Has your vehicle or the vehicle of someone you know ever been towed in Minneapolis due to street sweeping and/or parking within five feet of your own driveway? If so, you were probably as upset as I am about the fact that the City of Minneapolis has unreasonable laws on the books regarding the issue of protocol for towing vehicles. On March 28, 2012, my vehicle was towed because I was parked within five feet of my own driveway. On April 13th, 2012, my vehicle was towed because the City of Minneapolis was going to begin street sweeping. Now, some people may be thinking that I should have known better and now I will know for the next time. This may be true, but I still believe that it would not be too difficult for the City of Minneapolis to at least give people more notice in certain situations if their vehicle is at risk of being towed. In fact, when I spoke with a representative of the City of Minneapolis about the terms of the ticket I was dealt for parking within five feet of my own driveway, he said that as long as nobody called in to complain about the location of my car, I should have received a notice requesting me to move my vehicle. In addition, the notice Minneapolis gives for street sweeping is only 24 hours. What if some people work nights and do not notice the signs right away because they are not well lit? Or what if someone went via bike or public transit to visit a friend for a day, and did not have enough notice in order to move her/his vehicle in time? If a vehicle is blocking a neighbor’s driveway, it does make sense to have it towed immediately – no notice necessary. However, if a vehicle is not blocking a driveway, the vehicle appears to be alongside its own driveway, and no one has called to complain about its location, it seems just to give the owner of the vehicle some notice if it must be towed. Similarly, it seems just to give the citizens of Minneapolis more notice before their vehicles are towed for street sweeping. How hard can it be to place the warning signs out for street sweeping 3 days in advance rather than 24 hours? There are two changes to policies of the City of Minneapolis proposed here. Please show your support for either or both by signing your name followed by the corresponding policy number which you support (e.g. Matthew Ott 1,2)

 1. As a citizen of the City of Minneapolis, I would like 3 days’ notice before street sweeping is to begin so that I have ample time to relocate my vehicle.

2. As a citizen of the City of Minneapolis, I would like a 2 days’ notice in the form of a pamphlet under the windshield wiper of my vehicle before my vehicle is towed due to it being parked within five feet of a driveway if nobody has called to complain about the location of my vehicle and if my vehicle is not actually blocking access to the driveway. If somebody has called to complain about the location of my vehicle because it is within five feet of a driveway or if it is blocking a driveway, no notice is necessary.

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