Woonsocket council debates tighter rules for overnight parking and towing thresholds

The Woonsocket City Council on June 9 reviewed a draft ordinance that would tighten rules for overnight parking on city streets and in municipal parking lots and change the number of days a vehicle must remain before it may be tagged and towed.

Council President Gendron opened discussion of the draft ordinance and said he was concerned with language that would shorten the period a vehicle may remain before becoming an enforceable violation. "I was on vacation, I left a vehicle parked in front of my house on a quiet cul de sac for 8 days," Gendron said. "If the draft changed 10 days to 5 days, my car could have been towed before I got home from my cruise."

The draft, prepared by City Solicitor Alan Fung, separates parking rules for on-street spaces from municipal lots and proposes changing the consecutive-days trigger and the number of days used to determine a violation. Fung told the council the change was prompted by practical enforcement problems the police were encountering. Under the previous wording, the police said they effectively needed five separate offenses — in…