The Incoherence of Hudson's Overnight Parking Rule

DPW was out last night, but HPD was not

Hudson's overnight alternate side parking rule, as I understand it, serves two purposes:  keep one side of our streets free of parked vehicles so that the street sweeper can clean that side of the street and get to the other side the next night; and, allow the snow plows to clear one side of the street when it snows and get to the other side of the street the next night.  But the way the rule is enforced and applied makes no sense.

I received a $15 WRONG SIDE overnight ticket a few weeks ago when I forgot to move my car to the odd side of the street.  There was only a threat of flurries that night -- which we received -- so DPW plows were not out and the street sweeper, since it utilizes water for its process, does not operate in the winter cold.  My car wasn't in a plow's or the sweeper's way, but HPD issued me a ticket anyway. 

Problem!  Ticket!

Last night the DPW plows were out clearing the streets and applying salt to the roads during the snowfall.  Ideally, they like to clear right to the curb (thus the rule!), so cars parked on the WRONG SIDE of any street are problematic and certainly deserving of a ticket.  But these two cars I show were parked on the WRONG (odd) side of N. 6th AND NEITHER ONE OF THEM WERE TICKETED BY HPD.  You can see where the plow was unable to clear the snow in front of both of the vehicles PARKED ON THE WRONG SIDE AND IN THE PLOW'S WAY.   Behind the vehicles is also untouched snow in the street.  

Not a problem!  No ticket!

DPW's Rob Perry tells us a few times every winter how important it is to park on the correct side of the street to stay out of the plows' way, and HPD apparently feels that parking in the plows' way is NOT A PROBLEM.  But parking on the WRONG side of the street when there is no snow, no plows and no street sweeper on the streets IS A BIG PROBLEM AND YOU WILL GET A $15 TICKET TO PROVE IT!  That's why there is a rule, after all!

It's like no one at City Hall speaks to one another, especially Rob Perry and Ed Moore.