My car got towed for street cleaning, however, there was no scheduled cleaning on either sides of the street. I got ticketed/towed, and this cost me $200.

Submitted by Ioseb_Hates_Money t3_zq8o81 in CambridgeMA

I got towed around Thursday, 12-8. I've got it written on my ticket my location (the intersection of two streets, with the street that the car was parked on mentioned first - like this: "parked on Jones Street at Rudolph Street"), the time, and the violation.

When I looked at the signs on both sides of the street where I was parked, I see that one side has street cleaning on the first Friday's of the month, and the other side is on the second Monday's of the month. I was towed on the second Thursday of the month.

I got my car back from Phil's Towing on Webster Street, and this cost me $170. My ticket was $30. In addition to all this, I had to get a ride-share to Webster Street, and this was about $10, and not to mention the punitive damages in the form of stress that I experienced.

I am contesting this ticket, and I found out today that it would take "12-18 weeks, and that they probably didn't even look at my reasons yet."

I'm very upset, as you can imagine. It's going to take 3 - 4.5 months just to review my contesting of this, and they won't even give me any punitive damages if they found out that I wasn't in the wrong.

Most importantly, what could prevent this from happening again? There's nothing that could prevent this from happening again - not even an apology or anything.

What can I do about this? If this happens again, then it'll feel a lot like harassment.

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pelican_chorus t1_j0x4f8j wrote

I doubt it was street-cleaning, or an overzealous tow truck, like someone else suggested (They can't give tickets).

I would assume either

  1. You missed a construction notice (i.e. a paper "no-parking between x and y hours until z date" pinned to a tree)
  2. You weren't in a legal spot (wrong side of a parking sign, too close to a hydrant, handicapped spot, etc)

If you gave your exact parking spot we might be able to figure it out further. (I'm assuming that "Jones Street at Rudolph Street" is made up, right? I can't find those actual streets on Google Maps.)

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pezx t1_j0z1dzc wrote

I'd add

  1. You were parked too close to an intersection. This seems likely given that OP felt the need to check two different streets for sweeping restrictions
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LaAndala t1_j0ytmyd wrote

The first one happened to me, I was out of the country and the day after I left they hung the signs for tree cutting or something. I even left my keys with my neighbors but they never saw it. Sucked, so expensive… The next year I parked it with a friend on their driveway just to be sure…

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Ioseb_Hates_Money OP t1_j0z7wmq wrote

The street names I used were faked. Here is a redacted picture of my ticket.

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pelican_chorus t1_j1477p1 wrote

Huh.

So you say you were parked in Zone C (odd on 1st Friday, even on 2nd Monday), but you got towed as if you were in Zone E (odd on 2nd Thursday).

Zone E borders Zone C on River Street (see map: https://www.cambridgema.gov/services/streetcleaning). One side of River St is Zone E and the other side is Zone C.

The north/west side of River Street is E and has street cleaning on 2nd Thursday.

Are you sure you weren't parked on the odd side of River St, and looked at a sign near the even side and assumed it was the same zone?

E.g. say you parked on the odd side of River St next to the intersection of William St. The sign that would be visible from there on William St (see Google Street View) says 1st Friday on the odd side, so that could be confusing. But it would be referring to William St, not River.

(It would be a lot easier if you just posted your intersection, it's not like we can dox you from that, but that's fine if you want to keep your privacy.)

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meratherbebikin t1_j0wvxsq wrote

Based on your info, it looks like you are in District C, which is first Friday and second Monday. Those dates were 12/2 (first Friday) and 12/12 (second Monday).

Why you got towed sounds like a mystery, as it clearly was not a street sweeping day in your area. Were there maybe no parking signs posted for a different reason? Did anyone else on that side of the street get towed?

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xKimmothy t1_j0x1n49 wrote

Were there any work notices in your spot? I've had a car towed before because they put up emergency work tow zones the night before or so. They're supposed to put it up 3 days in advance but obviously not a priority for them and sometimes they're nice enough not to tow. I just count that as part of my yearly parking costs, though it's only happened once in the 4 years I've lived in Cambridge.

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elizag19 t1_j0x5jo9 wrote

I just threw out my 2022 street cleaning schedule but before I did I noticed there was a district that has cleaning at the end of December due to a timing discrepancy… 😬 Sorry about your misfortune. Sign up for text alerts in 2023.

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QsanoQ t1_j0zmea2 wrote

This, they usually will put up temporary signs if the dates were shifting.

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matthew0517 t1_j0x6o5e wrote

Email the council and complain:

council@cambridgema.gov

They're actually shockingly responsive on this kind of thing. Vote for whoever fixes your problem.

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andr_wr t1_j0wyr32 wrote

I would go back and double check - I have seen, only occassionally, emergency street sweeping at the end of fall/early December. Might that have been it?

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Ioseb_Hates_Money OP t1_j0zbt1q wrote

Emergency street cleaning isn’t the reason why I was towed. Here is a redacted picture of my ticket.

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andr_wr t1_j0zyc3s wrote

The ticket wouldn't have 'emergency street cleaning' listed as a reason. It would be the same fine as a regular 'street cleaning' ticket.

It's been long enough now that the temporary signs would've likely been removed or blown down, but, it's not an uncommon thing to have emergency street cleaning be the issue.

What corner were you parked at?

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bianguyen t1_j0x35we wrote

You can check the street cleaning schedule here. The schedule will shift it it falls on a holiday, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. According to the signs, you were parked in District C. According to when you were towed (12/8), the car was parked on the odd side of district C. Were you anywhere near River St, which divides C and E? There simply is no way it could be an overzealous tow truck driver hoping for an extra buck. (/s)

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Mr_Pathfinder t1_j10ztrw wrote

So sometimes they will put up paper signs on poles. And if it has snowed on said day of cleaning they will put it off a day or a week. Best to call the DPW to ask further questions.

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[deleted] t1_j11ls0r wrote

[deleted]

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BrexitBad1 t1_j127qxf wrote

Department of public works, one of their departments is street cleaning . You can contact them from 8:30 AM to 5 PM at 617 349-4800.

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Mr_Pathfinder t1_j15prqv wrote

DPW is the department of public works for Cambridge Massachusetts. Here is the phone number+1 617-349-4800 follow the prompts to talk to the right person.

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LeslieMarston t1_j0xaxqr wrote

I never park in Cambridge, i got 2 tickets for $30 each for not paying the meter, had that parking app on my phone and thought I’d paid it, never park in Cambridge for any reason.

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PapaJack2008 t1_j0z4l15 wrote

I think you answered yourself there, you "thought" you had paid it. I use these apps and I am sure it's all set before I lock the car. AND there's a reminder on the app to let you know when you are X minutes away from the app meter expiring. Never once got a ticket anywhere when I used the app.

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AcademicMuffin2883 t1_j0xnqub wrote

I find it funny how we all think a street parking spot is a right because we pay a basically nominal amount. Space savers, street cleaning, events etc. all elicit indignation. The street is a public shared space. Why do cars get to own it? You want to not get towed and have a car in a dense city? Park off street.

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fendent t1_j0xofcr wrote

I’m all for getting cars off the street but drivers really shouldn’t have to put up with incorrect, arbitrary municipal punishment like getting towed when you were in the clear (even if this particular case may or may not be that).

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whmeh0 t1_j0y0sy2 wrote

Lmao you're saying the street is a public shared space (true) and also defending space savers? Gtfo

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AcademicMuffin2883 t1_j0yla15 wrote

I’m not defending them, just highlighting them as part of the angst. I think they’re ridiculous too.

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coldsnap123 t1_j0xs61k wrote

Stop with this DSA “pArKiNg iS a ShArEd SpAcE” nonsense

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AcademicMuffin2883 t1_j0yljl7 wrote

What is street parking then? So you own street parking? Can I place my own random metal box there, containing a few hoodies, empty Dunks, and gallons of gasoline? I’m happy to for the city to rent you municipal space but let’s do it at market rent per sq ft. Let’s use capitalism to price it. Or is that too “DSA” for you?

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coldsnap123 t1_j0yw8jw wrote

Technically you can if you have the correct permits. What you put inside your moving pod is up to you. I wonder if we were in the Wild West that you folks would have the same obsession over hitching posts and watering troughs.

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