This week’s Woodstock Independent carried an article about the July Coffee with the Chief and the remarks by one Woodstock PD officer who wrote 24 tickets in one night for prohibited overnight parking on a Woodstock street. This officer writes about 200 tickets/month and these are at just one (1) apartment community, the Mapletree Apartments on Sheila Street.
For those of you not familiar with Mapletree Apartments, this is subsidized housing located east of Route 47 and just south and east of Kentucky Fried Chicken, up near the courthouse.
I don’t doubt for a minute that the tickets written by the officer were valid; i.e., a vehicle was parked on the street for more than 30 minutes between 2:00-6:00AM.
The issue is now why were there 24 vehicles so parked, and why would there be 200 vehicles so parked in one month.
On July 25 I emailed the City Manager, Mayor, all City Councilpersons and the police chief to ask this question. In three business days, not a peep out of any one of them. Not one reply!
I assert that the City is failing to serve a significant part of its population – the low income, underprivileged, less-educated and definitely politically powerless residents of Mapletree.
I even telephoned (July 24, I think) and left a message for the manager at Mapletree, suggesting that I might have a solution to the parking problem. Did s/he call me back? I’m still waiting.
So, what is the real problem?
Do residents just thumb their noses at the City ordinance and dare the officer to issue a ticket? Not hardly.
Does the Mapletree apartment community provide adequate off-street parking for its residents? How does Mapletree allocate parking spaces? How many spaces does each apartment get?
Mapletree requires a parking permit on any car parked in its parking lots. What happens if you don’t have a permit? Your car gets towed.
Is the towing by a local towing service? No way! Mapletree contracts with an out-of-area towing service. Does that towing service charge fairly for towing a car? The jury is out on this one; I’m going to talk to residents and find out how much towing costs.
Do residents have to “qualify” for a parking permit? Is the apartment complex office open at hours to accommodate working people?
There are no signs installed to warn drivers about the overnight parking ban. Adequate signs should be installed by the City, even if only on a temporary basis. Perhaps some of the signs should be in Spanish.
The apartment complex and the City of Woodstock should hold meetings to educate Mapletree residents about the City parking ban. The meetings should be held at hours convenient for residents. And the City should force Mapletree Apartments to provide adequate off-street parking for its residents.
Mapletree should get rid of its contract for the towing company to prowl its parking lots in the wee hours of the morning and tow cars that don’t have permits. The City Police could issue tickets at the request of the apartment manager and handle parking violations in this manner.
If you think the City should be pro-active in assisting Mapletree residents with the parking problems, email me at Gus@WoodstockAdvocate.com and contact the City. Let the Mayor and your City Council representative know how you feel. Do it now…
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3 comments:
Why should the city be responsible for this? Mapletree is a private complex, not public housing, and when tenants sign a lease agreement, they know ahead of time what the parking situation will be. If this does not accommodate them or their lifestyle there is plenty of other low income rental properties in the county. Living in an apartment complex myself with limited parking I understand how frustrating it can be. If I have guests visiting from out of town where are they supposed to park? One call to the police departments non emergency number and they will authorize my guest to park on the street for up to 3 nights. As for the towing agency, I believe they use Cougar Recovery, as does my apartment complex, the fees are steep if you park there without authorization, but as a resident, I appreciate the steep fees because it strongly discourages non residents from parking in our lot and I know that my vehicle will have a space for me when I get home. The only people that get burned are the ones who park where they shouldn't, if they can't respect the rights of the people who live there and pay rent and are entitled to the parking space they get, then I have no problem charging them outrageous fees to get their vehicle back.
Thanks for posting! It's my understanding that Mapletree, although a private apartment complex, is subsidized housing. I'm not sure of the differences between subsidized housing and Section 8. I agree with you that the permit probably assures you a place to park. And I agree that a phone call to the P.D. gets your guests three nights on the street. How many Mapletree residents know about that? I'd like to find out, only the manager at Mapletree ignored my phone message. "Steep" doesn't begin to describe Cougar's fees. That's the outfit that wanted to charge a truck driver $5,000 to get his big rig back, after they towed it off Wisted's lot one night. How many hours does it take to write 24 illegal parking tickets? The officer has to spot them first, record the plate, parking spot and time, and then come back thirty minutes (or more) later and be certain that the vehicle hasn't been moved, and then write the ticket. Does he get out and chalk the tires on the first pass? If not, how could he state with absolute certainty that the vehicle had not been moved? He can't but, for $5.00, who is going to see him in court? The City has created the problem with the overnight street parking ban; the City should participate in solving the problem.
Agreed.
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