I am also going to gues that the streets in this town are typical narrow New England roads. Not that it matters much, but it certainly justifies the city needing to get all the cars off the roads to be able to plow.

LOL! I thought it was Toronto when I read this, they love writing tickets up here too!

Well when there is heavy snow they do need to clear some city streets for obvious reasons.

People always assume that when there is not a major storm that the likelihood of being ticketed in a snow route is minimal. It is, but don't assume that storms won't happen and that tickets won't be written.

at 7pm he calls a snow emergency - how were these people to know?

In these parts, signs are posted that an emergency is in effect if there is X inches of snow. So, if the streets require plowing you know to get your car out of the way or get towed.

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.

Tickets are not a fine for doing something wrong; they have become simply a moneymaker. In Chicago they give streets where the aldermans' buddies live permit parking, and squeeze peasants into playing musical parking spaces. They paint long yellow curbs in non-permit parking blocks to catch more people. Just a racket. Then Daley spends $40 million on the latest scam--giving contracts to crony trucking firms that just let their trucks sit idle all day.

there was no snow emergency. the tickets should be forgiven. no cars should have been towed as there was obviously no snow.
i'd like to know exactly WHERE people are supposed to move the cars to? typically, most of the cars on the street have nowhere else to park.
if they are paying snowplows and drivers, why not just hire tow trucks to TEMPORARILY move the cars. there must be a better way than just putting the shaft to all the residents.