Has LPD read the parking ordinance?

[Eric Tietze]

I've had a recent situation which has left me wondering if our PD reads the city ordinances they enforce. In the last 2 weeks I've received 2 parking tickets (for parking the wrong direction on a city street) that I've had to take to city hall and have thrown out. Both times I've taken time out of my schedule to go to city hall and get these dismissed since they were not valid tickets because I was on private property and didn't violate the parking ordinance anyhow.

Both tickets I received while parked on private property which runs alongside a city street which doesn't have curbs. When I received the first one, I spoke with the issuing officer and told him I was on private property, not a city street. After talking with him for a while he informed me that "well it's only $15." To which I told him he was correct but it was $15 I didn't want to give the city for no reason.

After speaking with the street department, I received a letter from them stating the area I was parked on was private property and not part of the city street.

I also looked up the ordinance they said I had violated. Another forum member provided me the link to the ordinances in a PM. After the reading the ordinance I discovered that not only was I on private property, but I wasn't in violation of the ordinance anyhow. I was parked alongside a street with no curbs. Here's what the city's ordinance (25-262) says about parking on a street without curbs:
Where curbs do not exist, stopping, standing or parking shall be completed in such a manner as to leave the necessary paved travelway plus one foot on each side available as a freeway. Notice that it says nothing about which direction you must be facing, as it does when speaking of a road with curbs.

After the 2nd ticket, I also spoke to the Chief of Police. I told him of the situation, the fact that it is private property and that the ordinance says nothing about which direction to park when curbs do not exist. He said he hadn't read the ordinance in a while, so I gave him a copy. He then said that the direction applied when no curbs exist also, I read the portion of the ordinance about no curbs. He then said that both officers had probably written down the wrong ordinance number. When I got ready to leave he asked me "would it be so hard to just park the other way." I told him that I park depending on which direction I come from and since I was in violation of no ordinance or laws I saw no reason to change that.

I was very unhappy with the overall attitude of "It's only $15" and "Would it be so hard to just park the other way." How many other laws that don't exist should we all obey just because the PD feels like issuing us tickets.

This has now made me curious how many other folks around here have received these tickets when they weren't even in violation of the ordinance. It also makes me wonder why the ordinances aren't being read before being enforced. I'm sure this is based on orders coming down to patrolmen and probably not anything of their personal decision to be spending so much of their time handing out parking tickets.

[hotcookie1965]

how many officers read the "city" ordiances in the first place. im sure the "basic" ones carry the same numbers from city to city....

[Eric Tietze]

Originally Posted by hotcookie1965

how many officers read the "city" ordiances in the first place. im sure the "basic" ones carry the same numbers from city to city....

I'm sure the officers don't read all of them, would be very time consuming and probably confusing for anyone but an attorney. I would think that the Chief of Police should be pretty well versed on them, especially if it's an ordinance they decide to suddenly start really cracking down on. From what I've heard, the orders to start issuing more of these parking tickets probably came from the top. You would think he would also let them know the correct places to issue them.

[homstdr74]

Originally Posted by Eric Tietze

I'm sure the officers don't read all of them, would be very time consuming and probably confusing for anyone but an attorney. I would think that the Chief of Police should be pretty well versed on them, especially if it's an ordinance they decide to suddenly start really cracking down on. From what I've heard, the orders to start issuing more of these parking tickets probably came from the top. You would think he would also let them know the correct places to issue them.

If that's the case, the ordinance he was thinking about may be the St. Louis ordinance, not the Lebanon ordinance. He's from St. Louis, and not from around here.

[Ben Hilton]

Maybe if there's a third ticket you could take the Department to small claims court for time and trouble reimbursement?????

[firefighter]

Makes you wonder how many of those parking tickets are actually valid.

[Bill Rook]

I agree that the LPD is not fully aware of their own parking ordinances, nor are they fully aware of state regulation either.

Visitors of my neighbors (across from me) got in the habit of parking on our curbed street and across their driveway. I told them that it was in violation and made it hard for me to get out of my driveway, being the two drives are straight across from each other. I said I would appreciate it, if they would pull up some to allow less difficult access. The illegal parking continued...

I called the PD, a motorcycle cop responds and tells the dispatcher, "I don't see anything wrong. The truck is parked in the right direction." Neither the dispatcher, nor the officer knew that parking across a driveway entrance was not allowed.

Missouri Driver's Guide (page 49):

NO-PARKING ZONES

There are many areas where you cannot park. Check for signs that may
prohibit or limit parking. Some parking restrictions are indicated by colored
curb markings. Do not park:
• In an intersection.
• On a crosswalk or sidewalk.
• Across a driveway entrance.
• On the left side of a two-way street.
• Alongside a curb that is painted yellow.
• On a bridge.
• Blocking a fire hydrant.
• Blocking the normal traffic flow or creating a hazard to other drivers.

• With your vehicle facing against traffic.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another issue for the PD:

Hocker's on Jefferson continues to display "Please don't block driveway entrance" signs on the highway right-of-way, as instructional guidance for Jefferson traffic. Wonder when the PD will realize those are illegal?

City Ordinance, Chapter 25, Article IV, Section 25-240

[Eric Tietze]

Here's another thing I found interesting while dealing with this. I was told that most of these tickets are written between 3 & 4 a.m. One of mine was at 3:33 a.m. the other at 3:27 a.m. I don't know how many officers we have on duty this time of night, but I'm wondering if we may have too many. Strictly from a budget standpoint, could they eliminate one of the overnight positions completely to save some money? Or could they move them to a different shift where there is more going on? Or, are they writing enough $15 parking tickets to pay the expenses of having the extra people on during this time of night?

There have been 3 stories/incidents I have known of in the last couple of weeks involving LPD. 1 is the meth bust, very good job by our PD. The other 2 are this one and the robbery of the Pollock family's home. Last I had heard, only a day or two ago, the Pollocks still hadn't received their belongings back. The reason given was that the PD hasn't had time to photograph and catalog the stuff. Again, makes me wonder how many other people deal with the same thing. Why can't we take one of the overnight patrolmen and have them get some of this type of stuff caught up?

And for anyone who might think differently, I'm a strong supporter of law enforcement. I've been told on this forum before that I shouldn't support them so much. None of this has changed that. I think these guys put their lives on the line everyday and I'm thankful for it. Just think there could be some changes made.

[homstdr74]

Originally Posted by Eric Tietze

Here's another thing I found interesting while dealing with this. I was told that most of these tickets are written between 3 & 4 a.m. One of mine was at 3:33 a.m. the other at 3:27 a.m. I don't know how many officers we have on duty this time of night, but I'm wondering if we may have too many. Strictly from a budget standpoint, could they eliminate one of the overnight positions completely to save some money? Or could they move them to a different shift where there is more going on? Or, are they writing enough $15 parking tickets to pay the expenses of having the extra people on during this time of night?

There have been 3 stories/incidents I have known of in the last couple of weeks involving LPD. 1 is the meth bust, very good job by our PD. The other 2 are this one and the robbery of the Pollock family's home. Last I had heard, only a day or two ago, the Pollocks still hadn't received their belongings back. The reason given was that the PD hasn't had time to photograph and catalog the stuff. Again, makes me wonder how many other people deal with the same thing. Why can't we take one of the overnight patrolmen and have them get some of this type of stuff caught up?

And for anyone who might think differently, I'm a strong supporter of law enforcement. I've been told on this forum before that I shouldn't support them so much. None of this has changed that. I think these guys put their lives on the line everyday and I'm thankful for it. Just think there could be some changes made.

I don't know about the manpower issue, but there's no question that the "parking on the wrong side of the street" enforcement issue is simply silly 'makework', and not worth the time, trouble, and very bad PR that it has stirred up.

[Bill Rook]

I think the parking issue is a small step in bringing Lebanon back to reality. Everyone should know by now that you can't park however you please. Many cities around the state would boot your car for illegal parking. That's an expensive and time consuming ordeal. The officer is enforcing a state law and city ordinance that was gaffed off by Mustard and crew for years. Nobody can dispute the fact that illegal parking was rampant and has been for years. If the officer has idle time and desires to write infractions during the remainder of his tour, I think he should go for it, as long as the cited infractions are factual. At least he's earning his keep, travelling around the city neighborhoods and not sitting at the headshed waiting to be dispatched. I doubt the PD will suffer a PR problem over parking tickets. If so, it will be from those that were offenders. IMO, there are several more ordinances that should be enforced. You have to ask yourself... Do I want the PD to do their job or partially do their job?