In St. Louis Park, there is an easy way to know about a snow emergency, parking restriction or a construction delay.

This is thanks to Park Alert, a city wide alert system established four years ago that allows for direct communication from the government to its citizens. With recent updates, it now quickly relays alerts from government officials to residents through text messages, emails, phone calls and other notifications.

Clint Pires, Chief Information Officer at St. Louis Park, said the system was created to function as an additional resource members of the community could use to stay informed about city occurrences. Before Park Alert, notifications were distributed through social media, the city’s website and commercial media.

“Park Alert just adds another tool to our toolkit, we don’t replace those other mechanisms, but instead add to the ways people can be notified,” Pires said. “We try to adapt to the preferences of the citizens or business.”

According to the City of St. Louis Park’s website, these alerts consist of two categories, emergency and non-emergency. Emergency alerts can consist of predicted or unforeseen crises affecting public safety or weather-related parking bans. Other alerts can include non-weather related parking bans, road work or detours, significant city service interruptions, important city meetings and other events.

Pires said the system comes in handy during the winter season, especially if there are heavy snow conditions.

“The most common use we’ve had for it has been for parking bans or snow emergencies,” Pires said. “It’s a courtesy to give people a heads up on those kind of events happening as much as we can.”

Senior Amy Bachman is no stranger to snow emergencies. Only a week ago, she had her car towed because it was parked illegally during a snow emergency she was unaware of.

“After my car got towed I signed up for Park Alert right away because I didn’t want my car to be towed again,” Bachman said.

After experiencing the inconvenience of having her car towed, Bachmann said she recommends that everyone signs up for Park Alert.

“It would be helpful if people signed up because then they wouldn’t have too take time and money out of their days to retrieve their cars,” she said. “If you are responsible enough to drive a car you should be responsible enough to look after it.”

Even with all the benefits it offers, the largest challenge Park Alert faces is promotion, according to Pires. While the system has been working well for four years, it still lacks full use from civilians. One way the city is modifying the system to attract new users is by opening an online portal where people can enter their unlisted numbers and other contact information.

Through the portal students can sign up to receive alerts from email, text messaging or any other pathway of communication.

“If there is one drawback it is only that we need people to go to the portal and sign up and let us know if they want to be contacted,” Pires said. “The more people we can contact about this information the better off everyone will be.”

Park Alert is available for people of all ages, although it is encouraged that at least one adult in each household sign up. Students interested in signing up can visit the city’s website at http://www.stlouispark.org/.