A longtime Main Street business owner is asking town officials for some leniency when it comes to commercial vehicles that remain parked on the street for more than two hours.
Anthony Ceraso told members of the Parking Commission at their most recent meeting that he’s not disputing the two $25 tickets he received in June for overtime parking out front of his business on the corner of East Maple Street.
“They’re already paid, I’m here to vent,” Ceraso told the Commission at its Sept. 4 meeting at Town Hall.
Ceraso, owner of AC Auto Body, said he’s been in business in New Canaan for 22 years and located at 182 Main St. for 17 of them.
“I do pay my fair share of real estate taxes,” he said.
“I am a business owner here. How many storefronts do we have empty? I mean, just a little consideration. That’s all I’m saying. Maybe I was parked there too long. Fine. I’ll pay them, that’s why I wanted to vent because [the parking enforcement officer] is up and down all day every day, probably every half-hour if I was to clock it. Now, there is two-hour parking across from my office. Why is she there that often? Maybe she’s got a vendetta, maybe she’s got it out for someone. I have seen—and I’m not throwing anybody under the bus—that there are certain considerations for others along the street. That’s a fact.”
When Chairman Keith Richey asked, with respect to the specific tickets Ceraso had been issued, the trucks had been parked on Main Street for more than two hours, he answered, “They very well might have been.”
Saying his office overlooks the area of Main Street where his trucks sometimes park, Ceraso asked whether the enforcement officer could give him a beep or a wave about moving the car, instead of issuing a ticket.
The commissioners noted that Ceraso, following complaints about AC Auto Body parking trucks and some client vehicles, such as St. Luke’s School buses, on Main and East Maple Streets, had been granted his own spaces in the Center School lot.
“We set them up years ago because of recurring problems and those problems went on and on for years,” Commissioner Peter Ogilvie said.
In response, Ceraso said that the spots designated for AC Auto Body often are being used by other motorists.
“If I was to call every time someone was parked in my space up there, they’d always be down there giving tickets,” he said. “So I can’t park my trucks up there or on my property. I can call up the parking authority every day and the’d be up there ticketing because someone is parked in my space. Do we want to do that? No. I’m not like that. I am just here to vent.”
Richey said, “Well you vented now, Anthony.”