Winona city ordinance leads to hundreds of parking tickets - KTTC Rochester, Austin, Mason City News, Weather and Sports

WINONA, Minn. (KTTC) -- Getting a parking ticket is never fun, but for hundreds of drivers in Winona, a seasonal city ordinance is causing problems, resulting in an avalanche of parking tickets. 

The ordinance says that cars must be on the odd-numbered side of the street on odd-numbered calendar days, and on the even side for even days. The fine for that violation is $25.

The first night nearly 400 people were ticketed, and almost 200 the next night, but those numbers are normal and are expected to go down.

"For the most part, now that we are into the first week, we will see the citations drop off and everybody gets used to it for the winter, and we'll issue less citations on a nightly basis," explains Paul Bostrack, the Chief of Police with the Winona Police Department.

The ordinance has been in place for almost 25 years and is meant to help street crews clean up the streets and clear any snow that is in the way. Even though the City of Winona picked up a big chunk of change the first few days, people know the good intentions behind the rule.