Jay Khanuja, owner of Kingshead Pub in the Exchange District, said the city needs to do a better job of notifying businesses and drivers about temporary no-parking zones.

He said he saw the signs go up sometime in the early afternoon Wednesday. According to the city, the signs went up between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., and read, “No parking between 20:00- 6:00.”

Khanuja said usually the city posts signs a few days in advance, and that the signs often include a date.

“I thought it was going to be for the weekend that they were putting them up for advanced warning, which is what the city normally does if they’re going to do something like this,” said Khanuja.

The Jets played at the MTS Centre Wednesday night, which Khanuja said usually means more business at his bar. But around 8 p.m., people parked outside his pub started getting towed.

“Everyone said, ‘I can’t believe they’re doing this on a Jets night, I can’t believe they’re clearing snow that doesn’t need to be cleared, and I can’t believe they’re doing it at the time they’re doing it,’” said Khanuja.

He said he saw about 10 tow trucks on King Street, and another five or six on Princess Street.

“We actually saved about five cars because the spacing on the signage was greater than what’s allowed,” said Khanuja. He saw one sign on King Street at Bannatyne Avenue, and one on the other side of William Avenue.

Khanuja wants the city to do a better job of letting businesses and drivers know when and where they can’t park.

“We’ve done a great job of building the downtown; we shouldn’t do something that’s backhanded that’s going to affect how people are going to think about coming back into the area,” he said.

“We’d like to see an email come out letting the businesses in the area know that that’s happening as well, and also maybe just consult us.”

The city said signs are erected about 15 metres from any intersection, and the maximum spacing between no-parking signs is 60 metres.

“License plates of parked cars are recorded when signs go up and this list is consulted before towing and/or ticketing,” said Lisa Fraser from the City of Winnipeg in an email.

Any vehicle arriving after signs were put up will be ticketed and towed, and vehicles arriving prior to signage going up will be towed to a street nearby.

“People were scrambling, who were watching the Jets game while it was on, who didn’t have tickets to go. (They) were trying to find where else they could go and park,” said Khanuja, who got at least three angry emails from customers Thursday.

In total, six cars were ticketed on King Street, and 23 ticketed on Princess Street, Wednesday evening. Three vehicles on King Street were towed, along with 22 on Princess Street. None were courtesy towed.