Savage Pacer - Psychic Parking Laws - Comments

I live in a relatively new

tgt_paul — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:05:20 -0500

I live in a relatively new neighborhood with no posted signs regarding the city's ordinance on overnight parking. We have one Savage city street and the rest are association/neighborhood streets that are governed by our association's rules. Guest parking is insufficient and many park on the street overnight during non-winter seasons. A couple months back, the police were called by a neighbor who was annoyed by the parking. A car was sent out to make a sweep and > 20 people were ticketed. I wasn't included as I have no problem putting my car in a garage and can usually squeeze friends cars into the driveway.

The city does not have to post signs; residents and visitors are expected to know and abide by the city's ordinances. Unfortunately for new residents, that means surfing the antiquated city web page or going to city hall and requesting them.

I'll give you that ignorance is not a defense. 99% of the time it will get you nowhere. However, in this case it worked. When you have 20+ people taken by surprise and angry/disappointed it can get some attention. Neighbors were encouraged to challenge the tickets and all were reversed.

We were told they will not come out looking for parking violations, but will respond to complaints and may ticket cars they see in violation while out on another call. They are looking at installing a sign as well.

My advice - challenge the fine, apologize and find somewhere else to park in the future. Request that the street be signed, particularly if it was in a neighborhood. It can be difficult to tell if you are on a city street or one owned/maintained by a neighborhood. That leads to more confusion and a better chance of getting out of a ticket.

Most cities in the metro

Nancy Huddleston — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 08:31:38 -0500

Most cities in the metro area have overnight parking laws. In Savage, it is actually 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. The topic has been discussed and reported upon by the Pacer. As well, we ran a story in mid July about common summertime ordinance violations, complete with a Top 10 list. This was at the top of the list. Police typically aren't driving around looking for this violation, they more than likely were responding to a complaint by a neighbor to issue a ticket. As for contesting the ticket -- good luck. The prevailing thought regarding laws in this land is that ignorance of the law is not a good enough defense. And, believe it or not, there are signs indicating that overnight parking is prohibited in the city -- most are located at the city limit where you find green and white signs indicating that you are now coming into the city. I agree, they aren't very visible. The city of Burnsville has the same ordinance and posts it at their city limits too. Maybe you could call the city to suggest that they use some tax dollars to post the law more promiently throughout the city.

With no visible signs,

Tom Schardin — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 07:45:40 -0500

With no visible signs, sounds like you might be able to contest it.

Psychic Parking Laws

JaneDevin — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 22:25:04 -0500

I got a ticket for parking on the street, in a parking space with pretty white lines and everything, because apparently parking is not allowed on the street after midnight.