The Parking Commission at its most recent meeting voted 4-1 to uphold a $25 ticket for a New Canaan woman who had overstayed in a Main Street space for about a half-hour.
Heidi McEvoy told members of the Commission during an appeal hearing that she’s a longtime volunteer at New Canaan Library and that on the Monday morning in question, she headed in to assist with a twice-yearly children’s book sale and “the library lot was full.”
“In fact, it was so full that there were cars parked in areas marked ‘no parking’—and that’s quite a common occurrence,” McEvoy said during her appeal hearing, held March 14 at Town Hall.
“A lot of people use the library lot to stay and do their library shopping in town and they never move. And the library does not do much about enforcing that. But in any event, when I first arrived, there were no spaces in the library parking lot, so I went around the lot three or four times and still couldn’t find one, and parked on Main Street and then later on after I had finished my stint at the library I came out and saw the parking meter lady putting a ticket on my car and I said, ‘But I am here.’ She said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t do anything about it— I have already written the ticket.’ And my defense is that I have put in a lot of time in at New Canaan Library and made lot of money for the library at the book sales and if not there isn’t parking in the library parking lot, which I can’t control and they don’t enforce it, I don’t think the library volunteers should be charged for parking tickets. Now if you look at my record, I think I have had one parking ticket in all of my 50 years that I have lived in New Canaan. And I am quite responsible. I don’t really break the law every other day.”
McEvoy estimated that she has volunteered a total of approximately 4,200 hours at the library.
Asked by Commission Secretary Pam Crum why she didn’t move her car when the on-street two-hour time limit expired, McEvoy said, “That is of course a sticky question but when you are working on a project like children’s books and you’re involved in what you are doing, you just don’t keep track of the time.”
She added: “So I suppose that is a very cogent question and I have no answer for it. I just got involved in my work.”
Commissioner Peter Ogilvie asked McEvoy why she didn’t park at the Center School Lot just across Maple Street from the library.
“It just never occurred to me, because why should I have to pay to park when I am volunteering for the benefit of the library?” McEvoy said. “That is my defense, however weak it may be.”
When Ogilvie followed up by asking, “So you wanted to save the 50 cents?” McEvoy responded, “I did. I am quite parsimonious.”
Parking Commission Chairman Keith Richey said, “And that is smart.”
In the end, he was the only commissioner to vote in favor of voiding the ticket.
“She is volunteering, she just parked in an easy spot and it only happened once,” Richey said.
Yet other commissioners noted that McEvoy had overstayed by a full 30 minutes, that the library lot frequently fills up and that in this case, the ticketed person could have set an alarm on the phone or something similar as a reminder to move her car.
“We should be encouraging the library to send their volunteers to the Center School Lot,” Commissioner Chris Hering said. “Those spots on Main should be more transient spots.”
Commissioners Crum, Ogilvie, Hering and Stuart Stringfellow voted to uphold the ticket.
As Executive Director of New Canaan library, I would like to provide factual information about the parking situation at the library.
With daily visitors to our building of 800 to a 1000 people per day, it is true that our parking lot is full most days, most of the time and also that people create new spaces, parking where they oughtn’t.
However these people are indeed using the library and not going elsewhere. We monitor the parking lot consistently and place warning notices on any car we find overstaying the 2 hour maximum. While the parking situation at the library is challenging there is no doubt that the cars do in fact belong to library visitors.
Thank you for these clarifications. It was sort of strange during the hearing to watch the appellant criticize library parking while detailing her own volunteerism there as part of this failed effort to get out of a $25 ticket.
Micheal: I’m not sure that we are really interested in your opinions (“It was sort of strange during the hearing…”)
I’m more interested in what Parking Commission Chairman Keith Richey said. In the end, he was the only commissioner to vote in favor of voiding the ticket.
“She is volunteering, she just parked in an easy spot and it only happened once,” Richey said. You might also want to check with him about the comments he made to me about his fellow Commissioners vote.
And, what happened to civility and fairness in New Canaan when an 80 year old person who volunteered thousands of hours to the library and in the past to the schools as well, gets one parking ticket in 50 years and gets stuck paying for it? The NC Police aren”t even that strict!
Upon further discussions a friend, it’s not surprising that you thanked the head of the library for her comments since you get the free use of a room there once a month for your coffees.
i know at least four people who at least once every two weeks stop at the library to read the Times and/or the Journal (which takes at least a half hour) and then, leaving their cars at the library, walk into town and have lunch with friends that takes at least two hours. I checked and none of them have ever gotten a warning notice from the library “police”
George,
Shut up.
A bunch of readers sent me that article, Tom. I wonder if the job of physically chalking tires could be done through license plate readers that simply record where cars are parked and when?