A Winnipeg mayoral candidate is promising to roll back changes to the city’s transit network and will potentially put security in parks if elected.

Mike Vogiatzakis, who is a funeral director, made the announcements outside city hall during a news conference unveiling parts of his campaign Friday.

“This city needs common sense, and it needs to go back to the basics,” he said.

The City of Winnipeg rolled out what it called a “complete overhaul” of its transit system last year.

It replaced the “hub-and-spoke” system with a more grid-like “spine-and-feeder” model, featuring high-frequency routes along major roads, connected to smaller routes running through residential areas, the city said at the time. 

There has been criticism of the changes since they were implemented. The city has said problems with GPS equipment on buses last summer and fall left them without enough reliable data on how to assess the way the system is performing and recommend broader changes. 

If elected, Vogiatzakis has pledged to change transit back to “the way it was to the best of our ability” within his first 30 days in office.

“It’s unfair for the citizens of Winnipeg to struggle like they’re struggling,” he said. “It’s unfair that they have to walk in the wintertime for blocks to catch a bus.” 

Vogiatzakis also said he’s working on a plan “where we could possibly have security” in city parks.

“People that are not supposed to be in those parks who are … bringing drugs to those parks, who are injecting needles in their bodies, they will be removed [from] those parks immediately, and their needles will go with them,” he said. 

Vogiatzakis did not have an estimate of how much that plan would cost. 

Takes aim at mayor’s tenure

He also spoke about promises from a document put out by the mayor’s office on Scott Gillingham’s progress over the last four years.

Vogiatzakis said they were promises Gillingham made in his first election campaign but did not keep.

“And because these promises were not kept, Winnipeg is in trouble and a dangerous place. These are not rumours,” he said. “These are not personal attacks on Scott Gillingham. The evidence directly comes from Gillingham’s own report on his campaign commitments.” 

Three of the promises Vogiatzakis spoke about — limiting property tax increases to 3.5 per cent annually, reinstating a criminologist-in-residence program and asking the governance committee to codify a “councillor and citizen information rights” bylaw — are listed in the report in the “limited or no action due to changing priorities, costs or other issues” category. 

Another promise the mayoral hopeful cited — “hold the police accountable for crime prevention strategies” — is listed in the report as “commitment completed.”

“No formal action,” the report says in the section related to the promise. 

“The mayor advocated for a clearer link between plans and performance measurement for the chief as a part of the hiring process for Chief Gene Bowers.”

Another promise Vogiatzakis pointed to was “extend Chief Peguis Trail, and widen/renew Route 90 with the goal of having tenders/shovels in by 2026.” 

That promise is listed in the report from the mayor’s office as being in the “commitment launched or at least some work underway.”

The report states that while return-on-investment “studies” and “design” are done, “efforts to secure financing from other governments to start construction has been delayed by efforts to fund the North End Pollution Control Centre, which is a more urgent priority for the city’s economy.” 

A spokesperson for Gillingham’s campaign said the incumbent mayor has taken action on 80 of the 90 commitments he made in 2022 and “he has been transparent about the progress on every one of them.”

“Mike Vogiatzakis, meanwhile, is making vague promises with no details, no price tags and little understanding of how the city actually works,” the statement said. “Electing someone who doesn’t understand the job and who doesn’t even live in Winnipeg would be a huge risk for the city.”

Vogiatzakis told CBC News on Friday he has a Winnipeg home where he lives in the winter and a home in St. Andrews where he resides in the summer. If elected, he said he plans to live in Winnipeg full-time.

Winnipeg’s election will be held on Oct. 28. 

Christopher Calcio, Umar Hayat, Mazher Alam, Don Woodstock, Joshua Pagdato, Johnny Calderon, Noah Redden, Zachary Uminski and Brad Gross are also in the field vying for mayor alongside Vogiatzakis and Gillingham.