PPA tickets and tows Fairmount residents with Fan Festival parking permits

Justin Siebel woke up on Sunday to drive with his wife to the Pocono Raceway and enjoy the NASCAR Cup Series, a two-hour drive from their Fairmount home.

But when he walked to where he had parked his car a few days prior, near Harper Street, a block from the FIFA Fan Festival, the vehicle was gone.

Though Siebel had registered for special permit parking with the Philadelphia Parking Authority that allows residents to park in the neighborhood during the festival, his car was ticketed and towed to a South Philly tow yard.

“My wife and I did the right things, we registered our vehicles with PPA, and still came out to my car and it wasn’t there,” Siebel said.

Fairmount residents have been taking to social media to share accounts of parking tickets despite having registered for special permits. Since the fan festival started last week, residents have expressed concern over the city’s management of road closures, parking restrictions, and communication.

The PPA issued nearly 2,500 tickets for illegal parking in the festival parking enforcement zone over the weekend, with 173 of those tickets written in error to residents with valid parking permits, said Gabe Roberts, the agency’s acting executive director. PPA’s internal system has flagged these tickets for cancellation and will continue to flag wrongfully issued parking tickets by “cross-checking them with our existing residential parking permit holder lists,” Roberts said.

Residents who have permits and were wrongfully ticketed will receive a cancellation notice by mail, the PPA said.

“The PPA utilizes a daily internal accuracy control mechanism that identifies and cancels any FanFest Enforcement Zone ticket written in error for vehicles with valid residential parking permits or Lemon Hill permits,” a PPA spokesperson said. “Any vehicle towed in error will also have its violation canceled and all fees refunded. The PPA apologizes for any inconvenience.”

Most ticketed residents will simply have their ticket canceled, Roberts said. But four residents with valid parking permits had their vehicles towed, and later returned with no fees.

However, Siebel’s was not returned, and he needed to call PPA to locate his car, then call the tow yard in South Philly about picking it up. Siebel said he was initially told it would cost $238 to drive out of the tow yard, but his fees were waived upon arriving and he was able to freely leave with his car.

“It did cost me an Uber and an afternoon to retrieve. But I recommend that anyone else stay calm and use humor. Everyone in Philly has a sense of humor,” Siebel said.

Residents can contact the PPA with questions or to confirm that their ticket has been canceled by calling 215-683-9421 or 215-683-9677 or by emailing engageppa@philapark.org.