The city of Davenport towed 67 vehicles Wednesday night, Jan. 17, after the cars were in the way of snow plowing efforts.

The city received several complaints about the costs vehicle owners faced when collecting their cars, according to a city release Thursday. All fees charged by Fred’s Towing were found to be justifiable, and in line with the city’s current contract, and comparable to what they have historically charged, the city said.

To help offset the cost, the city is waiving half of the cost for the 67 individuals towed last night. If someone picked up their car before this event specific agreement was placed with Fred’s Towing, the city will be issuing them a refund check.

It was especially critical last night there were no vehicular obstacles for the pickup and hauling operation after two back-to-back weather events left 25.5 inches of snow, the Davenport release said.

To collect vehicles, residents must go to Davenport City Hall (226 W. 4th St.) to secure a vehicle release and receive further instruction. A $25 parking ticket was also issued for each parking violation.

Notification of the city’s 2nd Snow Emergency began at approximately 4 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, to provide plenty of advance notice to people and encourage impacted residents to plan ahead for alternate parking. Here is a timeline of the city’s direct outreach for this event.

It should be noted that the city does not issue reminder notifications to alert subscribers; only initial alerts are provided.

  • The official Snow Emergency notice was posted to the city’s website, per City Code, at approximately 4 p.m. on Tuesday, January 17.
  • An alert was posted to the Public Works Facebook page shortly after.
  • Text, phone, and email alerts were sent to subscribers (5,078) at 4:16 p.m. The alerts all stated the timeframe the Snow Emergency was in effect.
  • The Downtown Davenport Partnership shared the notice on their Facebook page at approximately 5:30.
  • The City’s Facebook page shared the notice early Wednesday morning.
  • The Davenport Police Department’s Facebook page shared the notice Wednesday afternoon, and a reminder was posted to Public Works Facebook pages Wednesday afternoon.
  • The courtesy blue lights in the downtown area were turned on at 6 p.m. before the snow emergency began.
  • Code enforcement staff entered many establishments along the routes to remind patrons of the Snow Emergency and to move vehicles before ticketing began.
  • Several establishments had signage posted in their windows as a reminder to patrons. 

It is customary for a second Snow Emergency to be declared for the Downtown and Hilltop Campus areas anytime more than 4 inches of accumulated snow is received during one event or in back-to-back events, and no melting is expected.

The 2nd Snow Emergency is necessary to pick up and haul away snow in these locations to restore parking in support of business and commerce, where building density prevents snow from being pushed anywhere but parking lanes.

The National Weather Service says that Davenport should expect to see 1 to 3 more inches of the white fluffy stuff beginning early this evening. Davenport’s Snow Team is prepared and will clear Posted Snow Routes once the snow starts to fly, the city website says.

Be prepared for slick conditions when driving tonight. Be especially mindful that sub-zero temperatures and high winds are expected to continue through the weekend. Please keep vehicles off of Posted Snow Routes when you can to help crews clear snow safely and efficiently when snow arrives.

Find additional background information on this and all events at www.davenportiowa.com/winter under the status link.

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