Commission Upholds $75 Ticket Issued for Parking in front of Fire Hydrant

Town officials this month upheld a $75 ticket issued to a local man who’d parked in front of a fire hydrant on Main Street.

Vinh Nguyen told members of the Parking Commission during an appeal hearing that he knew it was wrong to park in front of the hydrant on a day that he needed to run into a bakery to pick up a pre-ordered item with his young daughter in tow.

“I actually drove around and could not find parking, so I decided to just pull right in front of the shop, came in, picked up the pastry and we ran out and got a ticket,” he told the Commission during the appointed body’s Dec. 3 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.”I was wrong, nothing to complain about here, but would love to see if you could reconsider or give me a warning or something like that this time.”

Following brief deliberations, the Commission voted 4-0 to uphold the ticket, which had been issued at 11:15 a.m. on Nov. 26 (a Wednesday). Those voting were Commission Secretary Kevin Karl and members Katie O’Neill, John Clarke and Marley Thackray. Chair Nancy Bemis was absent.

During the hearing, the commissioners asked whether Nguyen saw the hydrant (yes) and whether he saw the crosshatched painting in the street (yes).

“My intention was just to pull my daughter out, run and get the pastry and get out,” Nguyen said. “This is a lesson for me and I would not do that again. I take this very seriously. I do not normally commit any violations. It was raining at the time, too.”

O’Neill said: “I understand what you are describing. Sometimes you get caught, though.”

During deliberations, Karl noted that the Commission typically upholds the fire hydrant violation for public safety reasons.

Thackray agreed, saying, “We can’t excuse one and not all the others we have had.”

Clarke also agreed, saying that “there’s no question that that’s not a legal parking spot.”

“And unfortunately that happens a lot in town,” he said. “I’m not sure that most people who park in places that are clearly marked as ‘no parking’ have a reason that they need to park there, but to me that’s the slippery slope.”