GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — More snow means snowplow drivers will be busy. In Grand Rapids, the city plows the roads.
The problem they face is parked cars. Like many cities in West Michigan, they rely on a system to help make streets clearer.
“I’ve had snow up to here, you know, six foot, seven foot; when you get that out here, you gotta let these guys plow and clear the lanes,” Al Rodriguez said. “I haven't had any trouble yet this winter, but again, you know, what winter? We're getting minimal snow.”
Rodriguez has lived on Quarry Avenue on the city's west side for a couple of decades. He explains that the number of people parking on his street has gone up as businesses have done well.
“It’s a situation where even the neighbors have to cooperate in order to get the street plowed,” Rodriguez said.
Grand Rapids has a straightforward snow-cleanup system: on odd days, park on the side of the street with odd addresses and do the opposite on even days.
“So ultimately, the most important part of following these rules is so that emergency vehicles can get to and from locations, so either to homes or back to the hospitals; fire trucks can get to and from where they need to go. Also, of course, it's important so that residents and visitors can get around the city safely,” Mobile GR Communications and Outreach Analyst Max Gilles said.
GR Mobile issued 2,038 tickets across the city from Nov. 1, 2023, to Jan. 14, 2024, but that total has decreased over time. A year later, the city has distributed 1,327 tickets.
Gilles says they took a proactive approach this time.
“We did a lot more warning tickets before odd-even went into effect and before the snow events, letting people know, ‘Hey, you could have gotten a ticket here.’ We didn't, and we gave the warning. We give some education that provides reasons for why we do this,” Gilles said.
The odd-even days rely on a complaint system, but not everyone parks by the rules.
“It's a general pain. People don't stick to it. On our street with the business traffic, people are parked, so people can't come and park when they get home because they're at the businesses,” Eric Butler said.
Butler is just happy he has a driveway.
“It doesn't affect me as much as most other people on the road,” Butler said.
The city of Muskegon also has winter parking rules. They have a similar setup on odd-even days.
The city explains that they’ve issued 813 tickets so far this season.
The city of Wyoming also enforces odd and even days. Wyoming has given out 86 tickets.
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