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Special Parking...

Special Parking...

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
April 17, 2008

I always wonder what it is that causes a driver to think he is so special that he can park like this. Obviously, he wants to get his vehicle out of the roadway, where it might get sideswiped.

This vehicle was parked in this position on Tuesday late afternoon, April 15. Wednesday morning it was still there. Thursday morning it was still there (or it had been moved and was parked again in the same spot). Did it have a ticket on it? None could be seen.

Parking like this should certainly attract the attention of an officer driving by on at least one of the three shifts. The vehicle is parked in violation of the City Code by being on the parkway. If it was parked overnight, that would have been a second violation. Assuming it wasn't parked overnight and then was parked again on the parkway? Another violation.

Overnight parking permission can be granted by the police dispatcher, but only for one or two reasons. If there is room in the driveway, the vehicle is not to be parked overnight on a Woodstock street.

It would be interesting to see the records of how many parking tickets are issued and where. Are only certain areas targeted? It takes hardly any time at all to write a parking ticket, so an officer is not "out of service" very long.

Here's a thought. Why not send the Community Service Officer out on patrol to ticket illegally parked vehicles, whether like this one on the parkway or blocking a sidewalk, which is a common violation all over Woodstock? It shouldn't be necessary to have an armed, sworn police officer issue a common parking ticket.