Okay, I'll get this off my chest and then I'll be better. Read my final comment on yesterday's post, first.
I just read the newspaper, where a citizen rips LPD for waking her at 2:30 AM on December 25th to tell her to move the car parked on a snow emergency route. Wasn't really any need for us to do that, other than to give her and her husband the opportunity to avoid a hefty $50 ticket and an even heftier tow fee.
They had no choice other than to leave her daughter's car on the street, and take her home. How rude of us to now suggest that they get it off the street or it would be towed!
I looked up the address on the County Assessor's website. It's not far from my home, and the photo looks a lot like my place. There is a double garage, and a double wide driveway. You could park SIX vehicles off the street. It appears to have been purchased in 2003, and the author of the letter acknowledges knowing that it is a bus route, despite pleading that the bus isn't running today.
I think it was a good idea for this couple to fire up the SUV and take their daughter home in the blizzard, but is it really too much to expect that they would think to move her car off the snow emergency route and into the driveway, and should they really fault the police for giving them the opportunity to take care of it pronto rather than face a tow? Do they think that the plow operator and the police officer, working outdoors on Christmas morning are having a Merry Time annoying people for no good reason?
In fairness, maybe her husband was out of town, and she was alone. Maybe he has the SUV, or it's in the shop, maybe there wasn't another adult in the household who could stay with the little kids while she handled the car. I don't know. But the officer's offer was just that: if you can move it, we won't need to tow it. Lots and lots of people have been afforded that opportunity during the snow emergency, because it's easier for us, and cheaper for them.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
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18 comments:
Maybe they could loan out a few of those off-street parking spots to some of those people that are whining about not having a driveway.
I hadn't really thought about a daily rate parking spot in a pay lot for people with no off street parking. The downtown lots charge a daily rate of either $5 or $6. The long-term lot at the airport is a bargain--$24/week. If you were heading out on a ski trip, your buddies could follow you out there in the van, and drop you back off on the way home--it really wouldn't be much out of the way.
If you can't afford the occasional cost of a four day parking spot in a lot while you travel, maybe you shouldn't take that trip to the Holiday Bowl.
From a saving money view this makes good. The door knocking will end when some meth head thinks he is being raided and the police had no court order. Said meth head blast through the front door, kind like the shooting on Q street some chrismases ago. policy changes quick then.
Apparently, some people just don't want to do the Monte. I'd never let someone park at my house without leaving a key with me - for the 24-hour ordinance reason. It was a huge oversight for them to not retain the key for that reason.
It's a stretch to say they could get six in there, but four (two of them in the garage) would be easy. My neighbor does that all the time, parking a third vehicle near the end of their driveway, which really works out, as they don't have to move it to get either of their other two cars out of the garage.
Rip? Chief, the proper term in the media today is BLAST (and I can only assume it has gang origins).
"Limbaugh blasted Democrats today..."
"Pelosi blasted Republicans for..."
You know any other City in the US would have just towed the vehicle.
Lincoln Police are just too darn nice.
@8:10 AM:
"....when some meth head thinks he is being raided...."
That is why an officer should always be prepared for anything that could happen. Use officer safety even when something seems 'routine'. Don't stand in front of a door when knocking!
I'm glad she isn't MY neighbor. The storm has been a challenge but hello... it's winter! It does snow here! Give the cops and the street crews a break will ya and do the things to help them do their jobs.
I assumed that when they called a plate in to determine the owner's exact address (so they know which door to knock on, which isn't always obvious), they'd also be notified of any caution flags or outstanding warrants associated with that owner, but I might be incorrect in that assumption.
Chief-34 posts and counting on the topic of snow parking. If there were only a way you could weave concealed carry into this topic, we could set a new world record for posts........
256
Chief,
I'm supporting you and LPD on this matter. Do wake up these selfish people who uses excuses that buses only run after school or whatever. A $50 ticket is nothing to them, as well as a tow. Are repeat offenses more expensive?
Great job to all the police officers AND road crews this winter so far! God bless and keep everyone who serve and work for us SAFE!
I left a car parked on the street and it got plowed in. Issue was, I couldn't move the thing because the snow on the street was too deep to move it. With one plow pass, I could dig a path to much less snow and get it out of there. No one wants to have LPD knock on the door at anytime, etc, but the officers were pretty reasonable. They could have just started towing. If the plow hadn't gone by, I would have had to have accepted the tow. I think the cops figured the situation out. After all, the ground clearance on a Crown Vic is pretty awful too.
Unless the city ordinances have changed (or I am simply mistaken) parking in your own driveway is not a legal option either unless your drive goes back past the front line of the house. Parking between the front of the house and the street (I believe) is technically illegal, though I doubt if anyone would ever complain about it unless, perhaps, you were parked across the sidewalk. Also, driveways are not supposed to be wider than the curb cut that leads into them, cars cannot be parked on the front yard, and parking spots are supposed to be paved or, at least, rocked or graveled, rather than simply dirt or grass.
Steve you are very wrong.
Chief,
Was A9-128744 at a house party or something like that? It just seems surprising to have a laptop get ripped from inside a private residence, especially since burglaries aren't at all common in that area. Oh, unless you leave your garage's walk-in door unlocked, as A9-109969 did, or worse yet, your back door unlocked, as A9-103696 did (hopefully you'll run across the 870 somewhere).
I was a punk kid in the 60s, and even then, it got drilled into my head that you always lock all locks on all doors and all windows - and then double-check them, before going to bed, leaving the home, or seeing all house guests out the door. You never know who might have manipulated any of those locks since you did, to grease the skids for later illicit entry.
If this is to be the last post of 2009, then may I say Happy New Year to you, Chief...and best wishes to the officers who'll be babysitting all the drunks on 'amateur night'.
10.32.270 Parking on Private Property.
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to park or allow to be parked any motor
vehicle in a required front yard in violation of the provisions of Title 27 of this code. (Ord. 15641 §27; July
9, 1990: P.C. §10.60.450: Ord. 14216 §2; September 9, 1985).
10.32.220 Parking; Vehicles Overhanging Adjacent Property or Parked in Sidewalk Space.
It shall be unlawful for any person to park or place, or cause to be parked or placed:
(a) any motor vehicle or other vehicle on any private property in such a manner that the vehicle
overhangs the street, including that space between the curb line and the lot line, or in such a manner that
the vehicle overhangs adjacent property, or
(b) any motor vehicle or other vehicle upon any part of the sidewalk space (i.e. that space
between the curb line and the lot line), unless the owner or occupant of the real estate abutting such space
shall have obtained a permit from the Director of Public Works and Utilities on or before May 31, 1967,
to use that area for parking purposes. It shall be unlawful for any motor vehicle or other vehicle when
parked on such permitted area to be parked other than in accordance with the markings and limitations
hereinafter provided in Section 10.32.230.
(c) Notwithstanding (a) and (b) above, it shall be lawful for the occupant of a single-family
dwelling abutting the sidewalk space on a non-arterial street in the R-1, R-2, R-3, R-4, R-5, R-6, R-7, or
R-8 residential district to use such space abutting his or her dwelling for parking a passenger car, van, or
pickup truck under the following conditions:
(1) The passenger car, van, or pickup truck shall be parked on such space perpendicular
to the curb;
(2) Ingress and egress to such parking area shall be by means of a curb cut existing as
of July 1, 1997;
(3) The parking area shall be hard surfaced or graveled;
(4) The width of the parking area shall not exceed the width of the curb cut at its
intersection with the sidewalk.
(5) The passenger car, van, or pickup truck shall be parked in such a manner that the
vehicle is four feet from the curb line and four feet from the sidewalk;
This covers most of what I said earlier. I'm still not sure about the space between the lot line and the front of the house. However, I do know that the city would not issue a building permit to convert an attached garage to living space in a house unless the driveway was removed, citing the fact that it would be illegal to park there anyway.
I wonder how many of the prolific H&R collisions over the last few days were partly caused by crummy, too-far-from-the-curb parking jobs that restricted the ability of vehicles to negotiate the lane.
Its funny that the street mentioned wasn't cleared until the end of the first snow storm but when the second storm hit the street was suddenly a bus path. I agree with the poster of the article there is a lot better things the police could be spending their time and money on. I like all the research he did to try to take a low blow at the writer who wrote in to speak their opinion, yet no research to the bus path of the city of lincoln was done! Way too go chief.
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