WINNIPEG — This winter’s first residential snow clearing operation got underway Friday, but it hasn’t gone smoothly.
More than a thousand vehicles were ticketed for being parked in violation of the parking ban that went into effect Friday morning at 7 am, when 400 pieces of equipment hit residential streets to plow away snow.
“Every street in here is lined with parked cars, said Kevin Kroetsch, who drives a loader,”for one you can’t do a nice job, it slows things down, makes more work for the machines, now we have to operate these big machines in and around all these parked cars.”
A residential parking ban went into effect at 7 a.m. Friday in certain zones and by noon the city had ticketed and towed 1133 cars.
For four years, the city has tried to get the message out by advertising, launching a website, using social media, traditional media. But the complicated alphabet based schedule is still confusing residents.
“They actually towed me from that street over there and I chased them and they moved it over here.” Jay Miller’s car was towed Friday morning. He says he knows about know your zone but was confused by the date. He was hit with a $150 fine for being parked on his street, it’s reduced to $75 if paid early.
Tow truck companies have been overwhelmed with moving cars over a street if it’s in the way of a plow, not to the tow lot.
But still, tow truck driver Gurpreet Dhillon says people have been frustrated with him, “they’re just yelling ‘you give the ticket?’ I said ‘no, I don’t give the ticket, I’m just checking the ticket and we just move the car one street over.'”
The ban applies in 12-hour segments in each of the city’s “snow zones”. Residents must call 311 or check the city’s website to know which zone they are in and when it is scheduled for snow clearing.
Comments