On Saturday at noon, I noticed that the trailer normally parked in the 400 block of Columbia, where it takes up about of a third of the width of the truck route and is never issued any overnight alternate side tickets from HPD*, was now parked in, essentially, two metered parking spaces on S. 4th Street at Warren. It was lunchtime on a busy Saturday downtown, but no one was inside the trailer trying to sell waffles to the public.
Each of the meters for those 2 spaces was empty, and public records show that HPD parking enforcers did not issue the trailer a meter violation ticket on Saturday. The two spaces behind the trailer were occupied. One of those meters was full of time, and the other was flashing the out of service DEAD signal that I find so appropriate and telling. If the one operating meter had been empty when a meter enforcer walked by, the car in the space would have been issued a $10 meter violation ticket, also known as city revenue. Not so for the trailer, though.
The trailer, at about 22 feet in length, was occupying 5 feet of the 17-foot long parking space in front, a ticketable offense, while making the space useless for other drivers. On a Saturday in downtown Hudson, the trailer was parked at least 18 inches from the curb and well outside the perimeter of the width of the space, also a ticketable offense. Of course, a vehicle that is not contained in a marked parking space is making things difficult and dangerous for passing drivers. "Whatever," says the indifferent City Hall.
Nearly 48 hours later, on a federal holiday, the trailer was still parked on S. 4th Street, apparently never having moved. If the trailer was parked there on Friday night, it should have been issued an overnight alternate side parking ticket by HPD, also known as revenue for the city. Ditto for tonight - the trailer occupying two metered spaces is parked on the even side of a city street and there is no reason it shouldn't be subject to the parking regulations we are all expected to follow when parking on city streets, including all of 4th Street. Trailers are not exempt from parking regulations unless they have been issued a $25 Parking Permit by HPD.
There are at least a few issues and challenges this trailer has presented to the city over the past several months. The biggest might be that our City Hall is okay with ignoring loss of revenues by ignoring the trailer. This isn't an article about a poorly parked trailer so much as it is about City Hall's failures and negligence, something that should concern us all. Also, recently I have noticed a related and concerning trend -- City Hall seems to regard our parking meters as more of an annoyance than a means of revenue. The parking consultant that the city hired over a year ago did his best to warn us about this.
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| No quarters to take and no tickets to issue |
A pair of meters in the City Hall parking lot have been broken and covered in tape for over one year. Broken, taped, missing, DEAD, or otherwise out of service parking meters do not accumulate quarters and do not allow enforcers to issue parking meter violation tickets. Free parking spaces downtown benefit no one but drivers. Problems, concerns and issues related to our parking meters are supposed to be brought to the attention of the city clerk. This makes no sense.
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| Old and in the way! |
* Have I forgotten what I wrote on December 29th about the same trailer being issued an overnight parking ticket that eventually fell on the ground? No, I have not. Yes, HPD did issue one overnight ticket to the trailer, but it was a meaningless effort since the ticket was eventually voided by the Parking Bureau for reasons unknown. The most recent outstanding ticket that the trailer received appears to have been issued on November 1st in the Union Street parking lot. That $10 meter violation ticket is still unpaid and has risen to $45, though it will likely soon be voided, granted amnesty, ignored, or whatever it takes for the city to do nothing about it.
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