Residents press board on snow removal, parked commercial vehicles and Code Red failures

Multiple residents told the board that winter conditions left streets and sidewalks hazardous, with at least one bus collision reported and repeated parking violations that blocked emergency access.

Tracy Parget, who gave her address to the board, said buses could not pass on her street and warned that “if a bus can't get by, an ambulance is not gonna be able to get by” unless parking and plowing problems are addressed. She described vehicles parked on sidewalks and repeated tickets that had not deterred owners from re‑offending.

Police and public‑works officials responded that enforcement is complaint‑driven and that crews and officers were stretched by a deep, compacted storm. The police representative said the department towed about 75 cars during the storm to help plowing and that supervisors and officers used flyers, robocalls and PA announcements to notify residents in advance. “We did end up towing about 75 cars during that snowstorm,” the officer said.

Officials acknowledged a Code Red provider outage that required many residents to re‑register and said the administration is evaluating alternative platforms, including Everbridge, to reduce future outages. Public‑works staff said equipment failures and a nationwide salt shortage limited operations; the administration also noted multiple retirements and short staffing that are affecting response capacity.

The board did not adopt new enforcement measures at the meeting but asked staff to follow up on specific addresses and landlord accountability, and urged residents to file complaints through the TIP 401 system so supervisors can track repeat violations.

Officials said they will visit complaint locations, and the police and public‑works offices encouraged residents to submit location details so the city can pursue enforcement and targeted cleanup.