LETTER: Unmarked streets leave out-of-towners in dark

To the Telegram:

I recently was in Superior and parked on one of your residential streets over night because of a car issue. While my car was parked, I received a parking ticket for calendar parking. There was no sign on that street, or in the entire neighborhood, indicating that there was calendar parking in effect. I am a resident of Minnesota and the license on my vehicle is Minnesota. I have seen calendar parking in Minnesota, which is only in effect during the winter and it is well marked.

I called the “to contest” number on the back of the ticket and the only way to contest is to meet with the city attorney. It is ridiculous that I would have to meet with the city attorney to contest a ticket for a law that a nonresident would have no way of knowing about.

I am sure that I am not the first person to be in this position. Until the streets are marked, there should be a way to contest this ticket in a simple, straight-forward manner. Better yet, do away with the ticketing until the city marks the streets.

I know that the ticket is only $15 and many folks would just pay it rather than go through the hassle of contesting this practice. I find it disturbing the city of Superior finds the practice of ticketing without having any signage and making contesting the ticket ridiculously time-consuming acceptable.

How can a city make a practice of ticketing someone when they have no way of knowing they are violating any law?

I would hope this issue would be addressed; it is tourist season.

Cyndee Parsons,

Duluth

Tags: opinion, letters