A recent article in the Advocate talks about the number of Red Deer residents who were ticketed in this year’s “snow clearing.”
In the article, the city’s public works manager, Greg Sikora, says he can’t explain why so many tickets were issued this year. Perhaps I can clear this up. Rather than putting signs in the areas that snow is to be pushed around on that day, a large sign is erected at each entrance to a subdivision. In our case, the signs went up on Thursday night, saying plowing would start the following Monday and continue until completed. Once that sign goes up it becomes illegal to park anywhere on the streets until the signs come down.
Our close was plowed on the following Tuesday.
When the graders came into our close, I went out to move my wife’s car into the alley, only to find a ticket that had been issued almost two hours earlier. I went to City Hall and appealed the ticket, but was told that since the appropriate signage was in place, I had no grounds for appeal, but I could try anyway. My appeal was rejected out-of-hand.
So the city gave the commissionaires the freedom to go out well ahead of the graders and plows and ticket cars as long as the signs to the subdivision are up. Sikora says that almost 3,000 tickets is quite a few. It adds up to $150,000 for council to do with what they will. Once they see how easy this money is to collect, you can be assured that next year they will be out one, two, maybe three days before actual “snow clearing,” takes place. This is just the latest example of how our council is letting us down.
Jim Kristinson, Red Deer