Moses Lake police cracking down on parking
Sidewalk, reverse parking subject to tickets
MOSES LAKE — Got a couple tires on the sidewalk? Parking your boat trailer unattached in the street? Start looking for a $20 ticket under your windshield wipers.
The Moses Lake Police Department has already begun a special emphasis ticketing motorists for illegally parking in the city's residential areas, and Chief Dean Mitchell said the department has plans to continue the emphasis on an on-going basis.
Parking in the opposite direction of traffic, parking on the sidewalk, leaving unattached boat trailers on city streets; the police department has begun devoting time to those violations after seeing a surge in illegal parking in some residential areas.
"Everybody knows it's against the law to park on the sidewalks, but we continue to have violations," Mitchell said. "So we're going to step up enforcement."
The parking emphasis will focus on laws which have long been on the books, but it comes not soon after the city council passed a law limiting the number of days cars can be parked on city streets. The council in June approve a code limiting the amount of time a car can be continually parked in the same spot on city streets to 10 days.
Sidewalk parking has itself seen an increase inside the city limits since more residential developments have installed rolling curbs, which blur lines between a curb and driveway.
City Manager Joe Gavinski said the rolled curbs were originally initiated to attract development as they allow developers to put in sidewalks before putting in driveways. But the rolling curbs have posed problems themselves, and Gavinski said the city is looking at a standard which will ultimately move away from the practice in future developments.
Mitchell said the parking emphasis will not focus on illegal parking on private property, which is primarily focused on by the city's code enforcement officers.
The department is beginning the on-going emphasis to try and get people to think before they park, in the face of increased complaints of illegal parking. And while some violations may be obvious to motorists, Mitchell said there are others many people just don't know about.
"A lot of it is people don't understand that you can't do that," Mitchell said of certain types of parking. "So that's why we're trying to let people know."