Short-notice parking violations?

July 12, 2007 1:47 PM

Is there a minimum amount of time that No-Parking (street cleaning) signs are required to be posted in advance of their taking effect?

A couple times now I've parked my car and come back two days later to find street-cleaning signs have posted, and it's been ticketed. This seems rather underhanded, to say the least.

Chicago's D.O.R. bounced me to 311, who tried to bounce me somewhere else, but I hung up after several minutes of phone ringing.

I'm referring to the temporary, wrap-around-a-tree signs that are used on side streets that don't have regularly scheduled cleaning (and permanent signs informing drivers of such).

posted by unmake to Travel & Transportation (5 answers total)

Not that I know of. One of my colleagues parked in NYC one day. As he got out of his car he noticed a crew working on the sidewalk, but paid them no heed. When he returned several hours later he say a brand new "No Parking" sign cemented into the sidewalk next to his car and a parking ticket under his wiper. It's not too often that you get to expense parking tickets.
posted by caddis at 1:52 PM on July 12, 2007

I don't know about Chicago, but whenever that's happened to me here in Vancouver, I've convinced the City to waive the fine (and, in one case, the tow charges, when my car was towed). Here, you cannot be held responsible for a sign that goes up after you park your car, as long as you parked it legally in the first place.

I always use email to reach the City, as then there's a "paper" trail.
posted by acoutu at 1:59 PM on July 12, 2007

Best answer: I found this with some googling, plus a number of other unhappy chitown residents.
posted by PugAchev at 2:05 PM on July 12, 2007

For whatever it's worth, many cities have (usually-unenforced) regulations that state that cars cannot be left parked in the same spot for longer than X period of time [48 hours, 7 days, whatever].

This varies by municipality. I have no idea what Chicago has to say about it. You could poke around here and see if you get any satisfaction.
posted by dersins at 2:23 PM on July 12, 2007

Contest by mail. It usually works.
posted by mrbugsentry at 2:40 PM on July 12, 2007