‘Snow emergency’ rules put city residents at risk

Dear Editor:

That Kingston Mayor Steve Noble’s administration would declare a snow emergency while at the same time levying fines on those who don’t expose themselves to the weather in order to find alternate-side parking is appalling.

With the city’s exorbitant parking fines and towings, the Noble administration is incentivizing people to dig out their cars in poor visibility while plows are on the streets, and then drive throughout Kingston looking for plowed, alternateside parking.

While the emergency continues, our citizens have a choice of getting into their cars early in the morning, in low-light conditions and driving on hazardous roads, or waking up with potentially hundreds of dollars in fines (during a pandemic and a recession no less). This is a tax on the poor, elderly and any vulnerable person who is not capable of venturing out in the middle of a snowstorm to shovel out and then drive their cars throughout town looking for parking.

In a snow emergency, vehicles should be required to park on the even side of the street in even years, the odd side in odd years, for the duration of the emergency. Plows can clear the unparked side and citizens can dig out their cars and relocate them after an emergency, not during. If the roads are too dangerous for the city offices to be open, they are too dangerous for our citizens to be driving them searching for plowed, alternateside parking.

Mr. Mayor, your administration must do better before the next storm.

Simon Pringle-Wallace

Kingston