$55K to surveil garbage-dumpers
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A plan to film people illegally dumping garbage will be considered by the City of Winnipeg.
Coun. Ross Eadie (Mynarski) and Coun. Devi Sharma (Old Kildonan) raised the issue in a June city council meeting, and now a report is recommending the city spend $55,000 on six surveillance cameras to catch people dumping garbage in private lots.
“We know where the problematic areas are and there’s quite a few of them,” Eadie said.
“We called 2012 the Garbage Apocalypse in my office. It’s still a big problem in back lanes. People are driving into a backlane and dumping it on somebody’s lawn.”
It is a rampant problem that should be met with stiff fines, Eadie said, suggesting penalties up to $2,500 for an individual and $6,000 for a business.
Eadie said the city’s innovation committee would have to approve a budget increase to purchase the cameras.
“The money that comes in will more than likely offset the cost of the video camera,” he said.
“... And there are people that just drive into parts of the North End, parts of the West End. That is happening because they have no respect for our neighbourhoods.”
Eadie said there’s a cost to the city already with bylaw enforcement needing to investigate complaints.
Eadie said he believes city council will vote on it some time in December.
Twitter: @LarkinsWSun
