Overnight Parking Ban
“Tonight, clear and very cold. Wind chills approaching -15F. High 13F. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph, chance of precipitation zero percent,†was the weather forecast I heard on the radio as I drove home from work at approximately 9 pm. I parked my car on the street directly infront of my house. Knowing that the chance of snow was zero percent, there was no chance my car would get in the way of snow removal crews as they would not be needed.
The next morning when I went to warm up my car before driving to work I saw a ticket under my windshield. I had been assessed a $15 fine for violating the overnight parking ban. “Between November 1 and April 30 there is no parking permitted on any City street between the hours of 1:00 A.M. and 6:00 A.M.†As I drove to work I noticed several other cars on my street, all with tickets under their windshields. Why is this? So that snow removal crews do not have to deal with having to tow cars when a snowstorm hits. While this makes sense, there has not yet been a snowstorm in Keene and winter is halfway over. Are the parking enforcement officers so inept that they are unable to look up at the sky and see stars not snow? Most cities I am aware of institute parking bans when snow is at least in the forecast, but the city of Keene has yet to understand this basic concept.
The parking ban is not limited to city streets and parking lots, but also the city owned undercover parking garage. The chance of a car being in the way of a snowplow, even in the worst snowstorm, is always zero, yet the fine city of Keene still feels the risk is still too great to take.
Parking enforcement should not be an excuse to exploit the citizens of Keene. The city council needs to start thinking logically and change policy that does not make sense.
Toby
