My 21-year-old daughter and I live in an apartment on Clifton Blvd. where parking is not available. We park on the street. On Friday, March 14th, the evening of the big snow storm, a no-parking ban went into effect on Clifton Blvd. For those of us who park on Clifton, we scrambled to find a space on the nearest side street. I called the Lakewood Police Department to check on the status of the parking ban. The parking ban would be in effect through Saturday and side streets would be included, Iwas told. The person on the phone stated emphatically that cars will be towed on Saturday if not moved off the side streets. Neither my daughter nor I could afford the cost of a ticket and a tow so we asked where we could park. The closest location was Lakewood City Hall, about a half mile from our home.

Saturday morning arrived and I called the police department to check on the parking ban status. Once again the person relayed the same answer as the day before. The decision was made - we had to move our cars. We begrudgingly left our apartment looking more like moon walkers than human beings. We stumbled through thick snow drifts until we reached my compact car cradled in a high mound of snow. With only a collapsible car snow shovel and a lot of self-determination, my car was freed. Unfortunately our mobility was short-lived when my car wheels slammed into the thick heavy snow plow slush at the end of our street. We were stuck and I was frustrated. Lucky for us, within a few minutes a man and his bright red John Deer-type looking tractor with attached plow dug us out. Freed again! We watched our Good Samaritan continue down the road in search of his next snow victim. Thanks again, mister!

We then parked at City Hall. Being unaccustomed to walking in blizzards for any length of time, we were ill-prepared for the brutal and piercing snow as we walked down the unplowed side street to my daughter’s car. Upon arriving, our eyebrows and lashes were white with snow. We climbed inside and slowly thawed until the feeling returned to our fingers and toes. After digging the second car out we decided to stop for lunch. We started this venture at 10am and it was now 12:30pm. We hoped perhaps the parking ban would be lifted in a couple of hours. At 3:00pm, we made our final call to the Lakewood Police Department and the same message was relayed. Although perplexed at the number of cars remaining on the side streets, we “obediently” parked the second car at Lakewood City Hall. This time we were better prepared to face the elements. Using a third overcoat to shield against the icy blizzard, we clomped home from Detroit to Clifton Blvd. looking like a pair of overstuffed twins. As we turned on to Clifton, I fell into a huge snow drift and could not get up because I was laughing so hard. At last we were home, where we thawed for the next 30 minutes. It was 3:30pm.

On Sunday morning, we left once again to retrieve our cars. The snow had stopped falling, the sun was shining, and not one car had moved from their spot on the side street from the day before. No one was towed. It also appeared that we were the only cars that had parked at Lakewood City Hall overnight. There were no other tire tracks indicating guests. We drove past other side streets to find cars still remaining from the day before. Needless to say I was more than upset and felt as though some one had played a bad joke on us. What I have learned from this experience is that next time I will follow the majority. Obviously, there is an unspoken resident law that I was not aware of. Personally, I think it is a very good one!