Reason Behind the 48-hour Parking Rule

[wonkywheels.livejournal.com]

There has been some talk in this community about the 48-hour parking rule. Can someone explain the rationale behind this law? I have a car, but I take the "T" or ride my bike to work, so it doesn't make sense to me to have to move my car for no reason. I understand the need to move my car for street-sweeping, but this 48-hour thing doesn't seem to have a basis.

Comments

[ron_newman]

Some recent discussion here.

[wonkywheels.livejournal.com]

Oh, does this law only apply during snow storms? I thought it was all the time.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

The idea is that people who live in Somerville are therefore somewhere near their car, and might just move it every couple of days, while people who are non-resident won't be able to. You basically need to move the car to prove that it's possessed by someone who actually lives near said parking spot.

Now, this is a really stupid idea, thought up at least in part by people who drive a lot (as opposed to people who use public transit in town and use their cars as ancillary transportation), but that's the basis for it.

In winter its also used to make sure that people shovel out their cars, because you need to shovel it out in order to move it.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

Also, I feel like part of it emphasizes the "public-ness" of the parking spots. By having to give up your spot every so often, it's not "your" spot -- you are potentially making it available for other people in your neighborhood to use.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Having read through the earlier discussion, it seems to agree with my surmisation that the law exists to try to make it fairer for those who must use their cars. As in, I'd love to take the train to work, but that's not an option for me because of the town I work in not really being accessible, so when I get home, I should have as much of a chance at being able to park on my own street as the jerk across the street who moves his car every week just so he won't get towed again. (instead of pissing off his immediate neighbors, he instead parks in front of our house, and is right now blocking our carved-in-snow egress to the street.)

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I'd agree with this.

[wonkywheels.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's all well and good, but I don't think it's a good idea to encourage people to drive when there's no reason to. People should be encouraged to use public transportation to cut down on traffic and emissions.

[ron_newman]

But a 14-day rule (already in effect because of street sweeping) would be sufficient to do that.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I disagree that it's stupid. Sure, it's a pain in the ass for people who don't drive much, but if it weren't in place, you'd never find a parking spot the few times you DID use your car. Jerks who don't live here would be using the area as their own personal parking garage.

[ron_newman]

Not exactly; did you read the whole thread I linked to? Especially read the comments by tomchampion since he is an official spokesperson for the city.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Again, you'd have the problem of jerks treating Somerville like a parking garage. A time period of that length practically screams "ABUSE ME!"

[ron_newman]

People who don't live in Somerville would still get tickets for violating resident parking rules. The 48-hour rule is not needed for that.

[frederic.livejournal.com]

It seemed that the only way the ticketers knew that you hadn't moved your car was by the snow halo around it (after a storm).

When this was an issue (when I was being penalized for taking the subway instead of driving to work), I would just move my car before getting onto the T a day or two after the snow storm.

I never got a ticket except for the times that there were the telltale snow ring around my car.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

But it seems to me that a large majority of people who have issue with this are parking in resident spots anyway -- I know that's where I park almost 100% of the time. I mean, the car gets used to go to the grocery and to go out of town, and that's it. I'm lucky that my street is usually pretty easy for parking, but it can be a frustrating rule. An example: when you leave town for more than 2 days without your car.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I don't really think there's a good solution here, short of encouraging people to get rid of their cars altogether, carpool, etc.

Somerville has about 80,000 people in four square miles of land. I have no idea how many of them have cars, but I know for a fact the city doesn't have enough parking; we've all dealt with the de facto one-way streets. The city has to force people to circulate their cars somehow, otherwise the parking situation would be even more drastic than it is.

[wonkywheels.livejournal.com]

OK, yeah, sorry.

[wonkywheels.livejournal.com]

Well, not on my street. It's resident parking only. If non-residents park there, they get tickets.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

Except that, as a law goes, it's badly enforced (people who can prove they were elsewhere but who park in the same spot upon return get tagged), it's poorly enforced (people on Willow and other 'premium' streets get hit by it twice as often as those who live on other streets, which is unfair), it deals with a non-existent problem (studies presented to the Council showed no major issues with non-residents taking masses of parking for extended periods of time), and it rewards people who use their car daily over people who create a smaller footprint by using alternate transportation.

It's not a good solution.

[ron_newman]

No, if someone from Cambridge or Medford left their car in a resident space in Somerville, they'd still get ticketed.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, those "resident parking" signs are absolutely meaningless in terms of actual enforcement. Also, this won't slow down the kind of self-involved jerk who thinks sucking up other people's tax dollars is AOK.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

When was the last time you saw Parking Enforcement out and about on the side streets?

[wonkywheels.livejournal.com]

That's not true. I know non-residents who have gotten tickets for parking on my street.

[wonkywheels.livejournal.com]

I see them all the time. Sometimes the guy smokes a cigar.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

Interesting that you think that. People get ticketed on my steet within mere hours (less than 10 minutes, once -- it's like they pop out of the bushes!!) without resident stickers. In fact, resident stickers ticketing is the most strictly enforced thing on my street and every street I've lived on in Somerville (Raymond, Morrison, and Ossipee), excluding street sweeping. Where are you having this non-enforcement issue?

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

Today!