{"id":1315570,"date":"2019-10-12T14:10:51","date_gmt":"2019-10-12T20:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=989172"},"modified":"2019-10-12T14:10:51","modified_gmt":"2019-10-12T20:10:51","slug":"sunday-profile-meet-the-new-face-of-parking-enforcement-in-glenwood-springs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/sunday-profile-meet-the-new-face-of-parking-enforcement-in-glenwood-springs\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Profile: Meet the new face of parking enforcement in Glenwood Springs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.6216216216216\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-989172-95\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/20191008DSC_8712-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/20191008DSC_8712-1024x692.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent | New parking enforcement officer Tessa Dinkel walks and marks tires on Pitkin Avenue in downtown Glenwood.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>New parking enforcement officer Tessa Dinkel walks and marks tires on Pitkin Avenue in downtown Glenwood.<\/strong><br \/>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/20191008DSC_8712-1024x692.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/20191008DSC_8750-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/20191008DSC_8750-1024x683.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent | New parking enforcement officer Tessa Dinkel walks and marks tires on Colorado Avenue in downtown Glenwood.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>New parking enforcement officer Tessa Dinkel walks and marks tires on Colorado Avenue in downtown Glenwood.<\/strong><br \/>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/20191008DSC_8750-1024x683.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/20191008DSC_8758-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/20191008DSC_8758-1024x631.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent | New parking enforcement officer Tessa Dinkel walks down Colorado Avenue while making the daily rounds checking parked cars in downtown Glenwood.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>New parking enforcement officer Tessa Dinkel walks down Colorado Avenue while making the daily rounds checking parked cars in downtown Glenwood.<\/strong><br \/>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/20191008DSC_8758-1024x631.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/sunday-profile-meet-the-new-face-of-parking-enforcement-in-glenwood-springs\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/sunday-profile-meet-the-new-face-of-parking-enforcement-in-glenwood-springs\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>After 17 years the City of Glenwood Springs passed the parking enforcement chalk on for the start of a new reign in July.<\/p>\n<p>Tessa Dinkel took on the role and is quickly becoming a familiar face in downtown Glenwood. Tasked with parking enforcement for downtown\u2019s busy streets, one is bound to run into not the most welcoming of arms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI haven\u2019t had many negative interactions yet and if I have I probably just caught them on a bad day,\u201d she said. \u201cI try not to add to people\u2019s bad day, I\u2019d rather talk to them than write tickets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dinkel, 19, was born and raised in Glenwood Springs. She graduated from Yampah Mountain High School in 2018 with the hopes of becoming a paramedic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to be a nurse since I started high school. I\u2019ve always been interested in medicine,\u201d Dinkel said. \u201cBeing a paramedic is fast-paced and different every day and I like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Anxious to get her foot in the door, Dinkel is hopeful that working around the police department will help give her better insight on what path she will continue down later in life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought maybe trying for a job like this would be good for the resume and help me see what it\u2019s like and see if it is something that I still wanted to pursue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Though a Glenwood native, Dinkel is enjoying getting to better know the town and has taken advantage of the opportunity to get to know people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve met a lot of people since starting; I\u2019m terrible at names but I recognize them,\u201d she said.&nbsp; \u201cIt\u2019s fun because people will check up on me and ask how I am doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve also gotten to know the town a lot better since I was just a regular citizen,\u201d she said. \u201cI really like listening to the (police) radio and being able to listen to dispatch, especially if it is something downtown that I can maybe help with.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At only 19 there is a pretty big age gap between Dinkel and the rest of her coworkers at the police department but that doesn\u2019t bother her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s actually fun, I have learned a lot of things,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel like I have fatherly and motherly type figures all around me. I have a lot of people I can go to for things, even with general life not just with work. I feel very protected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like being raised by the police department,\u201d Dinkel added.<\/p>\n<p>Dinkel started working at local restaurants when she was 16 and said those jobs were often more stressful.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy parents didn\u2019t think that this was something I was going to go towards. They thought I was just going to go straight to school to be a paramedic,\u201d she said. \u201cI always just worked restaurant jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dinkel has an uncle who was previously in law enforcement and her parents are undeniably proud of the steps she is taking since graduating high school a year ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy parents are really proud of me, they think it\u2019s really cool. We have some law enforcement that runs in our family. My uncle was in the FBI, he thinks that\u2019s where this is going to take me and if it does I wouldn\u2019t mind that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Training for Dinkel started July 1 but she wasn\u2019t set free to do her own thing for a couple of weeks. Though nerve-racking at first, she quickly got the hang of it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just wanted to make sure I was doing it right but once I got used to walking around town and talking to people, it wasn\u2019t as big of a deal as I thought it was going to be,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s actually not as stressful as restaurants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s still learning but she\u2019s doing a great job,\u201d acting Glenwood Springs Police Chief Bill Kimminau said. \u201cThe weather doesn\u2019t bother her and she seems to be enjoying getting to chat with people. She\u2019s young, she gets out there and she is enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Janie Daniels who was the previous parking enforcement officer retired earlier this year after 17 years on the job.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe wanted to retire when she hit 65,\u201d Kimminau said.<\/p>\n<p>Dinkel hopes to fill those shoes to the best of her abilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt definitely will be big shoes to fill because she did it for so long,\u201d Dinkel said. \u201cI\u2019ve heard she did it for 17 years which is crazy to me because I\u2019m only 19.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really love the job, I love being outside,\u201d she said. \u201cI look forward to being able to help the community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/sunday-profile-meet-the-new-face-of-parking-enforcement-in-glenwood-springs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New parking enforcement officer Tessa Dinkel walks and marks tires on Pitkin Avenue in downtown Glenwood.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent New parking enforcement officer Tessa Dinkel walks and marks tires on Colorado Avenue in downtown Glenwood.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent New parking enforcement officer Tessa Dinkel walks down Colorado Avenue while making the daily rounds [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1315570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 19:15:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1315570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315570\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}