When the Tucson City Council placed strict restrictions on all but short-term parking of non-passenger vehicles — recreational vehicles, trailers, buses and boats — on city streets, James Stilley thought his dreams had come true.
For years he had been trying to rid his street of junk cars and RVs that lined North Debra Sue Place, on the East Side near the intersection of East Speedway and North Pantano Road.
He'd finally been able to rid the area of the junk cars, and now he thought the RVs and trailers were next. "Finally there is a concrete ordinance that nobody can hem and haw out of," is what Stilley says he thought at the time. "That was good news."
But when he and his wife called to complain about the RVs and trailers across from his house, nothing happened. He says they've called 15 times in the last two months to no avail.
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"I think they just plain don't enforce it," Stilley said of the ordinance that says those vehicles cannot be parked on the street for any part of two consecutive days. "I can't be the only one that feels that way. They can pass all the laws they want, but if they don't enforce anything, it does no good."
Director Chris Leighton said Parkwise records show four calls from that area in September complaining about both an RV and a trailer, three of which were responded to.
Leighton said the department gave two warning citations for the RV, because for the rest of this year the city will be giving two warnings before citing vehicles, to give people time to find another place to park.
Later in the month, the department responded and cited the trailer. Because they were different types of vehicles, Leighton said, another warning was given for the third violation.
In the future, Leighton said, the department could simply cite every vehicle of any kind parked illegally there. "It takes a while sometimes to figure out someone is pulling a scam on us," Leighton said.
— Rob O'Dell
Who's responsible
Parkwise, Tucson Department of Transportation, 791-5071 or parkwise@ tucsonaz.gov
Have a problem and having no success getting government to respond and fix it? E-mail taxpayer@azstarnet. com with the problem, your name and a phone number where you can be reached. Or call 573-4142.
