Government

Town Upholds $30 Ticket for Woman Who Parked Above the Bike Rack at Elm and South

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Despite her protests, officials this month upheld a $30 ticket for a woman who had parked on the southeast corner of Elm Street and South Avenue, squeezing in between a bike rack and the pedestrian crosswalk. Lauren Sandstrom said she didn’t deserve the ticket for a No Parking Zone violation, issued at about 1 p.m. on a Friday in October. Though lines had been drawn on the asphalt there, sketching out a no parking area, they had not yet been repainted, Sandstrom told members of the Parking Commission at their regular meeting. Also, a sign there says two-hour parking from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with arrows pointing in both directions. “So I parked my car and actually when I came out, the lady in the store said, ‘Oh yeah, the man [parking enforcement officer] on the bike was just here and passed out tickets,’ and he actually had ticketed every car in a line, including a car that parked next to me on the other side [of the bike rack],” Sandstrom said during her appeal hearing, held at Town Hall. 

Chairman Keith Richey asked whether Sandstrom had parked in the “spot” for less than two hours.

Government

‘I Don’t Mean To Be a Comic’: Parking Officials Void One of Three $25 Tickets Issued to Forest Street Man

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Town officials this month voided two of three $25 parking tickets given to a Forest Street man who claimed he’s kept his car in the same on-street spot in front of his home for more than two years without a problem. Joseph Morcerino of 170 Forest St. told members of the Parking Commission at their Nov. 1 meeting that he parked his car in its usual spot when he left for vacation Sept. 28 to Oct.

Government

Officials Uphold $150 Ticket for Woman Who Parked in Handicapped Spot

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Town officials last week upheld a $150 ticket for a woman who parked in a handicapped spot at the Post Office on Locust Avenue. 

Anila Tirja described herself to members of the Parking Commission as a nurse from Europe who is unfamiliar with local rules. Even so, Tirja told the Commission at its most recent meeting, on the day in question she had circled the Post Office lot three times and thought it would be OK to park in the designated space so that her friend could run in and pick up an important letter “because the whole line of handicapped it was empty.” 

“Everywhere it was big line,” Tirja told the Commission during an appeal hearing at its Nov. 1 meeting, held in Town Hall. 

“The minute she open the door, she runs away. Her son was in the car, I see a person standing behind my car. We didn’t even have a chance to go out.

Government

Town Officials Puzzled by Low Use of ‘Boxcar’-Designated Parking Spots at St. A’s

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On its busiest day, the mobile app that allows commuters to park in the St. Aloysius Church lot has seen fewer than half of the available spaces taken, officials say. 

It isn’t clear whether the limited use of the Boxcar app reflects lack of demand or awareness, limitations in the mobile service itself, overly high rates, rigid parking habits or something else, officials said during Thursday’s meeting of the Parking Commission. Though use of the St. A’s lot has grown since the Boxcar spaces opened in September with $7 daily rates, “the state lots at $5 fill up first,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said during the Commission’s meeting, held at Town Hall. “So at $7 I think it is probably a bit high,” Moynihan said.

Government

Parking Officials Void Ticket for Town Woman Who Overstayed at Morse Court

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A split vote among members of the Parking Commission at a special meeting Tuesday night voided a $25 ticket issued to a New Canaan woman for overtime parking at Morse Court. Sarah Spadaccini told the Commission that on July 27, after she clocked out of her shift at Kiwanis Park, she parked her at Morse Court in a 15-minute zone so that she could pick up her takeout order from Spiga restaurant. She said that her order had already been prepared when she arrived at the restaurant, so all she had to do was pay and then leave. 

“As I was walking out to my car—because I was in the spot closest to Main Street—I could see the man ticketing my car,” she said. “It couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes. I was in and then I was out.