Police: holding parking spots after snowstorms prohibited

AMBLER — The winter weather this season in Ambler has been increasingly difficult for residents, and tempers have begun to flair up.

As the snow continues to fall, seemingly week after week, some residents have resorted to placing objects in the street in order to save parking spots, igniting a fire storm of controversy in the process.

During the Feb. 18 Ambler Borough Council meeting, police Chief William Foley updated council on the situation, and sent a message to residents that the department would continue cracking down on the illegal practice.

“The extreme weather conditions, the amount of snow and the efforts to clear it have been thwarted,” Foley said as reason why residents have begun holding spots.

Foley said the police department has been moving the space holding objects off the street, but in some cases it has been removing them “period.” Objects taken would, however, be released to those who claim them.

Council member Sharon McCormick asked if there was something on the books to prevent the practice.

“It’s state law,” Foley replied. “It’s illegal in Pennsylvania.”

Vice President Peter Amento then asked what the department would do if officers kept having to come back to the same areas to move objects from the street.

“We’ve been removing them,” Foley said. “We’ve been moving them [in most cases], but if we have to go back, we remove them. We have them, but it’s not like we need [to hold] a fire sale, they’re usually not good items [anyway].”

Foley had announced that police would be enforcing the law before the Feb. 13 snowstorm, explaining that the practice was a hazard for road crews plowing the streets and it caused too much trouble. The announcement caused many residents on both sides of the issue to sound off in the comments section of the story on AmblerGazette. com.

“Chances are the person who parks in your spot probably had someone park in the spot they dug out that morning and is just looking for some place to park their car,” wrote user Matthew Hall. “Putting items in the road can damage vehicles and cause serious harm to drivers. Do you want to drive around and find another spot, or deal with a lawsuit because the folding chair you put out went through someone’s windshield?”

“Bottom line is they don’t care about you,” wrote user “TheyDontCare,” adding he felt Foley doesn’t care about residents, because he doesn’t live in the borough. “They’ve got nothing better to do in a small borough, so they come up with these dumb ideas. My thing is in this winter/ snow, if you shovel it [then] the spot is yours. Why would I let other lazy bumps steal my hard work?”

During the meeting, council member Ed Curtis asked if there was a way to identify the borough’s fire hydrants.

Foley said the Wissahickon Fire Department takes care of that.

“With the amount of snow we’ve had, I’m sure some have been covered,” Foley said. “Our hope is within the next week we break the larger snow piles and the fire department will sent out crews to clear them.”

Curtis then asked about the threat of drain storm water getting into homes and businesses. Borough Manager Mary Aversa said the borough had crews out taking care of that issue. “We’re on it,” she said. Earlier in the meeting, Mayor Jeanne Sorg thanked the emergency personnel and road crews for the way they responded during the Feb. 5 power outage.

Follow Eric Devlin on Twitter @ Eric_Devlin.