Town officials on Wednesday night upheld a $35 ticket issued to a Stamford woman who parked in a no parking zone downtown.
Jane Shapiro told members of the Parking Commission during an appeal hearing that she “would never normally appeal something like this because obviously I was parked improperly, but I think I had my blinkers on and I have a disabled sticker.”
On the day she was ticketed (12:49 p.m. on Jan. 8, a Wednesday), Shapiro said her knees were hurting and “I couldn’t walk very much.”
“My leg was collapsing and I tried to explain that to the officer but he said, ‘It’s too late, you have to go fight this if you want,’ ” she said during the hearing, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “So I figured I might as well. I was really in pain that day.”
Shapiro said she left her vehicle for about six minutes to pick up something from Rosie.
The appointed body deliberated briefly before voting 5-0 in favor of upholding the ticket.
Commissioner Katie O’Neill noted that in her written appeal, submitted ahead of the hearing, Shapiro had asserted that two nearby disabled spaces were taken up by vehicles without the required placards, yet during the hearing Shapiro said she didn’t look to see.
“I think that, sadly, having a handicapped sticker doesn’t preclude you from the same situation as the rest of us—which is you have to circle, drive around and wait for a spot to open,” O’Neill said.
Commission Chair Nancy Bemis, Secretary Kevin Karl, O’Neill and members Marley Thackray and John Clarke voted in favor of upholding.
The commissioners asked how frequently the disabled spaces are all taken (it often happens), what the nearest disabled spaces are (near Rosie, one at an angled spot near Elm and Main Streets, one in front of Salon Kiklo on Main, four in Morse Court and two opposite The Playhouse) and whether the eatery could’ve brought the food out to Shapiro (she said they weren’t answering the phone).
During the hearing, Bemis asked whether parking enforcement officers checked the vehicles using the disabled spaces to see if they had the necessary placard.
Parking Manager Stacy Miltenberg said many people leave them on their vehicle’s dashboard rather than hanging from the rearview mirror.
“If the officers saw two people in a handicapped space and there were no tickets on the car and that means that the permit was either on the dash or on the visor where, unfortunately, people leave it,” Miltenberg said. “We walk up to the car. If it’s not hanging, they will look all over the dashboard, they’ll look at the visor, they have been known to look even inside the car, just in case it’s sitting in the console.”