In a space of a few minutes last week, the controversial plan to introduce paid parking to more populated parts of West Vancouver took a bizarre detour.
A staff report on next steps to eliminate more free parking from the community was shelved so we could hear an improvisational sales pitch from Mayor Mark Sager and Maureen O’Brien, executive director of the Ambleside & Dundarave Business Improvement Association. Sager was enthused about what he called “game-changing technology” and O’Brien called “a silver bullet” to parking challenges as she sees them.
Sager described how “pure and complete coincidence” led to a meeting with someone working for a U.S. company that has state-of-the-art, AI-driven parking technology. The mayor was told West Vancouver would be the ideal place to test the technology in Canada. “I was flattered and complimented by that offer,” the mayor added.
“I had breakfast with this gentleman,” the mayor offered. “I said, ‘wow, this sounds incredible.’” Councillors were indisposed, but Sager brought O’Brien to a 90-minute briefing from this unnamed man about this unnamed business. O’Brien professed the technology as “a solution to all our parking problems” – the lack of enforcement, the visitors to the parks, even the existing resident paid parking in three parks. O’Brien said the company has offered a 30-day trial in Ambleside Park “and in our commercial area,” free of charge, to collect data. Sager wants to set up a community briefing to discuss it, and his enthusiasm is telling.
O’Brien explained: “They put in these cameras that will track people coming in and leaving. For Dundarave, for example, when they drive into Dundarave, they’ve got two hours to be there, and if they don’t drive out, they get a ticket. There’s no monitoring. It’s all done through AI technology. And very, very impressive.”
Forget for a second about logistics – there are so many roads and laneways in and out of areas, we’re talking about copious cameras, presumably at no small expense.
But, automated surveillance of comings and goings? What could possibly go wrong with that? How about: privacy, accountability, data misuse, hacking, implicit tracking, mission creep, discrimination, errors, freedom of movement, behaviour modification, and social trust, for starters?
I have questions. Lots. First, what is the problem we’re trying to solve?
Is it a need for revenue? If so, why does the mayor promise to exempt West Vancouverites from paying? If not, why do it?
Is it to prevent people from coming to our parks? Or is it to prevent people from overparking in front of businesses O’Brien represents? Regardless, is this the best investment in enforcement?
Besides, if it’s about revenue from visitors, isn’t charging for nearby parking unhelpful to those businesses on the main drags? Won’t the visitors just park free there and walk short distances to the parks?
So, is it that not before long we will be imposing paid parking more broadly than the proposed 700 spots at Cypress Fall Park, Ambleside Park, John Lawson Park, Dundarave Park, Argyle Avenue between 14th and 15th and near Seaview Walk?
And by the way, if these dreaded outsiders are visiting our parks, aren’t they also dining at our restaurants or buying from our merchants?
Next: has anyone had the courtesy to call Impark to tell them their contract with the district for the initial paid parking in Lighthouse, Nelson Canyon and Whytecliff Parks doesn’t seem worth the paper it’s written on?
Has anyone consulted Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), BC Hydro or West Vancouver Schools? Some of these lands are theirs. (Thought it was rather coarse and uncouth of Coun. Christine Cassidy to recommend the district not “engage” them on the issue, but simply “inform, with respect,” as if that’s possible.)
And if you’re committed to this sketchy plan, has anyone thought about, say, a request for proposals to let businesses bid on it? Isn’t it best to get a deal for the taxpayers through professional competition and not personal connection?
Despite what O’Brien and Sager told council, AI parking technology is hardly unique. Firms like Metropolis Technologies, SenSen Networks, Passport, Hayden AI, Flock Safety, WiseSight, Cleverciti Systems, SpotHero (it operates in Canada, too), ParkZen, Rent2Park, SafariAI, and Flash all use AI in one way or another for various parking functions.
AI camera surveillance hasn’t been game-changing for years – just go through customs at the airport or walk around many countries – but it sure would change the game here.
My next questions are the most important: What the hell are we thinking of unleashing? Furnishing cameras to detect who is coming and going for the sake of dealing with parking issues?
Is that the community we want?
I’ll stop here, just as I hope council does.
Kirk LaPointe is a West Vancouver columnist with an extensive background in journalism. His column appears bi-weekly in the North Shore News.
