No parking in front of Salt Lake mailboxes
Council somewhat reluctantly agrees to fine offenders $17
Still, drivers will soon find those hated pink tickets on their windshields if they park in front of someone's mailbox.
The City Council, at the request of Mayor Rocky Anderson's administration, approved the new no-parking rules this month after residents complained they weren't getting their mail because parked cars were blocking their mailboxes.
At least one city councilwoman thinks the move to fine people $17 for parking in front of a mailbox goes a bit far.
"Who pays attention if there's a mailbox there?" Councilwoman Nancy Saxton said. "I would never even look to see if there's a mailbox there unless my door hits it on the way out."
Saxton's complaints, however, were not enough to convince her fellow council members, who somewhat reluctantly approved the mailbox no-parking rules.
The U.S. Postal Service, apparently, won't deliver mail if there is a car parked in front of a curbside mailbox, Anderson's Chief of Staff Sam Guevara said.
"It happens all the time in our neighborhoods in the Avenues," City Councilman Eric Jergensen said.
"The purpose of this is to allow delivery at the mailboxes, which seems like a legitimate concern," Council Chairman Dale Lambert said. "I'm sympathetic if people aren't really getting their mail because of this."
But even those council members who supported the plan weren't overly excited about it, though Saxton was the lone council member to vote against it.
She said the new law was stupid and would make people even more frustrated with parking in Salt Lake City.
"We're trying to make it more of a user-friendly kind of community. This doesn't make it user-friendly at all," she said.
Saxton noted there are all kinds of existing parking laws in the city that aren't currently enforced. For instance, people are forbidden from parking within five feet of someone's driveway. Also, you can't park within 10 feet of a fire hydrant. But most people don't know because the city gave up painting curbs red several years ago to cut costs.
"It's very expensive" to paint and repaint the curbs, Transportation Department director Tim Harpst said.
Even police officers whom Saxton calls to enforce the parking rules don't know what the laws are.
"If the police officers that enforce this don't know those rules, how can we expect the public to keep track of this law. I mean, I think that's unrealistic," she said.
There are more than 79,000 residential mailboxes in Salt Lake City, according to the Postal Service. Of those, only 9.5 percent are curbside, with most being attached directly to the home near the front door. Most likely, the people who park in front of mailboxes are those who have boxes near their front doors and don't realize it would be problematic to block a curbside box, Councilman Dave Buhler said.
"I assume the people who are parking in front of mailboxes are not giving it a second thought," he said. "This is troubling."
The new rule states that parking is prohibited "within 10 feet of a private driveway on Monday through Saturday (except holidays) between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. when a mailbox is located within five feet of such a driveway." The rule only applies to mailboxes that are located in the parking strip.
The city's administration plans to issue warning tickets in the near future to educate people about the new rules. After that grace period, parking officers will begin issuing the real tickets.
E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com
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