking authority was ticketing for overtime parking at a meter. (In January at the seminar I asked the same question. Hill's reply was "that overtime parking at a meter wasn't an offense".)
Hill's response:
-"what staying at a meter longer than two hours?" (I said yes)
I further clarified by saying either paid or permits.
Hill's response:
-"from time to time we do, we try not to issue as many tickets downtown as possible".
A question was asked about what were meter permits. Dave Hill gave an explanation what kind of permits were available saying the three hour permits were $85.00. Hill did mention that the permits were "a really good deal for real estate people".
Bob Axford asked what revenue was generated for the last year and the income that is turned over to the city from this operation. Axford asks what kind of shape the parking authority is in? Dave Hill stated that all budgets submitted went to Council. Further saying that the parking authority generated more than they spent. Axford asked "how did you do last year...what was generated?" Dave Hill said "this year even with losing Winnipeg Square is $3 million". (if you listen in the background you can hear Hill say "last year I think it was five").
Bob Axford continued on "what you're saying is, you're generally going up?" Hill did say that money generated gets turned over to Council, is part of the overall city budget. Hill then said "our suggestion is leave it with us, we'll build more parking garages."
Axford asked "you appear to be going up considerably higher than the rate of inflation on how you are generating revenue".
Hill's response:
-thinks the parking authority is stable now
-had a large deficit before, push was on to generate funds to fill that gap that was being created.
Axford asked if Hill's compensation package had a performance component to it? Hill's answer is "no".
I asked if ticket counts were on the rise or decrease?
Hill's response:
-thinks the counts are stable
-with new ability with the automated process with time parking out in the "burbs", able to hit those areas more often because it's automated, bit more ticket activity but it's generally stable
-when the Commissionaires were enforcing there were 170 000 to 180 000 tickets a year, but due to changes in enforcement activities, more flexible on the street.
-the city is steady at about 150 000 tickets per year.
Dave Hill did say that they "try to do things so that people don't get parking tickets". Further saying "that they are trying to create a program that allows people to do what they need to do with as little of that activity as possible".
There was some chatter, but this is pretty much the end of the session. I did ask Jarret from the Exchange District Biz about being part of the City. The Exchange Biz along with the Downtown Biz were agencies of the City, does that mean that they are actually affiliated with the City. Jarret said that they are an "arms length agency of the City".
