Bob CollinsWe suburb-slickers with our garages with attached houses are having a difficult time relating to the parking woes of residents of Minneapolis, who now can only park on the odd side of the street on non-snow-emergency routes.
But it’s a big deal, of course, to people with cars in the city when half the parking options disappear. What are people supposed to do?
Listener Christina Nguyen gives voice to their woes:
How is this rule not being met with public outrage yet? Are people just not aware of it?
So there’s no parking on the even side of the street of non-snow emergency (neighborhood) streets? I live in Whittier and it’s already so hard to find street parking as it is that I oftentimes end up parking a block or more away. How will it affect the neighborhoods that already has scarce parking (Whittier, Uptown, the U of M campus, etc) when our parking is cut in half? We’re all going to be fighting for the spaces and parking several blocks away from our homes which is neither safe or convenient.
This parking ban is not taking families with children, disabled or elderly people into consideration. I understand that it’s important for the emergency vehicles to be able to get through the neighborhood streets, but why not have the plow trucks plow closer to the edge of the street?
Though they said they have the horsepower and ability to do that instead of allowing the streets to get smaller and smaller with each snow emergency, they said it would result in more snow on the sidewalks and “property damage.” God forbid that there be more snow on the grassy buffer between the street and the sidewalk. That’s what they’re there for!
Why not just plow the streets better and then give people tickets or towing if they’re parked too far from the snowy banks or give property owners citations if they’re not shoveling their sidewalk? I think that would be preferable to messing with everyone’s parking situation.
I feel like this rule was made by people who live in the suburbs or in places with off-street parking who don’t have an understanding of the inconveniences of on-street parking. Unfortunately this seems to be a problem mostly for younger people, immigrants, and those of lower socioeconomic status.
The rulemakers would sleep better at night with a quick fix that involves displacing us from our normal parking (and stressing us out for another month and a half until Winter is over) in the name of public safety rather than enforcing better plowing, better shoveling, and more ticketing and towing, which would require too much work on the city’s behalf.
What’s your plan for dealing with reduced parking in Minneapolis?
