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City Employee Parks City Vehicle Next To Fire Hydrant

November 23, 2010 Downtown, Parking, Politics/Policy 15 Comments
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ABOVE: City vehicle parked in no-parking area in front of fire hydrant on 11/10/2010

If you or I parked blocking a fire hydrant it wouldn’t be long before our car was ticketed and towed away, resulting in big fees.  But a city employee driving a city-owned vehicle, it seems, can get away with doing what we can’t.

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ABOVE: City vehicle parked in no-parking area between disabled space and fire hydrant on 11/10/2010

I’m sure it was just for a few minutes but anyone could use the same excuse.  The fact is the city isn’t going to ticket or tow away it’s own vehicle.  This employee likely didn’t face any disciplinary action for how they parked.  As a matter of policy, city employees operating city vehicles need to be held to the same standard as anyone else.

Some vehicles mention the department on the door but this one didn’t so I assume it is a pool vehicle that can be checked out as needed.  This makes me wonder, who manages the vehicles? What does the employee agree to when they check out a car?

– Steve Patterson

 

Currently there are "15 comments" on this Article:

  1. JZ71 says:

    It's hard to tell from the two photos, but it looks like a) the hydrant wasn't blocked, b) the accessible meter may have been partially obstructed, and c) the curb wasn't painted yellow. Was the city vehicle parked illegally? Most likely, yes.* Would / should it have been ticketed? Most likely, no. In the game of parking roulette, any place that doesn't say “no” is a “yes” in my book.

    I do agree, bigger picture, that city employees should play by the same rules, and be subject to the same sanctions, as us lowly taxpayers, but you and I know that will never happen. In the bigger scheme of things, however, this one is really minor. If you want to see more flagrant violations, like parking on the sidewalk, just go a couple of blocks south on Tucker, around the Fire Dept. maintenance facility. And, I'm actually more offended by the number of spaces reserved 24/7 for government vehicles in this area, than I am by the fact that they're competing with me for onstreet parking.

    *FYI, per St. Louis Revised Code, Section 17.24.070 Prohibited Parking, you're not supposed to park within, among other things, 5' of “of the rounding of a driveway, alley or private street”, 10' of a USPS mailbox, 15' of a fire hydrant, 20' of a crosswalk or stop sign, 30' of an electric traffic control or 50' of a railroad crossing. You're also not supposed to stop “In any alley except while loading and unloading materials not to exceed fifteen (15) minutes, provided ten (10) feet of the width of the roadway is available for the free movement of vehicular traffic and providing the vehicle is not blocking the driveway entrance to any abutting property.” If they want to ticket you, odds are good that they can find a reason . . . .

     
  2. Burtabraham says:

    It doesn't look like the car is blocking the hydrant.

     
  3. The passenger door isn't going to hit the hydrant but it is too close.

     
  4. Is there an official rule regarding correct distance away?

     
  5. Anonymous Hominid says:

    As a normal city resident, I park this close to a fire hydrant all the time. I've never gotten a ticket. As a regular reader/lurker of your blog, I must say you have gotten very whiny in the last few months. This is a non issue and really petty.

     
    • In the neighborhoods where you don't have metered spaces to go by I can imagine parking the same distance. But when you have clear designation of spaces with parking meters it becomes more clear. This is not a parking space you or I could park in and not get a ticket.

       
      • JZ71 says:

        How do we know that there wasn't a meter that was knocked down and removed? Unlike Clayton, St. Louis does not stripe individual spaces on the pavement. If I find a space that doesn't have a meter AND is neither posted “No Parking” and/or has a yellow or red curb, I view it as a free spot. Enforcement in St. Louis seems to be pretty sparse, and like Anonymous Hominid, I've never received a ticket for creative parking, just ones for expired meters and street sweeping. (Compared to Clayton, Denver, NYC and Philadelphia, St. Louis is a piece of cake!)

         
  6. Mark says:

    I regularly saw a St. Louis Fire Department vehicle (along with other non-government vehicles) parked in a no-parking zone near a gym at the end of my street. I complained several times, both to the gym and the city. I did not specifically complain about the city vehicle – just the fact that the illegally parked cars made turning into my street difficult. The end result: the city removed the no-parking signs…

     
  7. archinerd says:

    i used to work for the Parking Division of the Treasurer's Office, and the numbers on the cars indicate the department. This would be car 620 from department 1 (though i don't know which department is 1. parking division was dept. 10 i think.)

    at any rate, there's like 1/3 carlength between the car and the hydrant, curb isn't painted (should be) and i guess the car could use the handicapped meter up ahead (?) the lack of markings is probably the bigger issue in terms of public awareness; i didn't even know we had handicapped meters!

     
  8. Matthewrabbitt says:

    You can be such an a-hole, dude. You bitch about everything and you give liberals a bad-name.

     
  9. Bunche says:

    I enjoy many of your insights, but this seems a little nitpicky to me.

     

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