School Parking and Police Controls

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If you drove south of the Ludington High School this school year on Anderson Street, you may have seen a lot of new signs erected on both sides telling you not to park on that street, some have been combined with some of the older signs (seen in the foreground below) already up before the reconfiguration of the school's parking infrastructure expanded to where Franklin School used to be.

Somewhat unexpected, however, was the erection of six no-parking signs between 8 AM to 4 PM on Franklin Street along the last block leading up to the new parking complex.  Some were not aware of the new restrictions and found out about it the first day of school through finding tickets on their windshields, as anonymously posted on our Facebook sister, the Ludington Pitchfork:

Truly, the traffic control order (TCO) was first introduced to and passed by the city council at their 9-9-2024 meeting, as seen in our recap of that meeting.  And while it looks as if some of Anderson Street already had some restrictions, there were new signs put up in regular intervals recently as were all of the signs on Franklin Street-- the ground shows a recently dug post hole for each.

The Pitchfork query was a good one.  TCOs have rules behind their creation and we currently have a police chief, Christopher Jones, who is new to the task of being a police chief/traffic engineer.  His creativity in the past has shown itself in a plagiarized Strategic Plan, then later lying about receiving permission to use it.  Finishing the scoundrel trifecta (one who lies, cheats and steals) he created a new FOIA policy which would charge hundreds of dollars for public records the City has historically given freely.  If anybody would swindle parents, teachers, or students who historically parked in an area freely, this would be the guy to set the table.

We can find the relevant TCO in the 9-9-2024 council packet and we learn a couple of things frpom looking at it:

Jones has issued a temporary TCO on the date of 8-27-24, stating once proper signage is employed that it would be enforced.  Normally, such temporary TCOs are acceptable in order to enforce issues involving parking and other traffic controls, as seen in the Michigan Administrative Code, section R 28.1153, in relevant part:

(2) Traffic-control orders may be issued by the traffic engineer on his or her own authority, but when so issued shall be known as temporary traffic-control orders... (7) All traffic control orders issued by the traffic engineer, whether temporary or permanent, shall be in accordance with standard and accepted engineering practices as adopted in R 28.1126.

Without getting too wonky, these engineering practices involve clear justification of the need for the devices.  Jones gives nothing in the TTCO or in any supporting documentation.  And while one may presume that the additional restrictions on Anderson are to clear up sight-lines for getting into and out of the main parking lots and side streets, there is nothing clear about putting the parking restrictions on Franklin Street, which forms a 'T' with Anderson, is wide enough for parking, and sight-line issues would not seem to apply. 

But if you noticed, Jones did not claim to use the authority of the Michigan Administrative Code (also found in the Michigan Uniform Traffic Code) but of the city code, section 58-153, which says:

"Where it is determined that it is in the public interest or in aid of the regulation and control of traffic, the chief of police is hereby authorized, subject to the approval of the ordinance-making body, to determine and designate unmetered parking zones, including the maximum continuous period of permitted parking of the same vehicle therein."

Jones, in using this authority alone, has no ability to issue a temporary TCO because doing so is subject to (aka dependent on) council approval.   In using that authority, the TCO only became official and enforceable after council approval.  All tickets issued the first week of school, plus September 9th, should be inapplicable and be challenged in court.

Should Jones claim after the fact that he made this temporary TCO under the authority of the administrative code, he will then have failed to do so in accordance with standard and accepted engineering practices.  Jones showed that he can do a traffic engineering study when he did a couple in the Forest Hills area, but in that same area, he showed that he could totally ignore the results.  

The LPD should defer any kind of parking enforcement measures taken before the TCOs became truly official on the night of September 9th.