Fielding emerged from a Rite-Aid on Broad just below Passyunk Avenue about noon yesterday and found a tow truck poised to snatch his car from the curb.
He was caught up in the first-ever activation of Philadelphia's recently revamped snow-emergency-route ordinance, which calls for the ruthless ticketing and towing of cars parked on 110 miles of city streets designated as snow routes.
Responding to an apocalyptic forecast, City Managing Director Joseph Certaine declared Monday evening that a snow emergency would begin at 6 a.m. yesterday. An armada of tow trucks was at work before dawn, clearing Broad and the other routes.
"I've lived in Philadelphia 20 years, and I've never known them to tow cars from Broad Street," Fielding said.
He had driven to the drugstore to pick up some heart medication for his mother, he said, and in the few minutes it took to get the prescription filled, his car was ticketed and was just moments away from being hooked for towing.
The ticket was for $35. Fielding said the tow truck operator said he would be sent another for $50 for the towing charge, even though Fielding had managed to avoid being towed.
"They're being very unreasonable," said an irate Pat Lerro, whose family owns a candy store on Broad near Porter Street. "They just decided they're going to enforce a law that's never been enforced before."
Lerro knew the city would want the curb lane clear for plowing, but she thought the time-honored practice of parking in the striped median lane would be all right.
"I know it's illegal to park in the middle, but there's an unwritten law that it's OK, you know what I'm saying?" Lerro said.
But, no. She estimated that 15 police cars moved down Broad in the late morning, warning people to move it or lose it. Lerro had three cars to find a home for.
"There's nowhere to put them. It's not like, 'I'll just pull it around the corner,' " Lerro said. "It took me two hours to move three cars."
