On Tuesday night, New Haven's new snow blower was out in downtown, clearing out the snow on the side of the roads. In order for it to be out, cars needed to be off the roads.
“We noticed residents through our See Click Fix channels to make sure they were aware we were lifting the downtown parking ban Tuesday morning at 6 a.m., but we still needed to do some overnight snow removal,” said Doug Hausladen, New Haven’s Director of Transportation, Traffic and Parking.
The See Click Fix posting when out Monday just before 6 p.m. The City says emergency no parking orders were posted on meters Tuesday afternoon.
“We did a lot of outreach going to every bar in the neighborhood, every restaurant, and every business that had people in there,” said Hausladen.
However, some drivers say, they didn't get a notice from the city nor see any of the signs. They were surprised to see their car had been towed overnight.
The towing companies didn't know much about the emergency orders either and say they were only made aware that it was happening last night.
“We received a call to head out around 9 o'clock to 200 Orange Street to meet the staff from Traffic and Parking to do some type of emergency snow removal,” said Jennifer DiLauro of Columbus Auto Body Works.
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Columbus Auto Body Works ended up towing seven of the 16 cars that were towed.
The city ended up calling off the towing for other areas where signs weren't visible to drivers.
“On Temple Street between George and Crown last night, across from the Criterion movie theater, there was an inadequate posting, so we made a decision in the field not to tag and tow that block,” said Hausladen.
The city is working on ways to better inform drivers when emergency orders are placed on roadways. It has postponed the snow cleaning efforts for Wednesday night.
