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Anyone active with their City Council?


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To make a long story short, I'm debating embarking on my first political crusade. I hate politics and generally think most people are moronic but this is of a different matter. Our city has this silly parking ban from 3am-6am and frankly I'm tired of it so I figure the only way to make a positive impact is to do something about it.

So, I'm curious as to if anyone else has had beef with their city ordinances and were active and able to do something about it. As well as if my line of thinking is right on how to take action:

My first step is emailing all the council members with my concern and see where it goes from there. Step 2 would be go to a meeting and raise a polite hell and Step 3 will be if I can't beat em, join em. Though I don't think I have the patience or will for that but we shall see

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I believe if you call the police department, you can give them the license number of the car you plan to leave parked in the street overnight, and they will not cite it...

(at least that's the way it worked in Berea when I was dating that girl for 3 years. Many times we called the local PD, and gave them my wutakid license plate followed by chuckles from the other end... only once did i get a citation anyway, I took to to the police department, and they waived it as their oversight.)

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Our city has this silly parking ban from 3am-6am and frankly I'm tired of it so I figure the only way to make a positive impact is to do something about it.

Start with just your councilman/woman. And simply ask why this ban exists. I think the answer will surprise you.

So, I'm curious as to if anyone else has had beef with their city ordinances and were active and able to do something about it. As well as if my line of thinking is right on how to take action:

My first step is emailing all the council members with my concern and see where it goes from there. Step 2 would be go to a meeting and raise a polite hell and Step 3 will be if I can't beat em, join em. Though I don't think I have the patience or will for that but we shall see

Yes, I have had beef's with city ordinances and have gotten them corrected. As I said before, start with just your councilperson. You get them on your side then they introduce the change to the council committee in charge of that area...in your case it would probably be the Streets Committee. They talk about the change and decide if it should go to the full council. You show up at that meeting and politely plead your case. Then when it goes to the full council you do the same thing again.

These are city council people and unless you live in a large city like CLV or Cincy they are not politicians. They are your neighbors that are serving for next to zero money and just doing the best they can for the city while taking a ton of crap from everyone. Show them some respect and gratitude and you will get a lot further.

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The township my parents live in recently enacted a parking ban from 2am to 5am. I got a ticket took it to the police station and got it waived because the chief admitted it was new and they basically didnt tell anyone about it so she understood. I asked what the purpose of the ban was and she said it is so emergency crews can get through the streets without being blocked by parked cars. My response was asking if that is an actual problem they were running into often enough to enact a ban. She said yes so i responded by saying "oh so from 5:01am till 1:59am you dont give a shit about our safety because cars can park on streets and block emergency crews." all she could say is if thats the way i want to look at it then that is my choice. She handed me a packet on the township parking laws and hurried me out of her office.

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So I decided to end up emailing the mayor and every single council member as an experiment to see how many different answers I would get. As I'm not surprised I received a different answer from nearly all of them

My issue with the POS cars is instead of an overnight ban is a 72 hour ordnance like the city I grew up in had. The way Brecksville and Broadview Hts is, might as well be just one city as they are basically the same and all the same school district anyway

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Call the pd, ask for a parking pass for the night or weekend or whatever, I've never had one tell me no...

that was what several told me. The problem is at the current rate until I move, that would be 4 calls a week so they are gonna get sick of me real fast!

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so what were the various reasons given by the council members?

also, can't you ask for a permanent pass for you/your friends so you dont have to call every night?

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so what were the various reasons given by the council members?

also, can't you ask for a permanent pass for you/your friends so you dont have to call every night?

who knows? I'm honestly not sure why I'm even caring that much because when I move at the end of the month this really won't be an issue. I think its just a matter of principle at this point of challenging the government on its bullshit laws and ordinances.

One reason was that cars parked on the street in the 3-6am time frame were "suspect" which I imagine he meant as illegal activity. Another reason was so emergency crews could get through. But why is it the other 21 hours a non issue? A 3rd reason was as mentioned POS cars arent parked on the street and left. A 4th reason was because "cars parked on the street are not aesthetically pleasing", once again why are they the other 21 hours a day?

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I would imagine the reasoning behind it is to prevent non-running vehicles from being left on the street indefinitely. Some HOAs have similar rules about how long vehicles/trailers/campers can be left in the same spot in YOUR driveway.

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Parma's overnight parking ban is only in effect from December through April (I.e. when it's potentially snowing). That makes sense to me, but it does look trashy and makes the streets difficult to navigate at all times.

I Suppose street parking is more necessary in my neighborhood than Breckscille, because driveways in Breckscille are so much wider and can usually fit more vehicles.

But basically, it's a snobby rule that people love until they get a ticket for it. Choose your battles man. Explain that you're moving and why you're going to have cars parked on the street a lot. Let them know it's temporary, and ask what they suggest you do for the next month.

If they're not helpful, THEN you go into "annoy the shit out of them" mode.

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Parma's overnight parking ban is only in effect from December through April (I.e. when it's potentially snowing). That makes sense to me, but it does look trashy and makes the streets difficult to navigate at all times.

I Suppose street parking is more necessary in my neighborhood than Breckscille, because driveways in Breckscille are so much wider and can usually fit more vehicles.

But basically, it's a snobby rule that people love until they get a ticket for it. Choose your battles man. Explain that you're moving and why you're going to have cars parked on the street a lot. Let them know it's temporary, and ask what they suggest you do for the next month.

If they're not helpful, THEN you go into "annoy the shit out of them" mode.

As you know, I've lived in Brecksville and Broadview Hts pretty much my entire life so I'm well aware of the suburbia BS

I've definitely have been in calm, cool, collect the facts (highly unlike me but the older I get the better I am) and offer my opinion and suggestion mode first to see the reaction of each council member and the mayor. As of about 10 minutes ago every single one has replied back to me and I've written my follow up. Only 1 annoyed me with what came off as talking down, its an email though so who knows and I let it slide.

I'm still really not sure why I'm caring all that much. The parking ticket is only $25 so its not a huge deal even though I'd like to keep that money towards better things but I digress. I'll only be effected by this on a weekly basis until the end of the month and then likely rarely have it come up. I think its just me being my stubborn Italian ways and trying to make something happen out of principle. I also know that I'm not afraid to step up or take the time to do these things and other people don't have the will or the time

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