Thread by @rk_thorpe

A new @WinnipegNews investigative series from yours truly – two months in the making – drops online tonight.

A thread. #wfp

Last November, an independent researcher named Christian Sweryda contacted me with a news tip.

He’d spent more than a decade studying traffic-related issues in Winnipeg, including engineering deficiencies and safety concerns.

But more recently, his work took a surprising turn.

Sweryda claimed to have stumbled onto a massive campaign of inefficient and unnecessary work by the transportation division of the Public Works Department.

The scope of the alleged financial mismanagement was staggering: dating back at least 12 years, across the entire city, to the tune of millions of dollars.

At first I wasn’t sure what to make of Sweryda’s claims, but the more I spoke to him, the more it became clear he had deep subject matter expertise on traffic engineering and regulations.

But there was a catch: he lacked credentials. He is employed by the Winnipeg School Division and is a second-year law student. He’s the definition of an autodidact.

I spoke to U of M and U of W profs who regularly invite him to guest lecture on traffic related issues, and who vouch for his ability as a researcher.

I spoke to a local politician who has collaborated with him on numerous traffic safety improvements at the municipal level.

And I looked up a court case and a professional engineering oversight investigation where his work was cited.

I also reviewed his research myself – more than 10 years of it, hundreds of pages of documents, reports, correspondence, and detailed lists of traffic infrastructure.

The back story and his prior research was just as fascinating and concerning – if not more so – than his current work on financial mismanagement.

And as much as I tried to poke holes in it, the work struck me as incredibly thorough and credible.

I then connected him with subject matter experts, including engineering professionals and a lawyer who specializes in anti-corruption.

They came away warning that Winnipeg looks to have a very serious problem on its hands.

Introducing the @WinnipegNews investigative series: Red Light, Green Light, No Oversight.

Part 1 online tonight on The Free Press website and in tomorrow’s edition of the newspaper.

Everyone knows the joke: Winnipeg has two seasons, winter and construction.

Turns out the joke is on taxpayers.

winnipegfreepress.com/local/money-fo…

I’m going to share some initial reaction to the @WinnipegNews investigative series Red Light, Green Light, No Oversight.

#wfp

First and foremost we’ve got Coun. Matt Allard, who chairs the public works department.

He’s going to introduce a motion at next week’s Riel Community Committee calling for a full audit of the transportation division of the Public Works Department.

https://twitter.com/mathieuallard/status/1495060913161789440

As reported in my first story in this series, Allard was so concerned by Sweryda's research he immediately connected him with the city auditor's office.

Whether the audit is internal or external remains to be seen.

I should note here that during my investigation, Allard was the one person at the municipal level who struck me as taking this matter extremely seriously.

He should be commended for that.

Chris Sweryda has spent the better part of a decade trying to get the City of Winnipeg to follow basic traffic engineering standards and implement common sense reforms.

And where Sweryda has made progress in recent years, it’s because he’s had an ally in Allard.

Next we've got Brian Kelcey, a municipal government policy wonk I have great respect for.

He says “bizarre, clubby, indiscernible” has been the MO of the public works department for a long time.

https://twitter.com/stateofthecity/status/1495036802419367940

And this is a thread from Ryan Palmquist, Allard’s executive assistant, who points to the numerous outstanding safety issues which have been neglected by the department for many, many years.

https://twitter.com/Palmquist88/status/1494856464892059648

The most frustrating thing about reporting this story out wasn’t the waste (although it’s very bad) but how the department claimed it lacked resources for basic safety improvements at the same time they were throwing away money.

More on that later.

Finally, I've seen some folks asking whether or not Sweryda's findings could be explained by damage, ie: vehicles knock down traffic poles leading to ad hoc repairs.

I'm going to share this comment I saw on the Winnipeg subreddit, because I think it hits the mark.

For the record: No, this cannot be explained by cars knocking down traffic poles.

What we're talking about here is systematic, wholesale changes to traffic infrastructure that experts say does not appear to make any sense.

Year after year after year.

Intersection after intersection after intersection.

More to come.

BREAKING: Coun. Scott Gillingham (St. James), who chairs the city's finance committee, is calling for a public hearing to review allegations of wasted taxpayer resources by the Public Works Department at the City of Winnipeg.

#wfp

“The initial allegations by researcher Christian Sweryda and published in the Winnipeg Free Press are very concerning,” Gillingham said.

“We must ensure we are getting the maximum result every time we spend a taxpayers’ dollar.”

We've now got the chair of the public works committee (Allard) and the chair of the finance committee (Gillingham) calling for an investigation into the findings of independent researcher Christian Sweryda.

The only question is what form the investigation will take?

Allard is calling for an audit, whereas Gillingham is calling for a public hearing led by the standing policy committee on finance.

Story on Gillingham's call for a public hearing here:

winnipegfreepress.com/local/public-h…