Denfeld parking outcry spurs city to action
September 9, 2010 at 7:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
With neighboring Denfeld High School closed for the school year, Diane Andresen was dumbfounded last week to receive a notice from the city that it was time to purchase permits so she could park on the street outside her home.
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I love that picture. Everyone over the age of 60: Stand there and look tough!! LOL
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You pay for the street, You pay for the privilege of living in the house on the street. And you pay for the privilege of parking on the street in front of your house. This is BULL CR*P!
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D.A. you forgot to add … And you pay for the privilege of lights on the street in front of your house (whether you have any, or not)
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wow, I can’t believe they have to pay anything. I had no idea that they were actually charged for the permites. You’d think if they own/rent a home on these streets, they automatically get at least 2 permits, no cost. If I had to pay anything to park in front of my house, I’d be outraged! Funny, Jay Leno hasn’t heard this one.
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Who said there are not people laying awake nights thinking of new ways to squeeze money out of the taxpayers!!
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I love the picture too. It goes Perfectly with the story…..just wish the sign behind them was more clear.
This story and the pic together make me smile…..and think of a mother hen and her brood of chicks.
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HAHAHAHAHAHA are they serious?? Reason #572 why not to live in Duluth. “Duluth: The only ‘Tourists Only’ city in Minnesota”
Also, that pic is SO going above my desk at work!
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I agree aa, HAHAHAHA, wow, that’s about all I can say. And the city engineer “it would cost $1200 to remove the signs”, that’s the extent of a thought process our city ENGINEER has? Send out a memo telling whoever enforces the “ordinance” that permits aren’t needed, OR, Don had a real wild thought, throw a bag over them! Wow.
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I’d bet these residents would take down the signs for nothing.
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“…throw a bag over them!”
That has almost restored my faith in government.
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Yeah, pretty scary that an ENGINEER can’t figure out how to do that. It’s at least nice to know that the mayor could figure it out.
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Kudos to Peter Passi for for including the ‘history’ of Jay Fosle’s original request and the city engineers response!!!!
Wonder if Don Ness has removed her blinders yet so she can start seeing the whole picture before she makes her next assessment of a situation.
When I first read the story I was just so Proud of these neighborhood ladies protecting their Turf (and it was Early Morning LOL). Now I wonder how Donny feels about having to babysit his departments.
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If its a city street then it should be open for all to use. If the students and staff can’t park around the school then they will be parking in front of other houses that don’t receive the special parking treatment.
If they want to complain about the $5.00 for a permit then pull the signs and let parking be first come first serve!
Hot debate. What do you think?
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How much will it cost to bag the signs? It will take about the same time to tape bags over the signs as opposed to removing 2 bolts and now there is the cost of the bags and the tape! LOL! Another great Duluth idea!!
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Unless you’ve seen these crews in action: 1 to drive/sit in the truck; 1 to remove the sign; 1 to put the sign in the truck, & 3 more to watch.
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A tow truck operator could really clean up if he gave a stack of his business cards to these ladies to pass around the neighborhood during the school year.
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Wouldn’t it be a lot easier to just not enforce the ordinance in that neighborhood until next school year? Why bother bagging the signs at all?
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1,200 dollars to remove the signs. Holy laughable. You could get some of the people doing “community service” to do it for free. The city is just nickel and diming these residents, as you have to pay property taxes, and you have to pay for a permit. What joke. I would also be mad because some of those roads in the Denfeld neighborhood are just awful. And whoever said it takes six people to do a city job is right on. I saw them patching a hole in a road a few weeks ago, one was working a machine, one was shoveling, and there were four standing around watching, and talking. These are your tax dollars at work people. The city officals will keep doing it to people, as people blindly sit and take it.
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Parking Permits are only a small fraction of what we have endured over the last few years while living across from the school. My yard has become the school yard. The only parking ticket I seen issued was to my son, who was getting a tool out of our garage at the time. The garbage left by the “illegal parkers” is a daily clean up chore I got to add to my life for the last few years. I had to keep all my front windows shut all summer because of the mass quanity of dirt and dust from the construction a few hundred feet away. We are being driven out of our home, we are leaving this city… We are leaving before the school re-opens with hundreds more students and even less space for them all.
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@ Hydration: Years ago while living next to an area high school (not Duluths), I was out front waiting for my niece and nephew to get off the bus when I watched a teen passenger toss some garbage out as she got in a car (belonging to another teen). The next day, while they were in school, I duct taped it to the hood with a note detailing that surely they didn’t intentionally throw that out onto our lawn so they must have dropped it so there I was returning it. I added a PS stating that I had the plate number and if I saw it happen again I would be notifying the school, the cops and the parents of the driver. Never had a problem with garbage the rest of that year.
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You bought a house next to a school, so what did you expect. Really my advice would be get over it I am sure it is not as bad as you make it out to be. If so move.
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Well, we built a house right near a school and what I expected was, that people would be courteous and respect my property.
For the most part, my expectations were met.
When I did happen to be out in the yard or at the window and saw kids toss stuff out of their car, I’d either let them know they dropped something or, simply ask them to pick it up. They almost always complied. I never had anyone be blatantly disrespectful or abusive though.
Thankfully, our school district was smart enough to figure out they had a potential problem brewing and enlarged the school parking lot.
They also placed “no parking during school hours” signs on the streets closest to the school. That wasn’t a problem for the residents cuz, everyone has a driveway anyway.
To say we should ‘expect’ young people to be disrespectful and trashy sure doesn’t say much about our society or what we’re teaching our kids though.
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a a…. Thank you that was a great story. I wish I was home more during school hours so I could try that one. I did once however get to observe a whole carload of students throw out 3-4 bags and a few cups from taco johns, I said “excuse me, you dropped something.” One person jumped out of the car and started picking up, it was windy and I was amused to see him trying to catch one of the bags as it tumbled with the wind. Another time I got to try that “excuse me” line, I was flipped off as they burned rubber leaving the mess behind. I am just unhappy living here with all the changes that have been made. It is no longer the happy place it was just a few years ago. Many young families are starting to buy the homes that are being sold by long time neighborhood residents. It is time for us to go as well. Thanks again for the smile.
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OMG a.a., I am Still LOL!!!!
Not to change the subject….but I have some lazy dog-owning nincom’poop’ who walks her dog and throws her bagged doggy ‘do’ in my garbage can when I have not rushed out to hide it in my garage. I am disabled.
Need I describe the smell after sitting in the 80 degree sun for three days this past summer before I put some garbage out and discovered it AGAIN? Have been busting my butt dragging the garbage container in and out of the garage ‘on the spot’ after garbage collection to avoid her doggy smells. I don’t own a dog.
What on earth is Wrong with some people???? Or am I being inconsiderate that maybe She (I know who is doing it, just not where she lives) is Disabled and can’t carry the 4 oz. bag of ‘do’ one more step past my house….wink wink.
Thanks again for the laugh!!!!
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OMG…you need to get one of those cheap door alarms for your grabage can. LOL
Seriously though, putting your garbage in someone else’s bin is a crime that does carry a fine.
Call your city councilor and ask for the specific city statute number and the amount of the fine.
Then, make a sign for your bin saying something like “placing unauthorized trash in this bin is punishable by a fine of X amount” and tape it to the top of your bin.
At least she’ll figure that you know what she’s been up to and maybe she’ll pick someone else’s bin.
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Katydid….just love reading your comments Always. You are one of the commenters here who always has a sense of humor.
Actually Did confront her once. Drove up just as she was walking up to the driveway but it wasn’t garbage day. She shook her head when I asked her….LOL, but she was carrying the SAME kind of bag I was finding….ROFL. It stopped for a while but then started up again. She has lately been using ORANGE colored bags. And she WELL into Adulthood if you catch my drift.
THANK YOU for the suggestion…..had no idea but will some help on the alarm thing. Just hope I don’t scare the begeesus out of my garbage collecter. Maybe will ‘set it up on an Off Garbage day’. LOL
And yes, I knew putting garbage in someone elses recepticle is Illegal Dumping. Even told her so. Problem is I can’t see my garbage can from the house to ‘sit in wait’….Dang. But your idea is FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!
This has been going on for a couple of years now…..
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I seriously can’t believe how gusty some people are, and inconsiderate.
Jeez…if you’re gonna go through all the work of pickin up after yer dog and baggin’ it, why not just carry it home?
*grins* You could always go to GoodWill and pick up an old purse. Set it on top of your can with a note “Poo Purse”.
Maybe she just doesn’t want anyone to think she’s a bag lady.
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Just read your Poo Purse idea….Had to wait and pick myself up off the floor from laughing.
Quite honestly, this woman is so Nervy I think she would take that as an Invitation to USE the purse On my garbage can….not that she would have the insight to Take It With her and show some Class!!!!…..STILL rofl!!!!
SHE is just another example of….You just can’t fix Stupid.
Thank You Katydid….you made my day though…..
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LOL…I don’t know if you are braver than I am or, more foolhardy.
I don’t think I’d attempt to duct tape anything to a car cuz, I’d figure I’d surely set off a car alarm.
And I also wouldn’t want to put myself in the position of being liable for a new paint job if a piece of duct tape that I placed on someone’s car caused any damage.
I’m glad it all worked out OK for you though.
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It was a typical teenager’s first car, I wasn’t worried about the paint job, there was more rust than paint.
In regards to the garbage can, if it were me, because I’m evil, I would sit in wait with the hose or a paintball gun. Don’t even have to hit the person, just aim near the can when she started getting close and she would get the point. Or put a sign on the can that says “Smile! Your actions are being recorded!” …But like I said, I’m evil. =)
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No Parking signs don’t do much when it comes to students, they aren’t very bright. The whole side of the street in front of my sisters was and still is No Parking from 7a-4p M-F because it was a driven mailroute and if the mailmen couldn’t drive up to the mailbox then we wouldn’t get our mail. So the city puts up these signs and what do the idiotic students do? They would still park there and we would watch as the passengers had to manuver around the sign post to get out of the car because the sign was so close to the curb and they couldn’t open the door all the way. Sorry to say, high school students are aften a few fries short of a happy meal. Now that they finally expanded their parking lot she doesn’t have any problems though. Someone finally got smart around there (again, this is NOT in Duluth).
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I love this article and this picture!!! I grew up in the Denfeld area and attended Denfeld from 1998-2001 and this was prior to the permit parking zone was instituted. I was pretty peeved when I heard that residents had to pay to park on their own streets. This restores some of my faith in Duluth residents….there are still some who have common sense enough to stand up and fight!!
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Isn’t bagging the signs AND sending letters to residents kind of expensive overkill?
My guess is, if they send everyone a letter saying permits won’t be needed this year, those folks will be smart enough to figure out that means the ordinance isn’t going to be enforced and the sign doesn’t mean anything.
Or, they could bag the signs and eliminate sending out letters to all the residents. They’d only need to contact those that had already paid the fee.
I can understand the need for a fee and a permit.
People that live there are obviously going to want to be able to park in front of their own homes. The only way to assure that they can, is to have a permit showing.
Permits can’t be printed and distributed for free though, there will be some cost involved.
So, either the people that directly benefit pay a fee or, the cost to print and distribute them gets added into the regular city budget and everyone, even people on the other side of town that have no involvement at all, will get to pay for it.
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If this is supposed to be the school of the future, why would anyone knowingly start out with too little parking space?
Doesn’t that just beg larger problems in the future?
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If they bag them, I’ll guarentee the bags will get ripped off time and time again…just undo the bolts, take them down for the year. If $1200 is too much, I’ll do it for $500.
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Sorry, that can’t happen. If they hired you to take the signs down, AFSCME would throw up a picket line so fast it would make your head spin.
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ROFL….y’all are too much today.
$500 yaright????? No Way!!!! Think of a City Workers Wage Scale and the Skill Involved. $950 is the lowest you should go….
Seriously….no offense to city employees, it’s just that this whole situation is ‘SNAFU’ for Duluth and it’s hard not to joke about it.
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I really have no idea how many “permit parking only” signs there are around Denfeld….but a few thoughts just ran through my mind. If the City Engineer says it’s a $1200.00 job to remove the signs, that sounds like either they are paying these city workers who would take the signs down way to much….or they are working way to slow. Let’s assume (and I could be way off here) there are 50 signs that would need to be taken down. You send out two workers in one truck with two small 5 or 6 foot step ladders. You park in the middle of the block and one worker goes to the sign on each end and puts up his step ladder climbs up, uses a cordless impact driver with a box end wrench on the front of the sign to remove the two bolts and climbs back down the ladder and carries said sign and small step ladder back the half block to the truck and they both climb back in said truck and move to the next block and ditto the process.
So….assuming 50 signs (I’m probably being generous ??….sombody feel free to correct my number if you know), two workers and one truck and 14 man hours (1 hour lunch break) that means they would each have to walk half a block, put up a step ladder remove two bolts and be back at said truck in 16.8 minutes. Sounds doable to me….but if said workers are costing the city $40.00/hour that cost only comes out to $640.00 for the total job….plus a few bucks for the use of the city truck for the day. I’d guess the cost per day for the truck isn’t much considering it would be not running most of the day.
Given that the estimated cost by the City Engineer was $1200.00, I’m either way under estimating the total number of signs, or the city workers are costing the city $75.00/hour or else you need 4 workers since they are only removing two bolts and one sign every 33.6 minutes.
I’d sure appreciate it if someone who knew exactly how many signs there are would clue me in…..I’d love to have an accurate count so we could see how effecient and/or costly the city workers really are.
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LOL…perhaps that part of the cost that you can’t figure out would be the ‘storage’ cost?
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You forgot to add in the time for the mayor to send an email to the CEO who then has to send an email to the dept head, unless they just wait to bring it up in a weekly meeting…then the dept head has to send an email to the engineer dept as to the location of said signs…then the engineer dept has to send someone out to locate the signs…, which results in an email response of the location…then, the dept head has to send an email to the lead worker who has to figure out who is going to do it and what truck they are going to use. That’s if we are lucky. Chances are the mayor will appoint a Sign Removal for the Denfeld Area Task Force, after having an exploratory committee investigate the possible ways to remove the signs with the least amount of damage to the environment and they produce a 100 page report with their findings. Then we wait for 2 readings of the city council to approve the removal of the signs. Then, the last step would to wait until the city puts in the $800K worth of GPS systems in the trucks so the mayor can guarantee that your tax dollars are not being wasted. Thus, the rest of the $1200. Aw, forgot it, they just cut LGA again!!!
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Misty
Talk to your garbage man, if you’re handicapped they may make exceptions and pick it up outside your garage door and return the can, they did for my parents.
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Thanks Tim (and a.a., Katydid and others who got a chuckle out of my ‘dog-do-dilemma’ or assisted with suggestions)
I will keep your suggestion in mind Tim, but I didn’t mean to imply I am in a wheelchair or anything.
And I think I have kept my sense of humor about it all….I mean….who expects to play ‘cat and mouse’ with a ‘neighbor and her dog-do’?
And apologies to those who did not appreciate my taking this article ‘off-topic’ or appreciate the humor of it all.
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Why can’t they just make an announcement on Northland News that residents don’t need a parking permit this year. After all, this is news that makes a real difference in the life of Northlanders. Someone might even win an Eric Severeid for this.
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