197 Cars Tagged, 170 Towed So Far

The city has tagged 197 illegally parked cars and towed 170 so far, as the city transportation department continues to enforce the snowstorm-induced citywide parking ban.

City transit chief Doug Hausladen provided those updated tag-and-tow numbers to the Independent just at 4:21 p.m. Tuesday.

That citywide parking ban, which is still in effect following Monday’s 15-inch snowstorm, prohibits cars from parking on city emergency snow routes, anywhere downtown, and on the odd side of the street in residential neighborhoods.

The storm piled some heavy white stuff atop parked cars across the city — leading city plow truck drivers to offer mixed reviews on the enforcement of the citywide parking ban.

At a Tuesday morning press conference at public works headquarters on Middletown Avenue, Mayor Justin Elicker said that, by 10:30 a.m., the city had tagged and towed 99 vehicles bin violation of the citywide parking ban.

“Our goal is not to tow people,” Elicker said Tuesday morning. ​“Our goal is to keep the streets clear. It’s a very, very large city, and so we have to prioritize with limited resources, like with everything we do. The likelihood that we tow every single car that’s in the way is low, and we have to be real about that. But at the same time, what I saw in moving around the city is that the vast majority of residents moved their cars.”

He added that, illegally parked cars that evaded city parking ban enforcement Monday night might still get tagged and towed Tuesday, as city parking enforcement officers were still on the job in the immediate aftermath of the storm.

Before Tuesday’s press conference, a city public works driver who gave his name as Jason (pictured) said that he spent Monday night and early Tuesday morning plowing the streets of Fair Haven Heights.

Time and again, he said, he came across cars parked on both sides of the streets, impeding his truck’s ability to fully clear the residential roadway.

“It’s just chaos,” he said about trying to plow through a street where cars are still parked on both sides. ​“If they enforce the parking ban a little bit better,” that would make his and his colleagues’ work that much easier.

He said that Monday’s storm also proved quite challenging for plowing crews because of just how long the snowfall lasted.

“It was just snowing all day and night,” he said. ​“We’ve started to clear everything, and we’re working with the residents” to make sure that roads are as accessible as possible, as soon as possible.

Pedro Carrasquiro (pictured) said his 12-hour Monday night, Tuesday morning shift clearing the streets of Westville saw fewer cars in violation of the residential parking ban.

“The biggest problem is the residents put a lot of the snow on the street” when clearing their driveways and sidewalks, he said. When plows come through to clear the roadway, he said, they inevitably push some of that snow right back up against driveways.

Besides that issue, he said, he had a pretty clear and productive night. ​“I didn’t see the bed,” Carrasquiro said about how he was ready for a few hours off after the overnight shift.

Fellow city plow truck driver Eddie Cloud (pictured) said that his late-shift in the Annex, with a focus on Woodward Avenue, also saw few cars illegally blocking the odd side of the road.

“We had no problems,” he said. ​“We kept it clear.”

Overall, public works chief Jeff Pescosolido (pictured) said, city crews were able to do their job Monday night and Tuesday morning in clearing major arterials and other side streets with few problems from parked cars, heavy snowfall, or mechanical mishaps.

Throughout the storm, he said, the 45-plus plow trucks out in the city suffered from ​“no major breakdowns,” though some required fixes to their heavily-used windshield wipers.

The refuse crew was able to hit the streets Tuesday morning to pick up trash on schedule, he said.

And city parks acting chief Bill Carrone said that four sidewalk crews worked the city helping to clear sidewalks, with a focus downtown.

City residents can park for free at school parking lots, listed here, until further notice. They can also park for $3 a day at the parking authority’s Temple Street Garage, Crown Street Garage and Granite Square Garage. Click here for more info.

Yale University also announced Tuesday that New Haven residents can park at the following university lots for free until Thursday at noon.

Lot 11 — 409 Prospect Street at the Divinity School
Lot 16 — 260 Whitney Avenue, entrance at Whitney and Humphrey Streets
Lot 22 — 260 Whitney Avenue, entrance at Whitney and Humphrey Streets
Lot 41 — 215 Whitney Avenue
Lot 47 — 280 Washington Avenue
Lot 78W — entrance on Lake Place
Lot 81 — 297 Crown Street, corner of Crown and High Streets
Lot 99 — 39 Prince Street
Lot 199 — 199 Whitney Avenue
344 Winchester Lot
Science Park Garage — 276 Winchester Avenue