On Sunday, Jan 29th, the cities police chief and ticket contesting office received the below email.

“Hello friends,

My name is Elizabeth Beeli, I’m a proud resident of Utah.

First and foremost, I’m incredibly grateful for our police force, thank you David Catholdi, and the work you do for the city of Brighton “to make our town a safe place to live, work, and raise a family”. 

Yesterday, I went to Donut Falls to take my roommate’s engagement photos. We all drove together to reduce emissions and space we’d need to park. At 1 pm we arrived at Donut Falls. I was shocked that the parking lot was unplowed making it unsafe to park or walk in, some cars were even stuck.

Because of the state of the lot, there were cars parked on the road, see the red area below.

I parked behind a car on the right side of the road and made sure that 1) through traffic was unaffected, e.g. I was not obstructing traffic 2) I was closer to the shoulder of the road than the car I was parking behind 3) I was not parked at a bus stop.

After our 30-minute photo session (absolutely love living in a state where we have such incredible beauty so close) we got back into my car, our spot was immediately taken by the car behind us, and headed home.

Today when I got into my car I noticed a fine for obstructing traffic.

I ask that this be waived because 1) I ensured I was not obstructing through traffic 2) because the parking lot was not plowed and therefore not safe to park in the only option was to park on the side of the road 3) there was no signage that parking on the side of the road was considered obstructing traffic.

All said, I want to reiterate my appreciation for the work that is being done and know the department is trying its best, from the annual report looks like the number of citations has seen a 4% decrease from 2020.

Thank you for considering my ask that the parking fee be waived. 

Stay well,”

Today, Tuesday Jan 31st I received a reply.

As Chris Voss would say, no is the beginning of a negotiation.