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Some Riverwest winter parking tickets may be forgiven

A misplaced sign appears to be the culprit
Posted at 10:21 PM, Feb 07, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-08 13:33:52-05

Due to a misplaced parking sign, some Milwaukee residents who received a winter parking ticket on a Riverwest block may not have to pay their fines. 

It's been an expensive week some people in Milwaukee thanks to the snow. The city has issued more than 12,000 tickets for people violating winter parking rules.

People living on a busy stretch of Weil near Townsend Streets in Riverwest did not just see white this past weekend, they also saw orange from all the parking tickets.

"I've got a $40 ticket," said Rosemarie Dillion.

The long-time Riverwest resident said she got not just one ticket, but two. Dillion said she followed the posted signs and even moved her car twice. That posted signed said to follow the 4-inch parking rule.

"I didn't know what was going on here," Dillon said.

She wasn't the only neighbor confused by which rule to follow.

"I didn't even know about it until everybody started getting tickets," said Bill Blenkinsop, whose son also got a ticket.

Alderman Nik Kovac said the 4-inch snow rule signs were accidentally put up after some recent construction work. The problem is the signs never belonged up in the first place.

The city did away with that rule. Instead, the sign should have said to follow odd-even parking rules when the snow falls.

"So that may have been our mistake. Over the weekend they may have had an incorrect sign-up and obviously, you can't write tickets to people when they were just obeying a sign," Kovac said.

Dillion said she's lived in her neighborhood for 23 years and never had a problem. 

"Eighty dollars for two days," Dillon said.

Now she is hoping she gets the same news Kovac gave her neighbors.

"So given the mistake that was made there or the legitimate confusion that existed there because of the sign being wrong. We did clear the tickets on the one block," Kovac said. 

But Kovac said anyone who got a ticket for parking in the 3400 block of N. Weil this past weekend should contact his office by email at nkovac@milwaukee.gov or phone (414) 286-2221 before assuming that it has been cleared. 

He said going forward people should follow the odd-even parking rule. Residents must move their vehicles, between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., to the even-numbered side of the street on even numbered days.

That means if it is Feb. 8th at 11 p.m. you should park on the even side of the street. You do not have to move your car to the odd number side of the street until 11 p.m. the next day unless otherwise noted.