Bummed is what you are when you go out to your car and it’s been towed . . . don’t be bummed.Some musical inspiration . . . the first one is pretty to look at, the second one is more interesting to listen to but poor video!
WILL THEY OR WON’T THEY?
It’s a complete mystery about when and if the city will decide to ticket or tow your car if you mess up (and we all do!) and park on the wrong side of the street during downtown alternate side parking for a snow emergency.
My advice if you’re trying to navigate downtown winter parking is sign up for the text alerts and emails. And check your phone to make sure you have the correct date – and don’t park for today, park for tomorrow’s date. And then watch for the parking restrictions the following morning and move your car between 7am and 8am if necessary. Oh, and budget a couple hundred dollars for parking tickets. Good luck!!!!!
Usually they say that they will tow cars in their press releases and snow updates. Last time they didn’t say they’d tow, but did. Rob, my husband, got towed. This was the only warning given, just hours before they started towing:
From: Romines, Charles
Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2020 9:34 PM
To: Johnson, Bryan
Cc: Rummel, Marsha; Heck, Patrick; Verveer, Michael; Evers, Tag; Bidar, Shiva
Subject: Re: Snow Emergency
For the declared Snow Emergency we will have the tow package in place in the Snow Emergency Zone tonight and tomorrow night. Cars are ticketed and towed to the nearest plowed and legal parking space. Almost always within a couple blocks.
Charlie
THEY WILL! YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!
From: Johnson, Bryan
Sent: Wednesday, January 22, 2020 4:51 PM
To: Rummel, Marsha; Evers, Tag; Verveer, Michael; Bidar, Shiva; Heck, Patrick
Cc: Romines, Charles; Niesen, Stefanie; Obeng, Kwasi; Kapusta-Pofahl, Karen; Bottari, Mary; Crawley, Katie
Subject: CSCL Towing
Hello, everyone.
The below is for your information only regarding a towing program that will begin tomorrow, January 23 to better help you respond to constituent questions if they arise.
One of the wrinkles of the snow emergency zone and alternate side parking are the streets that only allow parking on one side. Vehicles parked on these kind of streets are exempt from following alternate side parking completely, even doing snow emergencies.
This, of course, creates snow-filled and narrow streets. But, with the expansion of the year-round Clean Streets/Clean Lakes we have a plan to address this problem.
On the streets that have one-sided parking and also have posted CSCL restrictions, Parking Enforcement will see that violators of the posted CSCL restrictions are ticketed and towed away on the week following a declared snow emergency where a tow package is also put in place. Once the violators are towed off, the Streets Division can get into these areas and plow the snow.
During the last snow emergency (declared on January 18), a tow package was put in place, meaning violators of the alternate side rule were ticketed and towed.
Therefore, starting tomorrow (1/23), if a parked vehicle is on a street that only allows parking on one side, and this parked vehicle is found to be in violation of the posted CSCL restriction for said street, it will be ticketed and towed. And then the street will be plowed once the obstructing car is moved.
Again, this additional towing for CSCL violations on one-sided parking streets will only be deployed on the week following a snow emergency where we also felt it was necessary to tow vehicles.
If you have any questions, let us know.
Bryan Johnson
City of Madison Streets Division
Recycling Coordinator/Public Information Officer
Office: 608-267-2626
SO, ANYONE GOING TO TELL THE REST OF US?
Only the alders should know? They clearly tow some times and not others, and make clear choices about when they do. They send info to the alders, why not include in the press releases if there is a “tow package” in place or not? It would add a sense of urgency and perhaps get better compliance? But perhaps maybe not as much revenue from the tickets!
