Ticketed motorists submitted the following appeals recently to the New Canaan Parking Commission.
***
“Greetings. I’m a 16 year resident of New Canaan and have paid my share of parking tickets, but I am appealing this specific parking ticket. After catering a party, Rosie’s had requested that I return a set of string lights to their restaurant. I parked my car just before the white pillars, tucked in to the space just ahead of the restaurant, put on my hazard lights and quickly carried the string of lights in to the restaurant. I was attentive to the fact that even though there was a clear lane beside my car, I did not want to inconvenience other drivers. Rather than dropping the lights at the front door they asked me to put them next to the back wall of restaurant. I quickly placed the lights, turned and immediately returned to my car with no hesitation, discussion, or purchase. I was inside for less than 1 minute and probably more like 30 seconds. I have also included a signature from Matt of Rosies team who witnessed the event and confirms that I entered Rosies, dropped of [sic] the lights and immediately returned to my car.”
—$50 for double parking, at 12:23 p.m. on May 18 on Elm Street (New Canaan resident)
***
“Today I was parked in town and got the parking ticket below. I have never and would never knowingly park in a handicap spot. In this case I was past the spot and backed in thinking it was a normal parking spot since it had white lines and no wheelchair emblem as is typical for marking a handicap spot. It was only when I returned and saw the ticket that I was able to understand my mistake. People see the pictures below of the spot and understand that this was not a clearly marked typical handicap spot with blue lines and the normal wheelchair emblem. Please let me know if you see this is an understandable mistake due to lack of proper markings and can void this ticket.”
—$150 for handicapped zone, at 10:13 a.m. on May 18 on Main Street (Norwalk resident)
***
The motorist who parked here said it isn’t clearly marked as a disabled space. Parking Bureau photo
“I did not notice the ticket under my windshield wiper until I was at home in Redding, CT. I was shocked to see that the ticket violation description said that I was parked in a handicapped zone, as I would never ever park in a handicap space. I was puzzled because I did not see the word handicap or a picture of a wheelchair painted on the pavement in this spot, nor did I see a sign posted at the curb stating so. After reviewing the three pictures that were provided on the parking website, again I was puzzled as I still did not see a handicap parking sign posted on the curb in two of the pictures. I then looked at the third picture that apparently was taken across and through the driver side window, which I felt was an invasion of privacy; however, in that picture I did see a sign posted. I still could not understand how I did not see the handicap sign while I was parking, which looked to me in that picture that the sign was posted on the curb, as most parking signs are. I then went back to review again the pictures and then realized that the sign was not posted on the curb at all and that it was posted roughly 8 feet to the right of my view flush against a railing. When I was parking, I had no reason to look to my right, as I have backup cameras and use them religiously. With all of this being said, I am pleading not guilty as I did not intentionally park in a handicap space. If the parking spot was painted blue with a white wheelchair and stated in large letters, handicapped, or if the sign was blatantly posted on the curb and I still parked in that spot, then Yes, I would pay the fine. I am also strongly suggesting that you, the Parking Commission, correct this situation by properly posting at the curb and/or paint the parking spot. Please let me know if I need to do anything else at this point to rectify this citation.”
—$150 for handicapped zone, at 9:27 a.m. on May 25 on Main Street (Redding resident)
***
“I am sending this appeal to you to see if you might ‘forgive’ one or two of the parking tickets I got while parked in New Canaan on 5/6/2021. I did not realize that you were ticketing people in the 15 minute parking area behind J Crew. There were no available parking spots so I chose the 15 minute area as I have a torn ACL and a leg brace. I also parked in the 15 minute area during Covid and was never ticketed. While I was parked longer than 15 minutes, and I understand that I must pay a fine, I find the fact that I got THREE parking tickets in an hour kind of excessive. I have 3 tickets- one in the amount of $25., One in the amount of $ 40, and another in the amount of $40. This makes the 15 minute parking area for 1 hour = $105.00.”
—$105 total covering three tickets for overtime parking violations, starting at 12:11 p.m. on May 6 in Morse Court (Norwalk resident)
***
“I have lived on River Street for 10 years and all that time, my family and I have been parking our cars on the street. The only exception to that was when the town put in a new sidewalk a few months back, You could imagine my surprise when I see that my car was ticketed on 05/24/2021 at 10:59 due to some brand new ‘no parking’ signs that were hung earlier that day or the evening before. This action by the police is appalling and downright wrong. We are all residence [sic] of the town and we all pay taxes here. These cars don’t belong to strangers, they belong to your neighbors. Neighbors that were unaware of the new NO PARKING signage that was recently installed. You could have placed a notice in our mail boxes explaining that the signs are going in and that you are going to start fining people. You could have also given us a courteous warning about the new signage instead of a $30.00 ticket. In these times where there is so much mistrust and conflict between citizens and the police, its actions like these that give your neighbors reason to doubt that their law enforcement officers are really there to serve and protect them. There is no information on the ticket anywhere explaining how to appeal it. other than ‘The citation may be appealed before The Parking Commission by giving written notice of intent with in 10 days of the citation date’. No website, no email, no phone number, nothing. So this is my official notice of appeal.”
—$30 for no parking zone on River Street, at 10:59 a.m. on May 24 (New Canaan resident)
***
“For what it is worth, I would love to try and appeal this ticket, in which I obviously Parked in a loading zone … Not being from this town, I really always park right in front of Club Pilates, where I do a class two times a week. I have always noticed a two hour parking sign, and Am very careful to observe and park in the correct area. As it turns out, on Friday I Circled the block twice, waiting for a car to pull out. a car did pull out, I Jumped in that spot, and did not notice a sign for loading between certain hours. I am asking for consideration this one time, as it truly was an oversight … and of Course being from out of the area does not help.”
—loading zone violation, Stamford resident
***
“I am providing written notice to dispute this citation.”
—$20 for no parking zone on Locust Avenue, at 640 p.m. on May 14 (Wilton resident)