The city of Toledo, Ohio, is issuing parking tickets to cars parked in the owner's driveways. I believe I would have to tell them where to stuff their ticket after I neatly folded it into three sharp corners.
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- Some people in Ohio complain they received $25 parking tickets last week when their vehicles were parked in their own driveways. Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner defends the citations, saying they were issued under a city law against parking on unpaved surfaces -- including gravel driveways. The mayor, who's facing a recall vote, says he stands by the city's acting commissioner of Streets, Bridges and Harbor, Susan Frederick, who wrote the tickets. [1] U.S. residents are angry today at receiving US$25 ('''18) parking tickets for parking their vehicles in their own driveways. Mayor Carty Finkbeiner said he stood by the tickets handed out last week by the Division of Streets, Bridges and Harbour in Toledo, Ohio. He said the tickets were issued under a city law against parking on unpaved surfaces, including gravel driveways.[2]
What that in mind, we take you to Toledo, Ohio, where a number of drivers are fuming after receiving parking tickets. That's not so unusual, but this is - the citations came because they were parked in their own driveways. Those facing a $25 fine are accused of violating a city bylaw that prohibits parking on unpaved surfaces - and that includes their gravel driveways. They were furious when they discovered the yellow tags on their cars, which were sitting on their own properties and not in anyone's way.[3]
Mr. Finkbeiner said the tickets were issued under a city law against parking on unpaved surfaces, including gravel driveways. Councilman D. Michael Collins, whose district includes the homes where the tickets were issued, said he would make certain that the homeowners do not have to pay the $25 fine. "I would hope the city would realize this was an exercise in insanity and rescind the tickets," Mr. Collins said. "Those who work for the mayor, it is like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, where those who are all insane flock together."[4]
During a press conference on Monday the Mayor refused to answer a question posed by a reporter, asking if the gravel driveway crackdown was related to the city's budget crisis. Thankfully City Councilman Michael Collins disagrees with the tickets, calling them "Micky Mouse nonsense". He has promised residents he'll try to have the tickets recinded. We'd like to wish Mayor Finkbeiner the best of luck on his recall vote.[5]
Toledo, Ohio Mayor Carty Finkbeiner, who is already up for a recall vote, defended the ticketing of several cars over the past week who were parked in their owners driveway. How can they do that? They just found an old law prohibiting drivers from parking on "unpaved" surfaces. and technically gravel is unpaved.[5] Gravel isn't good enough for the Mayor. It's gotta be paved. If not, you're a criminal. Mayor Carty Finkbeiner, who surprisingly is facing a recall, says he stands by a bureaucrat's the Acting Commissioner of Streets, Bridges and Harbor's decision to ticket citizens who park in their driveways.[6] Ms. Frederick did not return telephone calls seeking comment. Mayor Carty Finkbeiner on Monday said he stands by the citations handed out last week by the Division of Streets, Bridges, and Harbor.[4]
Mayor Finkeiner is defending the citations and the city's acting commisioner of Streets, Bridges, and Harbor, Susan Fredrick- the writer of the tickets.[5] "The Commissioner of Streets, Bridges and Harbor responded by going to the location of the complaint to assess whether it was valid or not," Robson said in the statement. "She personally observed that it was a valid complaint. She observed several illegally parked vehicles along the first street she visited." "While there, a neighbor asked her to check out his street, which also had a number of illegally parked vehicles. Once she observed they too were illegally parked, she cited them as well. The City of Toledo supports its laws in general and illegally parked vehicles can and will be ticketed, and these tickets are considered valid."[7] Sue Frederick, commissioner of Streets, Bridges, and Harbor, wrote seven tickets to residents in the 400 and 500 blocks of Holland-Sylvania Road for parking on gravel-covered surfaces. The residents complained to the city after receiving the $25 tickets for parking their vehicles on their own driveways.[4] Who says government doesn't always know best? And if government says you can't legally park in your driveway, they must be right. Sure, this makes sense to all of us. People in Toledo, on the other hand, are all upset because they're receiving parking tickets for doing the unheard of. The criminal act of parking their cars in front of their house. The acts of criminality have become so rampant that the Mayor has deputized city workers (instead of police officers and the parking division of the city) to roam the hardscrabble streets to issue $25 parking citations to individuals who have committed this heinous crime.[6] The president of the Toledo Police Patrolman's Association said he may go to court to prevent employees from the city's streets department from writing parking tickets. "This falls under police duty and police are the only ones who can take law enforcement action," said Dan Wagner, the union president.[4]
