Washington Gives $1.3M in Parking Fines During Snowstorm • Hacker News Board

Re: Washington Gives $1.3M in Parking Fines During Snowstorm

#11

Post by noodle » Thu, Jan 28, 2016, 9:09 PM UTC

mmanfrin wrote: post #4

mikeash wrote: post #2

And? Don't park in snow emergency routes during a historic blizzard.

The advisory said they issued 2,091 parking tickets in the first three hours of the mayor’s declaration. The tickets drew backlash from drivers who said they were unable to dig out their cars. Others said they did not feel comfortable driving in the snow, some because their cars were not properly equipped for it. 3 hours after the declaration, and for cars that could not reasonably be moved because of said emergency.…

As others noted, the declaration happened before the weather hit. People could reasonably move their cars. All of the affected spaces are super clearly marked and people who park there regularly should've had very ample warning about it.

Additionally, based on my understanding, a lot of local parking lots/garages drastically dropped their rates to help accommodate.

Re: Washington Gives $1.3M in Parking Fines During Snowstorm

#12

Post by dustcoin » Thu, Jan 28, 2016, 9:10 PM UTC

calvinbhai wrote: post #6

All tickets (for parking on snow emergency routes) have been voided http://dcist.com/2016/01/mayor_bowser_is_voiding_tickets_iss... During snow emergencies, cities should work with parking garages to make overnight parking for cars, free. It'll solve a lot of problems. If cars are not removed past the emergency, ticket revenue can be shared with the garage

>During snow emergencies, cities should work with parking garages to make overnight parking for cars, free. It'll solve a lot of problems.

DC did in this case. The city warned about the emergency routes ahead of time, offered free parking at metro stations, and worked with private garages to offer $1/day parking.

Re: Washington Gives $1.3M in Parking Fines During Snowstorm

#13

Post by thrownaway2424 » Thu, Jan 28, 2016, 9:11 PM UTC

calvinbhai wrote: post #6

All tickets (for parking on snow emergency routes) have been voided http://dcist.com/2016/01/mayor_bowser_is_voiding_tickets_iss... During snow emergencies, cities should work with parking garages to make overnight parking for cars, free. It'll solve a lot of problems. If cars are not removed past the emergency, ticket revenue can be shared with the garage

That's generous. Do you also think the city should "work with" hotels to provide free housing for people during snow storms, or is your outpouring reserved only for automobiles?

Re: Washington Gives $1.3M in Parking Fines During Snowstorm

#14

Post by mikeash » Thu, Jan 28, 2016, 9:11 PM UTC

calvinbhai wrote: post #6

All tickets (for parking on snow emergency routes) have been voided http://dcist.com/2016/01/mayor_bowser_is_voiding_tickets_iss... During snow emergencies, cities should work with parking garages to make overnight parking for cars, free. It'll solve a lot of problems. If cars are not removed past the emergency, ticket revenue can be shared with the garage

Great. What's the point of snow emergency routes if you can just park there during a storm with no consequences?

Many local garages were either free or $1/day for the storm. There was no excuse to leave cars parked on these routes.

Re: Washington Gives $1.3M in Parking Fines During Snowstorm

#15

Post by maxerickson » Thu, Jan 28, 2016, 9:14 PM UTC

ihsw wrote: post #5

This is Washington DC (absolutely egregious omission by NYTimes, IMO), and not only were the roads blanketed with snow but exceedingly slippery a day earlier. See here for anecdotal reports regarding the city's absurd winter road strategy: https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/41xgqe/lmfao/ And furthermore, thousands of tickets will be forgiven: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-to-forgi...

I dunno, not having much of a plan seems like an appropriate measure for storms that only happen every 5 years or so.

Which sounds glib, but it takes a lot of equipment to be able to rapidly deal with snow on a lot of roads, equipment that would be sitting around rusting a lot of the time.

Re: Washington Gives $1.3M in Parking Fines During Snowstorm

#16

Post by jsmeaton » Thu, Jan 28, 2016, 9:22 PM UTC

thrownaway2424 wrote: post #13

calvinbhai wrote: post #6

All tickets (for parking on snow emergency routes) have been voided http://dcist.com/2016/01/mayor_bowser_is_voiding_tickets_iss... During snow emergencies, cities should work with parking garages to make overnight parking for cars, free. It'll solve a lot of problems. If cars are not removed past the emergency, ticket revenue can be shared with the garage

That's generous. Do you also think the city should "work with" hotels to provide free housing for people during snow storms, or is your outpouring reserved only for automobiles?

If they declared your house was in an emergency route and you had to move for a few days then yes.

Re: Washington Gives $1.3M in Parking Fines During Snowstorm

#17

Post by akgerber » Thu, Jan 28, 2016, 9:50 PM UTC

mmanfrin wrote: post #4

mikeash wrote: post #2

And? Don't park in snow emergency routes during a historic blizzard.

The advisory said they issued 2,091 parking tickets in the first three hours of the mayor’s declaration. The tickets drew backlash from drivers who said they were unable to dig out their cars. Others said they did not feel comfortable driving in the snow, some because their cars were not properly equipped for it. 3 hours after the declaration, and for cars that could not reasonably be moved because of said emergency.…

I would be more inclined to have some empathy if my local drivers didn't think the city's bicycle lanes were an appropriate place to park for the next week because they are too lazy to dig out a parking space.

Re: Washington Gives $1.3M in Parking Fines During Snowstorm

#18

Post by cortesoft » Thu, Jan 28, 2016, 9:50 PM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #14

calvinbhai wrote: post #6

All tickets (for parking on snow emergency routes) have been voided http://dcist.com/2016/01/mayor_bowser_is_voiding_tickets_iss... During snow emergencies, cities should work with parking garages to make overnight parking for cars, free. It'll solve a lot of problems. If cars are not removed past the emergency, ticket revenue can be shared with the garage

Great. What's the point of snow emergency routes if you can just park there during a storm with no consequences? Many local garages were either free or $1/day for the storm. There was no excuse to leave cars parked on these routes.

What about being unable to dig your car out?

Re: Washington Gives $1.3M in Parking Fines During Snowstorm

#19

Post by gleenn » Thu, Jan 28, 2016, 9:53 PM UTC

Washington only charges $20 per day of impound? My motorcycle spent a 3 days in impound because someone moved in and needed moving-truck street space costing me over $600 with a few hundred for the ticket and then something closer to $100 a day for impound. Stupid San Francisco. Parking at only $1 is also incredible.

Re: Washington Gives $1.3M in Parking Fines During Snowstorm

#20

Post by ChuckMcM » Thu, Jan 28, 2016, 9:55 PM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #10

mmanfrin wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The advisory said they issued 2,091 parking tickets in the first three hours of the mayor’s declaration. The tickets drew backlash from drivers who said they were unable to dig out their cars. Others said they did not feel comfortable driving in the snow, some because their cars were not properly equipped for it. 3 hours after the declaration, and for cars that could not reasonably be moved because of said emergency.…

We knew the storm was coming days before. Snow emergency routes are posted and publicly known. People's cars couldn't be stuck there due to the snow unless they failed to move their cars before the storm like they were required to do. This failure makes it much harder to clear important roads and impedes emergency services. Ticketing these people seems entirely appropriate to me.

This is what my friends in DC feel as well. There was a lot of lead up to the storm, and well before it hit you could have moved your car elsewhere. But people were "betting on the come" as they say in Craps and they were parking there assuming that either a) they would be able to move if it snowed, and b) if it snowed so much that they couldn't move well the city would have bigger problems than ticketing them.

If the law is amended, it should be amended to read "It is illegal to park on a snow emergency route at time time during and 24hours before a snow emergency. A snow emergency exists when the city declares it." Then the city could announce the emergency before the snow started, and start warning people, and then start ticketing people, and ideally by the time the snow hit there would be few if any cars in the emergency snow lanes.