Over 3000 Cars Ticketed and Towed for Violations of a Snow Emergancy (But wait there was no Snow)

Got to love the government, they tow your cars when not one single snow flake fall and the mayor will not forgive the tickets.

Many awoke to find neither the expected snow � nor their cars. Others found tickets on their vehicles saying they had violated the snow emergency called by the mayor.

Because of weather forecasts calling for up to 8 inches of snow, Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone declared a snow emergency at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Within hours, with nary a flake in sight and barely any on the way, 3,000 cars were ticketed and another 200 were towed before the ban was lifted at 4:20 a.m.

The tickets cost $50, and the tow jobs $145.

"They shouldn't be able to charge you because they ain't got no snow," said Jeff Reislen, who got a ticket for parking on a snow emergency street. "This is ridiculous."

The mayor disagreed. He said Wednesday that he has no plans to forgive the tickets or the towing charges, which could combine for a possible $179,000 windfall for the city.

Click here for the article

Originally posted by BlackJackal
Got to love the government, they tow your cars when not one single snow flake fall and the mayor will not forgive the tickets.

Many awoke to find neither the expected snow � nor their cars. Others found tickets on their vehicles saying they had violated the snow emergency called by the mayor.

Because of weather forecasts calling for up to 8 inches of snow, Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone declared a snow emergency at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Within hours, with nary a flake in sight and barely any on the way, 3,000 cars were ticketed and another 200 were towed before the ban was lifted at 4:20 a.m.

The tickets cost $50, and the tow jobs $145.

"They shouldn't be able to charge you because they ain't got no snow," said Jeff Reislen, who got a ticket for parking on a snow emergency street. "This is ridiculous."

The mayor disagreed. He said Wednesday that he has no plans to forgive the tickets or the towing charges, which could combine for a possible $179,000 windfall for the city.

Click here for the article

basically the twat wants the money!

A clear cash grab. Wonder if the mayor will be working as a parking lot attendant after the next election.

I would be pretty angry if my car were towed...some people might not have even known about the "snow emergency" and you would think if it didnt snow then it wouldnt go into effect, or else would be cancelled. But yea, they sure love the money they pulled in from all this.

just a money grubbing mayor. reminds me of quimby. oh well, he will regret when election time rolls around

Thats true. He'll have time to rue his actions at election time and he is kicked out on his arse. And it couldn't happen to a nicer man

Traffic tickets equal fast, easy money.

I have to go along with the mayor on this one. What if it had snowed 4 inches. With all of those cars parked on the street, snowplowing would have been difficult, if not impossible. Imagine the howls of protest then!!!!

I am pretty sure that these snow rules are posted on the streets.





EDIT BTW, I wonder if when they calculated that windfall amount if they deducted all of the overtime that they had to pay the snowplow drivers to sit around waiting for the snow to start?


[Edited on 29-1-2004 by HowardRoark]

[Edited on 29-1-2004 by HowardRoark]

They were probably "on call."

Originally posted by HowardRoark
I have to go along with the mayor on this one. What if it had snowed 4 inches. With all of those cars parked on the street, snowplowing would have been difficult, if not impossible. Imagine the howls of protest then!!!!

I am pretty sure that these snow rules are posted on the streets.
[Edited on 29-1-2004 by HowardRoark]

So are we supposed to go ahead with tickets and arrests for things that could have happened, but didn't?

Sort of like "Prophetic" Law enforcement or something. Not the best way to support a system of "Innocent until proven Guilty" IMO.

Originally posted by mOjOm

So are we supposed to go ahead with tickets and arrests for things that could have happened, but didn't?

Sort of like "Prophetic" Law enforcement or something. Not the best way to support a system of "Innocent until proven Guilty" IMO.

What arrests?

This same thing happens every year in Chicago. There are certain streets where overnight parking is prohibited from November to April. Every year, people get caught on the first day of the ban, even though there are signs right there.

I hardly think that the �Innocent until proven Guilty� doctrine applies here. The cars were parked on city streets. The city has given the Mayor the authority to declare a �Snow Emergency� should conditions dictate it. If the mayor decides to declare a snow emergency, then the city has the authority to ticket and tow violators.

Granted the mayor might have jumped the gun a bit, but then again, if it had snowed, then all of the cars would have had to be ticketed and towed anyway.

If you were a resident of that city then you should have known that there were predictions of snow that would exceed the 4� limit. It was your responsibility to move your car off the main streets. The fact that it did not snow is not important, once the mayor declared the snow emergency, those parking banns came into effect.

Certainly the city could have waited, but then again, if I was a resident of that city, I would be very careful where I parked my car if there was even the slightes possibility of snow.

Originally posted by intrepid
They were probably "on call."

I bet there are union rules that require �On-Call� drivers to be paid a certain amount even if they are not called in.

FYI folks...

This is the snow emergency plan for Somerville MA...

A snow emergency may be declared whenever 4 or more inches are predicted to fall. It will be called 6
hours before a storm is predicted to begin.


Somerville police will announce from their vehicles that residents have 4 hours to move their cars to the
odd side of the street. Parking on the even side of the street during a snow emergency is strictly
prohibited, unless otherwise posted.


Towing will commence IMMEDIATELY after the 4-hour period has elapsed.


Plowing will begin after 2 inches of snow has fallen. Main roads, cross town streets, bus routes, and �hospital hills� will
be done first. The intent of the city is to plow wherever possible, up to the curb.


If you do not have access to off-street parking, residents may use the following locations during a snow emergency.

Schools:

Ward 1 East Somerville Community School and Michael E. Capuano School

Ward 2 Lincoln Park Community School

Ward 3 Cummings School

Ward 4 Healey School

Ward 5 Brown School and Kennedy School

Ward 6 Powder House Community School

Ward 7 West Somerville Neighborhood School

Municipal Buildings and Lots:

City Hall Concourse

Central Library

West Branch Library

(All Municipal metered parking lots)

www.ci.somerville.ma.us...

Looks to me like they didn't comply with the plan, and got fined for it...

i dont think we have snow emergencies in the UK

snow plows can still get round cars if they are parked on the main road anyway, fair enough the broke the rules, but everyone knows the weather is a prediction and nothing more

it didnt snow so i dont see the problem

Originally posted by cleggy
i dont think we have snow emergencies in the UK

just wait

snow plows can still get round cars if they are parked on the main road anyway,

:/

You think so, Huh?

that is harsh. people might have been waiting for it to start snowing, thinking they would move them before the trucks came to plow. Local governments can be ridiculous. I still don't understand the reasoning for not being allowed to park cars on the streets at night. I've gotten several $7 dollar tickets that way. If it's left out past 2am you'll get a ticket. I think that's the best time to have the car on the road. I once spent the night at a family members house, pulled my car in so it wouldn't be on the street, even though it was still in the drive way my car was on the side walk (the part the intersects the driveway) and I got ticketed (cause it was on the sidewalk)

[Edited on 29-1-2004 by Bob88]

Originally posted by HowardRoark
What arrests?

You're right, no arrests, I was using it as an example that's all

This same thing happens every year in Chicago. There are certain streets where overnight parking is prohibited from November to April. Every year, people get caught on the first day of the ban, even though there are signs right there.

The difference there is that it's not a prediction based on possible events of "Acts of God" or "Mother Nature" that are "UnPredictable" as far as Accuracy or Reliability.

I hardly think that the �Innocent until proven Guilty� doctrine applies here. The cars were parked on city streets. The city has given the Mayor the authority to declare a �Snow Emergency� should conditions dictate it. If the mayor decides to declare a snow emergency, then the city has the authority to ticket and tow violators.

I see it as being a perfectly valid comparison. All those who parked there and got tickets did nothing wrong other than not complying to an Authority figure who WAS WRONG. Being that he was Wrong, he should not Force the tickets to be Valid. If he has the Authority to Declare such Emergencies then it should also work to set things right as well.

People allow Authority Figures to Justify their BAD CALLS yet it doesn't work the other way around. It's no wonder POWER CORRUPTS, it is ALLOWED and thought of as Acceptable simply because it came from an Official Source. (Next thing ya know we'll have Government Officials starting War for "What If's" or "Possible" reasons!! Wait a sec.....Why does that sound familiar???)

Granted the mayor might have jumped the gun a bit, but then again, if it had snowed, then all of the cars would have had to be ticketed and towed anyway.

That's fine, as it would have been justified according to the Emergency Rule put into effect. I don't consider it to be justified to give me a speeding ticket on the probability that I may have sped to work or might have run a red light either. When I do, then and only then is the ticket valid.

If you were a resident of that city then you should have known that there were predictions of snow that would exceed the 4� limit. It was your responsibility to move your car off the main streets. The fact that it did not snow is not important, once the mayor declared the snow emergency, those parking banns came into effect.

The fact that it didn't snow is VERY Important, since that was the reason they got ticketed and/or towed. The Mayor would be better off admitting to a bad call and act in the interest of the People, who he is supposed to be serving. But I guess that would be a system Of the People, By the People, and For the People, which is all but a dead idea today I suppose.

Certainly the city could have waited, but then again, if I was a resident of that city, I would be very careful where I parked my car if there was even the slightes possibility of snow.

I agree. I also include the Mayor as being someone who should be careful as a Resident and Elected Official of that City as to the actions he makes.

If that had happened to me I'd have incited a #ing riot.
IT DIDN'T SNOW!
If it had snowed, go for it, ticket away, BUT IT DIDN'T AND THEY IMPEDED NOTHING!
RIOT!

I agree with the decision. Sure i would be mad but cmon guys thesae ppl purposely disobeyed the law. I mean they lived in a communtity where the law haw power over and they should know the law. If your do somethin you know is wrong u deserve the consequences. And you might say they might not have known. Hmmm there predicting snow so lets look at this. If you have kids ull sure know umm if you work you would know and also how many of these ppl made other preperation about the on commin snow. Even tho it didnt happen the law was still in effect a law that the people drafted through there representatives. So come on i could understand being pissed but sayin the mayor is out of line thats pushin it. And why whoudl the city loose out for some ppl incompatance.

It makes me laugh when I see such action taken over 6 inches of snow, when it was a no-snow,LOL...
If only we were so lucky. We are having a real cold winter here in Alaska. The moose are everywhere, are getting hit by vehicles, been a record year here for auto-related moose kills. saw and checked on a lady who hit one last night, she won- moose lost. Usually the other way around. I think we just passed 300 moose kills, highway and auto related, in my area.
And then add black ice, glare ice, along with the moose.Oh yeah, the snow- plenty. 5 feet in my yard.
Six inches...I wish. I feel sorry for all the ticketed people, what a crock.I would fight that, for sure- if I was a ticketed resident. Especially, when it was a "no- snow" situation...

Originally posted by HowardRoark
I have to go along with the mayor on this one. What if it had snowed 4 inches. With all of those cars parked on the street, snowplowing would have been difficult, if not impossible. Imagine the howls of protest then!!!!

I imagine they'd do what we do in Minnesota. Go out and move the car when you see some snow gathering. It sure doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure that one out. Actually, 4 inches is nothing. We drive through that.

[Edited on 1-29-2004 by Satyr]