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.
This is where it happened.
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. I honestly was in the store for 45 seconds and I got a parking ticket. And so I know that it is wrong. I typically do not ever do that, and I was just hoping that you would take pity on me.”
The ticket was issued June 28 (a Wednesday).
The Commission nearly always upholds tickets for parking in a disabled space and its members—Nancy Bemis, Marley Thackray, Drew Magratten and Kevin Karl—voted unanimously to uphold the ticket following a very brief discussion.
“It’s a handicapped spot,” Bemis said.
In her written appeal, [the woman] said she and her daughter were in New Canaan to return a birthday gift.
“My daughter was having a very hard day as she was about to travel for the first time by herself and was feeling extremely worried and anxious,” [the woman] said in the written appeal.
During the hearing, Magratten asked [the woman] whether she was aware of the parking lots located behind the stores on Elm Street.
[The woman] said yes, though “even the people in the stores told me that the lots were full.”
“Everything was full,” she said. “I just kept circling and I waited. I was just thinking that a car would come out, and then the next car would get the spot. It was just like the parking gods were not on my side.”
[Editor: This article has been updated.]
While I certainly do not condone parking in a handicapped parking space, this does highlight a common predicament for Elm Street shoppers–short-term parking (15 minutes, similar to the ones in Morse Court) for when you just need to run into a store and pick something up. It can be frustrating to park in the above lot for a quick errand. I’m glad knowing that the town is working with merchants ahead of the shopping season to add to the few 15-minute spots that are already in place and enhance parking spot turnover on Elm Street. – Carl Franco – Francos Wine Merchants.