Government

Parking Officials: Commuter Lot by Train Station Remains 60% to 75% Empty on Weekdays

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Saying demand for commuter parking remains down, town officials are in the process of issuing 100 additional permits for the large lot right next to the train station. On a given weekday, the Lumberyard Lot remains somewhere between 60% and 75% empty, parking officials say. In November, the appointed body that oversees the town’s municipal lots asked Parking Manager Stacy Miltenberg to start issuing an additional 100 permits. As of the Parking Commission’s Feb. 7 meeting, Miltenberg had moved down 137 names on the list, she said—39 people wanted permits, 64 wanted to be added to a “priority list” where they reserve the right to pay for a permit in the future, nine didn’t want a permit and 25 never responded.

Government

Town Upholds $150 Parking Ticket Issued for Blocking Disabled Space

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Town officials this month upheld a $150 ticket issued to a Norwalk woman who had blocked a disabled space on Main Street while picking up a large item purchased at a local store. Clara Cohen told members of the Parking Commission that she didn’t realize she was blocking a space on the afternoon of Jan. 4 (a Tuesday) when she pulled up in front of the store near East Avenue for about two minutes with her flashers on. Cohen had paid to park in a municipal lot while doing her shopping that day, she told the Commission during a Feb. 7 appeal hearing, held via videoconference. 

“There was a mail truck right in front of the store and I don’t want to block that, so I pulled up a little more,” she said. 

“I didn’t realize blocking a handicapped spot.

Parking Commission Upholds $50 Ticket Issued to Starbucks Worker Who Parked the Wrong Way on Elm Street

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Town officials last week voted to uphold a $50 ticket issued to a Starbucks employee who’d backed into an angled parking space on Elm Street. Christopher Diaz told members of the Parking Commission during his Feb. 7 appeal hearing that he had crossed the Starbucks lot and exited onto Elm Street very early on the morning in question (Nov. 3, a Wednesday). 

Then he “backed into the spot, always the very first spot” by the coffee shop, Diaz said during the hearing, held via videoconference. 

“My style is always to back into a spot, that’s something I do wherever I go,” Diaz said. “So I didn’t think twice.

Government

Town Forgives $150 Ticket Issued for Parking in Disabled Space

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Town officials last week voided a $150 ticket that had been issued to a New Canaan woman who parked in a disabled space on Elm Street. Shohah Drakos told members of the Parking Commission during her Nov. 4 appeal hearing that the sign indicating a “handicapped” space on Elm just above the intersection with Main Street was obscured by a hanging basket, and that she didn’t see the blue-painted symbol in the road because she backed into the space while parallel parking. 

In addition, a blue line painted in the street marking out the spot did not “look like an official” line, Drakos said during the hearing, held via videoconference. “I parallel-parked into the space and saw that I had a two-hour parking OK, what I assumed was OK, and went on way and did a few errands and came back to find that I inadvertently had a ticket because I’d parked in a handicapped parking space which I would generally obviously never do,” she said. “I work with the elderly and I know what it’s like when you are counting on having a handicapped space that’s available and it’s not and it’s being taken up by somebody else.

Drew Magratten

Town Upholds $30 Parking Ticket Issued for Obstructing Two Spaces

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Officials last week upheld a $30 ticket that had been issued to a New Canaan woman on a Friday afternoon in October for parking in two spaces at a lot downtown. The driver, Eryuan Huang, told members of the Parking Commission at her appeal hearing that when she first tried to pull into space number 152 in the Playhouse Lot around 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 15, a big SUV to the right was already so close to the line that her passenger—a friend from Greenwich—couldn’t get out. “I felt like the other driver, if he opened the door, he could potentially just touch my car,” Huang said during the hearing, held Thursday night via videoconference. 

“I actually backed out several times just to think about it, and then I went in,” she said. Huang added, “I would not take another space if I could, this truly went through my mind.”

Yet she did not take a photo of the offending SUV, commissioners noted before voting 3-1 to uphold the ticket.