OH SNOW
I got hit with a $100 fine for street parking before a storm – I didn’t know there was a ban & it wasn’t even snowing
A judge's decision left a driver feeling frosty
A WOMAN has expressed her disappointment in her city's authorities after a judge refused to dismiss her snow ban parking ticket.
A snow ban typically prompts drivers to move vehicles parked on the street to designated areas to ensure the safety of snow-clearing vehicles.
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When Laura Burkett, a long-term resident of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and local business owner found a parking ticket for $100 on her car for failure to relocate during a snow emergency, she was confused.
Burkett was intimately familiar with a snow parking ban - though there was no snow on the ground and no evidence of a snow ban being in place.
She did mention to The Valley Breeze that she did not check the city's website or any social media profiles, and didn't see an announcement through the other media outlets she'd checked.
She'd assumed that there wouldn't be a warning on account of the storm that was forecasted on December 7 being downgraded to a storm watch.
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To add insult to injury, snow didn't fall for another 12 hours after she was cited for violating the parking ban.
"How is it fair to expect residents to vigilantly watch the outdated and unhelpful Pawtucket city website when there is no cause for alarm, to continually check it ‘just in case’ there is a parking ban or some other random event that may result in an unnecessary fine?" Burkett told The Valley Breeze.
Burkett challenged the parking ticket on February 5, and she was the first resident on the court docket.
She explained to Judge Donna Nesselbush that snow was not on the ground, and she was not aware of the ban and believed that the ticket should be dismissed.
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Nesselbush reportedly told Burkett that her ticket could not be dismissed due to a high volume of other people fighting tickets issued during the same ban.
Therefore, Burkett interpreted that ruling to prioritize the city's loss of revenue instead of justice or fairness to locals.
"In other words, she couldn’t dismiss it because it would mean too much lost revenue for the city," Burkett said.
The Valley Breeze reached out to the director of communications of the mayor's office, Grace Voll, who said that Burkett should have been well aware of the ban, as it was broadcasted through many avenues.
The first announcement was made around 3 p.m. on January 6, then again at 6 p.m., and the ban was officially in place at 8 p.m.
"We typically give folks two-ish hours of breathing room once the ban is in effect," said Voll.
"The ban was lifted the following day at 1 p.m. We did ultimately end up getting some more snow on that afternoon, the 7th than we anticipated."
Due to a high volume of residents failing to respect the ban, disciplinary action had to be taken.
"It is my understanding that cars were ticketed/towed shortly after midnight so DPW could begin clearing the streets," she continued.
"Though there was not as much snow on the ground, at that time, the parking ban was ultimately in effect."
The result of the fight against her ticket left Burkett questioning her loyalty to Pawtucket - especially after the installation of speed cameras that automatically issue $50 to speeders.
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"I lost 90 percent of my respect for this city during that episode of charades," she said.
"I lost the remaining 10 percent with this BS parking ticket."