DENVER — Everyone knows if you park in a fire lane, you’re likely going to get towed. Unless it’s a fake fire lane.
“This is just a cheesy ‘No Parking Fire Lane’ sign from Home Depot,” said one resident in LoHi.
At issue are a set of "No Parking Fire Lane" signs on the east side of Vallejo at 32nd Avenue in Denver’s LoHi neighborhood.
The signs sit right in front of a new development of row homes and seem to contradict existing parking signs which allow for parking except on street sweeping days once a month.
There is definitely something off about the signs, and neighbors know it.
“It’s just confusing,” said Thomas Montano, who grew up in the area. “My favorite saying is ‘dirty pool.’ If the contractor put it up and it’s not sanctioned by the city, then it’s just not right.”
“We just don’t care,” said one construction worker. “We still park here. Even when the city people come by, the don’t even ticket you or anything like that.”
Neighbors said finding parking is a constant battle around here.
“Everybody’s fighting for parking around here,” Montano said. “It’s just getting really tough to do things around here anymore. Everywhere you go, it’s just buildings, buildings, buildings.”
The developer says the fire department told them to put up the signs.
“I have everybody calling me to complain,” said a spokeswoman for the development. “People paid a lot of money for those units and they don’t want to come out every day and there’s workers there sitting with their crap everywhere. But, there’s no objection to neighbors parking in front. None.”
Late Friday afternoon, Denver Fire sent two representatives out to look at the signs.
They tell Denver7 that it is not a fire lane. That was misinterpreted by the developer who did put up the fake signs.
However, because Vallejo is such a narrow street, it is a no parking zone. So, the fake signs will be removed and replaced with legitimate ones.
“It is something Denver Fire will address,” said Manuel Almaguer, division chief of fire prevention with Denver Fire. “We’ll work with our review team and work with the site planning development team and see if we can rectify that.”