Safety Concerns Prompt Town To Move Large Trucks Out of Parking Space at Main and Maple

Town officials say they’re monitoring use of a parking space at an increasingly busy intersection downtown, following safety concerns about blocked sight lines. 

Motorists approaching Maple and Main Streets, near the new main entrance to New Canaan Library, often are prevented from seeing northbound traffic on Main due to large vehicles parking in a spot on the southwest corner of the intersection, according to Parking Commissioner Marley Thackray. Thackray said during the Parking Commission’s most recent meeting that residents have spoken to her personally about the safety concern—one that she shares as someone who travels through the area multiple times per day—and that it came up on New Canaan Moms in June.  

“This comes on the heels of how nobody wants to lose any more parking space, but I literally say a Hail Mary every time I go through this intersection, because I can’t see anything,” Thackray said during the Commission’s Aug. 2 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Parking Manager Stacy Miltenberg said she did reach out to those parking large trucks in the space to ensure they try to leave it for regularly sized vehicles and continue to abide by the two-hour limit.

Town Upholds $150 Ticket Issued to Woman Who Parked in Disabled Space [UPDATE]

Town officials this month upheld a $150 ticket issued to a Bedford, N.Y. woman who parked in a disabled space while running into a store downtown. During her Aug. 2 appeal hearing before the Parking Commission, [the woman] said she’d circled for about 25 minutes before finally pulling into a disabled space on Elm Street in order to return an item to the WAVE store on behalf of her daughter. “The only spot that was there was right in front of the store and it was a handicapped parking spot,” [the woman] said during the hearing, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “I pulled in, turned my hazards on, left my car on and told my daughter to wait for me as I ran in.

Town: Metro-North Rail Service ‘On Track’ for Labor Day; Changes to Train Frequency Under Discussion

State officials are weighing a change to the fall schedule for train service on the New Canaan branch and other Metro-North Railroad lines, according to the head of the town Parking Bureau. The Connecticut Department of Transportation “might be adjusting the fall schedule to reflect the current ridership patterns, meaning that certain midweek there’s more people commuting than maybe at the end of the week on Fridays,” according to Parking Director Stacy Miltenberg. “So they’re looking at some adjustments,” she said during an update to members of the Parking Commission at their Aug. 2 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “It will not only affect the New Canaan branch line—they’re looking at it for the New Haven line, as well as the shoreline east,” Miltenberg continued.

Town Upholds $150 Ticket Issued to Local Man Who Parked in Disabled Space

Town officials came to a unanimous decision in June to uphold a $150 parking ticket issued to a 42-year New Canaan resident who parked in a disabled space downtown. Yuosef Malekzedah, 81, was taking his daughter’s Jeep into town when he felt the need to use the restroom, he told members of the Parking Commission during a June 14 appeal hearing, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. With all of the spaces surrounding the Mobil gas station full, he made the decision to park in a nearby handicap space, Malekzedah said. “I couldn’t go into the gas station because a gasoline tanker was there,” he said. “I parked in a handicapped for a few minutes and went to bathroom and I came back and got a ticket.”

In his written appeal, filed May 23, Malekzedah said that he takes three different medications to treat a chronic condition.