My car was towed last week during a leaf-sweep. The problem that I have besides paying the helfty fee is that I never saw the signs that were posted 24 hours before the sweeping. I noticed the signs on the east/west streets and assumed (Big, Big mistake) that the north/south streets would be posted on the day of the east/west sweep and occur and the sweep would occur the next day. That is the usual pattern that I've seen over the 4 years that I've lived downtown.. Didn't happen as I had come to expect. A few days passed and the one day I didn't use my car, they posted the street and swept/towed the next day. . I was working on my computer at home and didn't leave the house. So who is at fault? If you ask the city staff, they would say me. . On the other hand, I'd lay the blame of lack of consistency and poor communication with the public.
Whoever is responsible for notifying the publicabout street work should start thinking about 21st century technology . They should build on their success of the snow emergency email notifcation system that the public can sign up for. This is a critical parking zone that requires a permit that allow neighborhood residents to park for more than the 2 hour limitduring business hours. Ther permit costs $25 just raised this year from $15. There are several pages of forms that require information on the car ande the permit holder like address and phone . It would be very easy to communicate with this population of permit holders and request email addresses. Thenset up a similar list and notify the permit holders about the road work timelines and the need to move the cars. This solution is good for the city and good for neighborhood residents downtown like me. Public works gets more cars out of the way so it can do its job and I don't get my car towed and the helfty fee and fine. Simple?Cost-effective?Win/win? Yes to all 3 . But my experience talking to city staff about similar parking proposals have been dissmissed as either too costly or difficult to implement, or just outragous. Mike Kennady and Mayor Rybak's constituent service aide both listened to mepolitely and then dismissed me. I'm afraid that if I were to raise this proposal to them I would get the same treatment. I would rather have them listen to my proposal, discuss it with me, give a clear set of expectations on study or action, AND... REALLY GET BACK TO ME WITH AND ANSWER. There are several reasons this proposal may not get any consideration. One is bureacratic inertia. Another is objections from the towing company lobby. When I dicuss such things with city staff, I don't want them to just be polite to me, I want them to solve real problems in the city of Minneapolis. I will foll-up this proposal with Mayor Rybak and Coulinmember Goodman David Wilson Loring Park On Fri, 12 Nov 2004, Dan wrote: > !!! > The Minneapolis Impound lot gets full to overflowing during some snow > emergencies. I don't see how use of a boot could bring about cause to reduce > it's size. Cars in the way of plows can't simply be immobilized, they must > be moved! Better informing the public about snow emergencies and other > parking restrictions could have an impact on the volume of vehicles > impounded, but I suspect that the city likes things the way they are. Fines > are generated when a car is impounded, and the vehicle owner bears the cost > of the tow, and storage, so the city benefits financially from snow > emergency violators. > > Dan McGrath > Longfellow > > > >> > > > > This topic interests me primarily because I > > would like to see the impound lot reduce in size - > > and then have the impound lot section west of > > the planned Van White Blvd converted into public > > park land. However, I am not sure if this Council > > measure will have any affect on the impound lot one > > way or the other. Does this specific practice of > > booting currently being discussed by the Council > > reduce the number of vehicles towed to the impound > > lot - or, are these vehicles normally not towed, or > > if towed, do they usually go to other locations and > > not to the City's impound lot? > > Article at http://www.mplsobserver.com > > -- Dave Stack, Harrison (right across the creek > > from the impound > > lot) > > > > --------------------------------------------- > > This message was sent using Endymion MailMan. > > http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/ > > > > > > REMINDERS: > > 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at > [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. > > 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > > > > For state and national discussions see: > http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html > > For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract > > ________________________________ > > > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn > E-Democracy > > Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls > > REMINDERS: > 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL > PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. > 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > > For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html > For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls > REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
