Some say they weren’t ready for Davenport snow emergency

DAVENPORT, Iowa -- City officials want to make sure everyone's car is off the street downtown as they try to clear the roads of leftover snow.

The emergency is specifically for 2nd, 3rd and 4th Streets in the Downtown between Gaines and E River Drive. Residents are not allowed to park there from 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 4 through 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 5.

Some people were ready for the emergency Monday night.

"My employees and I, we sign up for the texts that the city sends out," says Jeremy Moskowitz, owner of Duck City Bistro in downtown. "They tell us when there's going to be a snow emergency or not. It's pretty easy for us."

Moskowitz says he's seen plenty of people get towed just outside his restaurant during snow emergencies. A few weeks ago, more than 70 cars were towed in Davenport.

"One of my employees said he was working out next door (the day) and he said he saw 15 cars get towed. So it was pretty bad," Moskowitz says.

Even with texts notifications and signs posted on some blocks, some people didn't know about the snow emergency until News 8 told them.

"I know you can go onto the website. You can go on the news, but unless there's actually snow, nobody checks," says Skylar Hobbs, a student at Eastern Iowa Community College.

She said she'd have to move her car before her night class started to avoid getting towed.

"It seems kind of odd because usually when you hear snow emergency, you usually think of snow," she says. "But they just want to clear the street. So it's kind of inconvenient."

But she does say it'll be nice to have the parking spots cleared out.

"You can slip. You can fall," she says. "Something can happen because the streets aren't that clear once it comes to the curb"

Residents and visitors can park in any of the city parking ramps for free during Monday night.

Any cars violating the snow emergency could be ticketed and towed starting at 10 p.m. on Monday.
