Description

This photo was taken at approximately 9:30 AM today (8/28/19). The parking enforcement employee from vehicle 344 was in the backseat of vehicle 342 where they socialized with the door open for approximately an hour. Not only are they wasting time at citizen and tax payer expense, but they are parked illegally in multiple ways. That side of Madison is no parking on Wednesday mornings until 10am, so they blocked the street sweeper...again. Even more egregious is that vehicle 342 is parked in a handicap accessible spot and vehicle 344 is parked in a clearly marked bus stop.
Additionally, they failed to ticket any of the vehicles also illegally parked along that side of the street all morning (some of them also visible in the photo). Citizens have made calls and posts repeatedly about this common behavior of a number of city employees, including Parking Enforcement staff who park and chat the day away, or drive around illegally talking on their cell phones ignoring cars blocking crosswalks and bus stops, motorcycles parked across sidewalks, cars in accessible spots without a hangtag, and non residents in residential spaces all day. Residents have actually stood waving their arms right in front of Parking Enforcement pointing to very visible serious parking and safety issues and they are ignored as well. Parking Enforcement vehicles also regularly run red lights, make U-turns in busy traffic, busy intersections, etc.. This has been brought to the attention of Parking Enforcement and yet it continues and these city employees felt totally comfortable doing what they were doing in a very public location for an extended period of time. Parking Enforcement was alerted to the issue today, but no supervisor showed up. Please note that many mornings multiple APD vehicles also illegally park in that bus stop, in that handicap accessible spot and also block the street sweeper while they are in the Raw Juice Bar talking for an hour or more when there are plenty of legal parking spaces 10-20 feet away. Would love to see people get out of their offices and really see what their staff are doing--or not doing-- in the community.

This is not about the ethical, hardworking city employees who are to be commended and are much appreciated.