“I thought this was a shameful exhibition,” Williams said in an interview, suggesting that the only people who benefited were the tow-truck drivers. “... This must have been a stimulus package for the towing company.”

On his street, after the cars were towed from the odd side and that side was plowed Sunday, the plows hadn’t returned as of Monday afternoon to do the even side, Williams said.

“Maybe God only snows on the odd side,” he said.

Williams said he believes the snow emergency was retribution by city staff because resident opposition quickly killed their original plan to make plowing easier. Initially, the city implemented a calendar parking program whereby residents were allowed to park only on the side of the street that matched the date throughout the winter, snow or shine.

Despite Sande’s belief that the system was the lowest-cost way of clearing streets, the City Council voted to end odd-even parking Jan. 20 — two days after it had been implemented. The decision came with an instruction from the council to call snow emergencies more frequently.

A month passed with no plowable snow until Friday night’s weather when the National Weather Service measured just under 2 inches in Mankato and KEYC-TV measured 3 inches in North Mankato.

At A Glance
North Mankato residents who want to be notified when snow emergencies are declared can sign up for e-mails of all city notifications at www.northmankato.com. Just click on Newsletters and Notifications on the left-hand bottom side of the city’s home page.

People can also call the city’s snow emergency hotline at 625-9131 during snowy weather to see if the parking restrictions have been imposed.