Posted at: 12/10/2009 2:59 PM | KSAX.com
By: Becky Nahm
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Snow Emergencies Take Effect, Ticketing & Towing Start

Snow emergencies officially went into effect Wednesday night in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and minutes later the ticketing and towing began.

A 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS crew saw the first cars towed into a lot in St. Paul at 9:12 p.m.

St. Paul officials estimate 3,800 tickets will be issued and 900 vehicles towed in the next two days.

St. Paul residents who are ticketed and towed face fines and fees of more than $200. But city officials say the process is not a money maker.

Snow emergency coordinator Henry Ung said, "All the costs we have to cover, the ticketer, the plow drivers, impound personnel. We don't make money."

The cities do what they can to alert residents of a snow emergency.

Minneapolis uses a automated system to make 100,000 calls and send 30,000 emails to let resident know the snow emergency rules.

This year both cities are using the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter to spread the word to residents to heed the rules and park on the correct side of the street.

St. Paul did make one change this year. It stopped using private contractors to tag cars after workers wrongly ticketed and towed dozens of cars last year.

White Bear Lake, Bloomington, Golden Valley, Hastings, St. Louis Park, West St. Paul, Robbinsdale, Red Wing, Mendota Heights and Eden Prairie have also declared snow emergencies.

To find out if your city declared a snow emergency or to learn about the rules, click here.