Description

Abandoned Boats ETC.

City Howl Help Desk
Example:
A backhoe is a large piece of construction equipment on wheels, and a few times a week you can find one parked overnight on a residential block.
The backhoe takes up more than one parking spot.
So you can imagine the space it kinda eats up on a small block.
We've talked with other people who have dealt with “commercial and private vehicles, usually trucks, Trailers, Car Carriers and Boats” parking on residential blocks, and they cite other problems, too, like crosswalk visibility and safety.
The type of vehicles are not supposed to be there according to city code.
The problem, however, is getting the law enforced. Councilwoman Marian Tasco sponsored three bills outlawing truck-parking etc. on residential streets. Wait - isn't that already against the law? Yes, the bills were "redundant," Tasco said, but she hoped they would increase enforcement from the cops that had been lacking.
The bills passed, but they haven't really made a difference.
Hoping for some enforcement in his neighborhood, we contacted the Parking Authority, 3-1-1, and his police district. Nothing happened to the backhoe.
The PPA, he learned, said this would be a job for the cops. But the only way to get the cops to come out is to call 9-1-1.
HELLO, 9-1-1? I HAVE A NON-EMERGENCY: First question: Do you really have to call 9-1-1 to get a cop to ticket a truck on a residential block?
Yep, you really do.
"I know it sounds silly," said police a spokesman but everything has to go through 9-1-1."
That's just the way cops are dispatched.
But there's hope yet. We called 3-1-1 director Rosetta Lue to ask if we'll ever be able to call 3-1-1 for nonemergency police issues, like parking or noisy neighbors. The city has just started working on that, she said.
Right now, there's only one police issue you can call 3-1-1 about - abandoned vehicles. But Lue hopes that 3-1-1 will handle more of those issues in the future.
But the longer answer is, the city makes this issue complicated.
Chief of staff at the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities, said that even though overnight truck parking on residential streets is against the law, the police and PPA will enforce that law only if there's a "No Truck Parking" sign on your block.
You can request a "No Truck Parking" sign from the Streets Department by clicking on "report a problem" at philadelphia streets.com and choosing "sign request.
The Police Department said it doesn't require a sign to enforce the truck rule, though the PPA said it does.
Police spokeswoman said that police would ticket.
As for the city and its enforcement agencies, maybe it's time to get on the same page about this stuff.