Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Common Sense Response

This is good to see.

What a difference a day makes. West Bend Police Chief Ken Meuler said all 333 citations issued early Tuesday will be voided or refunded for those quick to pay the $15 fine.

   “There were enough people who were confused or disagreed with the ordinance,” he said.

   The police station fielded numerous calls and walk-in complaints Tuesday after the tickets were issued to enforce the Dec. 1 to April 1 winter parking code and avoid obstacles to plowing in recent Decembers.

   The salient part of the parking regulation reads: “No person shall park in any public street, alley or highway of the City between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.” The chief interpreted that as anytime on Dec. 1. City Attorney March Schanning upheld that interpretation, saying the rules take effect 12:01 a.m. Dec. 1.

When that many people understood the rules incorrectly, the rules are demonstrably unclear.  Given that there wasn’t any snow and no actual disruption in plowing was caused by the parking, it’s good to see the police respond in a common sense way and void the tickets.

(9) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1720 hrs
Law + Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. I wish they would only enforce this stupid parking policy when there is snow on the ground.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 02, 2009 at 1815 hrs


  2. I had two inches of snow in my yard this morning.  Guess I need to go out a buy bread and milk.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 02, 2009 at 1840 hrs


  3. I got the ticket once in my own front yard, learned my lesson right away which side of the street I should be parking on and which night.

    The ordinance is enforced on the street I used to live on just north of downtown. Good to see they are refunding/voiding the tickets in this case as its confusing.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 02, 2009 at 1930 hrs


  4. Letter or spirit? Spirit or letter?

    Posted by Marcus Aurelius on December 02, 2009 at 2150 hrs


  5. what is unclear about this. you can’t park in certain places between 11pm and 6am, effective Dec 1. so if you’re parked there at 5:00am Dec 1, you’ve violated the ordinance. the rule doesn’t say there must be snow.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 02, 2009 at 2315 hrs


  6. That many tickets also shows a little “eagerness” on the part of the Chief. A little bit of planned revenue generation?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 03, 2009 at 0012 hrs


  7. If you are “confused” by the parking regulations, how can you not be overwhelmed by the task of driving a 3000 lb machine at highway speed?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 03, 2009 at 0845 hrs


  8. Good old deference to the suburbanites.  Another one of the advantages that these people take for granted when bitching about how everybody else is getting special treatment.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 03, 2009 at 1208 hrs


  9. Enforcing parking laws when only snow is present would be like enforcing speeding laws only when traffic is present.  Pay the $15 and try to support your police chief instead of embarrassing him.

    Posted by whattheduece on December 05, 2009 at 1157 hrs


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