HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-14-19 Public Comment - T. Diberardinis - Parking Department Behavior ComplaintFrom:Chris Mehl
To:Agenda
Subject:FW: Parking Department behavior complaint
Date:Friday, June 14, 2019 11:35:39 AM
Chris Mehl
Bozeman Deputy Mayor
cmehl@bozeman.net
406.581.4992
________________________________________
From: webadmin@bozeman.net [webadmin@bozeman.net]
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2019 2:11 PM
To: Chris Mehl
Subject: Parking Department behavior complaint
Message submitted from the <City Of Bozeman> website.
Site Visitor Name: tony diberardinis
Site Visitor Email: tony.diberardinis@gmail.com
Mayors, Commissioners,
I am sending this email to each one of you individually.
There is a subject with your parking department that I would like to bring to your attention.
My wife, Katie DiBerardinis, received a parking ticket in February for parking too close to a fire hydrant. As you
are well aware, February we had unprecedented amounts of snowfall and the streets were a mess with accumulation.
She believed she was a legal distance from the fire hydrant, but could not be certain because the painted curbs were
covered.
After receiving the ticket my wife was questioning its validity, and looked into the law, and found that there is a ten
foot buffer for fire hydrants. After learning this she realized she was probably closer than ten feet, probably
somewhere around six or seven feet away. She contended the parking ticket because the violation was not
intentional and the painted curbs were not visible.
After sitting through the previous person's contended parking ticket hearing, where the person was relieved of the
fine because snow was covering the perimeter lines which indicated the handicap spot she was encroaching on, my
wife's hearing began. She explained her position, which is stated for you above, and the response she got was very
unfavorable and offensive. The panel explained to my wife that everybody who has been through drivers’ education
should know that you cannot park within ten feet of a hydrant. They went on to tell my wife that she as "ignorant"
for not knowing this and alluded to the point to almost say that she was stupid. They made my wife feel belittled,
dumb, and that she was some form of criminal. She was so offended that she came out of the hearing crying.
The parking panel should not be allowed to treat our citizens this way, and why would the panel hear my wife's case
if her contended ticket wasn't even going to be considered. It almost seems as though the panel heard her case only
for opportunity to insult her.