'Didn't receive any notifications': Edmonton drivers frustrated after receiving parking ban tickets
Several Edmonton drivers say they weren’t notified of snow clearing in their area before their vehicles were ticketed.
The city declared a phase 2 residential parking ban beginning Jan. 24.
The ban is expected to last up to four weeks until all residential streets are cleared, but the city says the ban only lasts 24 to 72 hours per neighbourhood while snow clearing is taking place.
Steve Chatelain says his vehicle was ticketed on Saturday night.
As of Monday morning, his street in the northeast neighbourhood of Kirkness still hadn’t been cleared.
“Get a $250 parking ticket for snow removal…and 36 hours later…and it’s still not done,” Chatelain told CTV News Edmonton.
“I would have no objection to paying it if it was being done and my truck was in the way, but 36 hours later, not being done, I think that’s ridiculous.”
In the north central Lauderdale neighbourhood, the streets were plowed on Monday, but residents say they didn’t get any notice before tickets were handed out.
“I work from home and I heard some grading, and I was like ‘Nice, my street’s getting plowed, I’ll move my car,’” Matt Ormandy said.
When he went outside, he found a $250 ticket on his vehicle.
“I signed up for email notifications a few weeks ago, and I’ve never received one, so that’s particularly why I’m frustrated.”
That is a sentiment shared by his neighbour Jacob Holloway, who also got a ticket.
“I’m pissed, because I’ve lived here for four winters, and not once have they plowed this street. I signed up for notifications, didn’t receive any notifications that plowing was happening today, never received anything in the mail.”
“Now I have a $250 bill on top of being a student, living off student loans.”
At least one city councillor says it’s time the city got tough on drivers.
“I’m empathetic that there should be more warning,” Coun. Tim Cartmell said. “The other side of that is, the city has been saying for days that a ban is in effect.”
“The city took a much sterner approach to ticketing and towing this year because frankly, there was not a lot of uptake when warnings were offered in past years.”
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi says he will ask city administration to look into some of the complaints.
“We try to notify as effectively as possible, the signage before the graders go in, and people can also sign up to get notifications for their specific neighbourhood when the graders will be in,” he told reporters on Monday.
“We don’t want people to get tickets. We want people to comply. The more people that can comply, the easier it is for graders to do the work faster, which is what Edmontonians want too.”
Chatelain, Ormandy and Holloway all say they plan to fight their tickets.
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s David Ewasuk.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Thanks to wildfires, air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.