The following appeals were filed recently by and on behalf of motorists ticketed in New Canaan. Where provided, we are including information about individual tickets.
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“My daughter started her new job today at Dolce Italian Café and she parked right out front. She is a new driver and did not pay attention/notice that it was 2 hour parking on the street and the place did not mention anything to her about where to park. She received 2 tickets today, for $25 and $40. She spoke with the owner and he advised where she should be parking in the future (back lot). Is there anything we can do for this?”
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“I had a handy cap tag displayed. Said sign was full – did not notice police only sign. Offering $15 to settle this.”
—$30 for “other” violation on Main Street, at 9:49 a.m. on Aug. 11
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“My ophthalmologist in Ridgefield CT suggested that I go to Morgenthal Frederics Opticians in New Canaan for my glasses. I went to the store at 127 Main St. this morning and was delighted to find parking directly adjacent. They were terrific and I was looking forward to continuing to do business in New Canaan. When I exited the store within the hour that I paid for I found that I had been issued a ticket for using an unpaid space. I didn’t know if I had entered the wrong parking space number at the kiosk, or if the $1 coin that I paid was not accepted. I returned to the machine and found that the machine didn’t indicate that I needed to print a receipt in order to my payment to be accepted, but that in fact my $1 coin was in the return slot and I retrieved it. I should have been more careful looking at the kiosk, specifically when I saw the [checkmark] circle labeled ‘Print’ and the red ‘X’ of the pandemic. I have not used parking meters except at the Goldens Bridge MetroNorth train station where no paper receipts are required. I honestly believed that all kiosk parking meters were completely electronic, seeking to eliminate unnecessary paper. I know realize that parking kiosks are not uniform and will pay more attention.”
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“I am an employee of Connecticut Muffin on 108 Main St. and today I had to open the store around 5:45 a.m. I parked in front of the store since I had to open before 6 a.m. I ended up being the only employee working today. And it was difficult to eventually move my car to the back of the store. (I believe on east Street). I received a parking ticket around 12:41 p.m. which I wasn’t aware of due to taking care of the store and customers and later received a second ticket around 2:56 p.m. Four minutes before I closed the store. If I saw the first ticket I would’ve immediately tried to figure something out so I could move my car somewhere else even though I was managing the store on my own. I’m sorry all this happened I usually park in the back of the store. If possible I would like to be pardoned from both tickets or at least the second ticket, due to how difficult it was for me to see or move the car.”
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“I paid for one hour of parking on August 6th at 1:11 p.m. at space 146. I appeared back at my car at exactly 2:13 which was a whole 2 minutes past the one-hour limit to find a summons already on the windshield. I will grant you that I was 2 minutes late. There are a few interesting issues, however. First the fact that the ticket is time stamped at 2:13 p.m. which is precisely when I arrived back at my car. There was no officer anywhere near my car at the exact time of the ticket, 2:13 p.m. I can attest to that because I was at my car at 2:13 p.m., the ticket was already on my windshield and there were no traffic officers in sight. Quite odd. Even if you don’t trust my own time keeping, the ticket is indeed time stamped 2:13 p.m. Second, the fact that the officer issued the summons and printed it within two minutes of expiration leads me to believe he or she was ‘laying in wait’ for the expiration. I wonder how long it takes to actually execute the summons writing process. Let’s call it 90 seconds for argument’s sake. That means at the precise moment that the 60 minutes expired the officer would need to be standing at the ready, handheld ticket processor ready to go, and ‘immediately’ began the process. Those are the facts and yes, I will grant you that I was over by a whole two minutes but there was clearly no attempt on the part of the officer to, at a minimum, look around to see if anyone was approaching the vehicle if in fact, he or she was writing the ticket at that time and not earlier. Worse yet there appears to have been an attempt to stand and wait for the clock to expire on the 60 minutes, write the summons quickly and evaporate. I find it wholly impossible that the process for writing the ticket did not begin before the expiration of the 60 minutes. He or she had to be standing over the car and already processing the summons at the final minute or two expired. No other way it could have happened. Is that what we have become? The $25 is not the issue here. To call this ‘overzealous’ application of the parking code would be a kind assessment. This behavior is consistent with a town looking to aggravate its taxpayers and visitors as opposed to one that welcomes us. Whomever is training our traffic enforcement people should understand that these matters do matter to people. Whether this summons is enforced or not, at a minimum you instruct the zealots with summons writing capability to grant some form of grace period such that 90 seconds does not become the difference between a summons or not and that they not ‘target’ cars ‘about to be’ over time.”
—$25 for unpaid space in Playhouse Lot, at 2:13 p.m. on Aug. 6 (New Canaan resident)
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“Please be advised that I am refuting this parking ticket as I was in the car at the time and there was no police officer who came around to the front of my car. As a matter of fact, I think they slipped it in rather sneakily from behind but I was right there so I’m not sure what occurred!!! Either way I should not have this ticket! Additionally when you review the parking ticket online, there are two pictures. One of them is NOT a picture of my car. So the information for the parking ticket is not correct.”
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“I work at Ralph Lauren in New Canaan. Parking has been a major issue until recently I began using the ‘pay by phone’ app, which allows me to pay to park for 3 hours at a time. Today, I was meant to take my usual lunch break at 12:45 in order to go and move my car in time for the 3 hour limit or pay again using the app. However, I was stuck working with a customer and couldn’t check my phone. I then made it to my car by 12:52, 2 minutes after getting a ticket, and only a few minutes after my parking expired. I payed for new parking with the app, minutes after moving my car, and happen to receive a ticket in the 15 minute window I wasn’t able to get to my car due to my job. I have been very consistent with always paying to 11 on time with the app so this was a one time incident at which I got to my car 2 minutes after receiving this ticket. I would greatly appreciate if this appeal could go through. Thank you for your consideration.”
—$25 for unpaid space at Morse Court, at 12:50 p.m. on July 26 (Waccubuc, N.Y. resident)
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“We have never received a parking ticket before. Our son took the car, as his was in the shop being repaired and he was running late for a dentist appt in town. Since he was rushing, he didn’t have any money with him (he has a small amount in his car which he didn’t have). I think that he was a bit distracted as he waited to get to his appointment on time.”
—Norwalk resident
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“The following is an account of my experience: after parking in space #39 of the Main Street Lot, I attempted to pay for my space at the parking meter on Morse Court. The meter has a clearly printed label I taped to the front that reads ‘PRESS START TO BEGIN.’ Each time I pressed ‘Start’ several times in my effort to pay, but the meter refused to cooperate. Please excuse this mistake due to the machine’s malfunction.”