Quote Originally Posted by courtney View Post
Sorry, not only am I not in charge of Detroit city ordinances, I wasn't even alive when this one was created.

If you read the ordinance [[and yes, sometimes ordinances read like stereo instructions) you will likely see that a vehicle parked that is being actively unloaded/loaded is allowed. A trailer with no one anywhere to be seen, no truck connected to it AND in violation of [[c)[[2) [[no notice of where service is being performed) is not allowed.

A lot of ordinances in a LOT of cities are absolutely stupid. That being said, the guy who got the ticket acted like a 2 year old throwing a temper tantrum, when he was the one in the wrong. He'd have gotten a lot more sympathy by pleading ignorance than flying off the handle.
The gentleman who wrote the ticket was wrong. The citizen was being issued an illegal citation, and had every right to be angry. He could have handled it better, though.

The ordinance in question is intended to prevent large commercial vehicles from causing traffic and safety problems on residential streets, not to prevent private citizens from going about their business.

The exception clause noted in [[c) does not say "actively," it says "expeditiously." Additionally, at the end of the section it says this:

[[d) Motor homes, pickup campers, and coupled trailer coaches may be parked on any residential street for up to twenty-four [[24) hours, only during the loading and unloading of such vehicle for the purpose of trip preparation or completion.

The man could have parked a big-rig trailer there if he needed to, as families do when they are moving.

This was not a commercial situation, it was a private citizen using a trailer to load materials from his friend's home. It would have had to have been parked there for over 24 hours to be in violation of this ordinance.

The intent of the law is clear, and I don't doubt that the judge promptly dismissed that ticket as soon as it was contested. The enforcement officer needs to worry more about understanding the law than the amount of weight he lost.