Town Upholds $30 Ticket Issued to Local Man

Town officials on Wednesday upheld a $30 ticket issued to a longtime resident who failed to pay for parking on Elm Street.

Ken Oxman told members of the Parking Commission during an appeal hearing that he and his wife had no idea that the town switched to paid parking on Elm (and part of South Avenue).

“We knew nothing about the parking meters,” Oxman told the Commission during his hearing, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Oxman said he and his wife visit downtown New Canaan only rarely and that none of the people they knew ever mentioned the switchover.

“I wasn’t taking a chance,” he said, adding: “I had no idea, even when I parked I had no idea. It wasn’t until I got out of my meeting that I saw the ticket.”

The Commission—members Kevin Karl, Katie O’Neill and voted 3-0 to uphold it. 

“I think individually they’re all situations where the ticket should be upheld just because the violation is clear and making the exception would make enforcement going forward dicey and difficult,” O’Neill said.

Karl said, “We can’t pick winners and losers.”

During the hearing, a staffer in the first selectman’s office, Tucker Murphy, asked Oxman how he got information about the town, and he replied that he gets notified by phone when there are big storms. Murphy suggested he sign up for even more government communications to stay informed. At that point another appellant on Zoom laughed, and Murphy told them to mute themselves.

Oxman told the Commission that he and his wife have lived in town for 35 years but only come in for visits to the Post Office, Walter Stewart’s and the like. 

“As we got older, we just sort of happily disappeared in our own world back there,” he said.

O’Neill asked Parking Manager Stacy Miltenberg just when the ticket was issued (Jan. 7) and when the town ended its “grace period” for the change to paid parking, where violators were issued a warning (Dec. 31).