Astonishing.

I am so glad that the current council and the "New Sherrif In Town" continue to give voters new reasons every week as to why they should all be voted out in November. I'd be interested in how many residents have decided to make plans to move out of Dormont as soon as they can and how many possible newcomers have changed their mind about moving to Dormont. Besides the comedy act they pulled with the police department now they are trying to go after residents who park on the curb or sidewalk. Really council members? That's the most important thing you have to do? In case you're not aware of this you should look into it and try to come up with a real solution. DORMONT HAS A SERIOUS PARKING PROBLEM ON EVERY BLOCK. 1st they eliminated parking on both sides of the street on every street. Pick any block and count the houses on that block, then count the number of cars per household and finally count the number of parking spaces both on the street and in the alley behind each house. Oh wait you already know there is a parking issue in Dormont but you still choose to go after people that park on the curb who are trying to leave enough room for larger vehicles and firetrucks to get by. Lets now add in vehicles of freinds, contractors and delivery vehicles that visit Dormont. Now you're alienating a whole new group of people that will avoid going to Dormont. Great Job!!

I know one of your complaints is that the cars will crack sidewalks and break water lines. You might want to check with the code enforcement department to see what regulations they have in place regarding the minimum thickness aloud for sidewalks. Then ask what weight these sidewalks can handle. You will find that there is no chance of any car, pick up, van or light duty truck doing any damage to the sidewalks let alone a pipe that has to be a minimum of 3 feet underneath. Next excuse, "resident complaints". If there were any real complaints it's only from people who have nothing better to do. If by chance they are out walking they would realize the sidewalks have a minimum width of about 4 feet which would leave plenty of room for a walker and vehicle with it's tires on the curbs. Which brings us to the curb which is usually at least 8 to 10 inches thick. Not even a fire truck would break a curb. You want a solution to all this. Reduce the sidewalks down to 3 feet and you'll have room for parking on both sides and still get large trucks through. I know, that would cost to much to convert. So why don't you just leave the residents out of your childish little battle with the Mayor and Police department and not give them any more reason to move or hate you!!!

You should get into politics. You've rationalized illegal parking and spun enforcement of the code violation as an evil plot by council. Brilliant!

I didn't rationalize illegal parking, what I did was show valid reasons why people have to park on the sidewalks. You can't tell me you never in your life had to park on the sidewalk or opposite side of the street or had freinds or family visitors that had to do the same thing. I have friends and relatives all over Dormont and I would guess that probably 90% of the time I visit them there is absolutely no parking available. The same goes for when I'm doing work at a customers home. I usually have to park on the curb or wrong side of the street and check every 15 minutes or so to see if a spot opened up. Then once I find a spot I'm usually angering a resident who could really use that spot for their own car. Is that cost effective for me or my customer to waste so much time on such a petty little thing. If you don't think that residents, visitors and contractors get tired of that, you're wrong. This was never an issue until council and it's new sherrif started having their little tiff with the Police department. The Police department knows who the habitual offenders are and deal with it accordingly. Personally I'm glad that the Patch writes it's articles so the residents can see why their Police department will be forced to start really cracking down on every resident because of what council is doing. Then in November the residents can tell council how they feel!!! "Can't Wait"

I can honestly tell you that I've never had to do those things. Having lived in Oakland and received numerous parking tickets due to insufficient spaces and ridiculous street cleaning schedules, I completely understand your frustration. I even suffered from broken mirrors, dents, paint scratches, break-ins, etc., but I knew the risk of parking on the street as you should know the risk of parking on the sidewalk.

To try and justify illegally parking on the sidewalk and attack those enforcing the law is misplaced-- do you really expect to break the law without penalty? Or maybe the penalty was acceptable at $15, but is unjust now that it's higher? If the street parking situation is such a problem, is continually parking on the sidewalk going to solve it? Has there been any effort by those affected to work with government to fix the problem? Do you really want to vote/support people that will turn their back to what they swear to uphold?

There is no reason to park on sidewalks, it is illegal, damages sidewalks that cost lots of money to repair and are a safety violation. If you are not deterred by $15 fines you deserve a bigger one. Don't break the law and you wont get fined. Let's be conservative and say 30% of the 11k tickets are $15 fines that are now $100 fines. That is a massive amount of money that can do a lot of good for Dormont. Let's spend less time justifying illegal parking and more time improving the neighborhood.

This is not some new, arbitrary rule that was just made up. State law supersedes Doromont code. This is not a change, just a correction to the right way of doing things.

In case any one is interested, the side walks are the responsibility of the home owner not the borough.

Does this apply to parking on the street because you forgot it was street cleaning day? Or is street cleaning purely a "borough" issue?

Council discussed behind closed doors a personnel issue re: the new, sorta chief and Mayor Lloyd? Sorry council folks, try as you might, you can't fire or demote the mayor. :P

I just LOVE when people get mad at LE for doing the right thing! It is illegal to park on the side walk or wrong side of the road - period!
Have you ever tried pushing a stroller or wheelchair on the sidewalk when someone has parked there? Many people in Dormont don't maintain the walks in front of their home properly in the first place.
Cars parked everywhere not only block the sidewalk, but also impairs drivers from properly seeing children, pets and other cars even if we are going 5mph to avoid hitting your car! It causes an extra distraction.
I honestly think that the next time someone hits another car or person due to illegally parked cars should have the owner of the vehicle fined and pay for all damages!! Wouldn't you feel just great about your decision to illegally park if you had to pay a fine AND medical expenses/car repairs for an accident you caused by being lazy!?!
Get a permit and build a parking spot behind your house, work out something with a neighbor that has an extra spot! This is NOT rocket science! Everyone on my block works together on parking issues and we have several apartment buildings to contend with.

I doubt anyone is excusing parking in front of hydrants or on sidewalks. The problem is that instead of an affordable fine that tells you not to do it again, it is a major hit, money that could pay some bills. It's the difference between a slap and a knock-out punch!

On my block most houses have off street parking and most people use them. But then there are those people who refuse to use their off street spots. That is just ignorant.

Perhaps their off street parking is in an alley where they feel unsafe,and they leave early for work and chose to park on the lighted street. Maybe they are now elderly and cannot get to their off street parking anymore. I honestly don't think people park on the street to prevent others from having a spot. May I have a little more hope in the kindness of others...

My street is mostly on-street parking and violators are tagged very infrequently.

We notice that many garage owners utilize their facilities for hoarding or storing. Unfortunately the lovely borough has small lot sizes and many streets that are only wide enough for one side parking. The 60/40 coverage rule also limits many people's ability to add a pad or garage even if they would like to do so.