Shaw's parking lot

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

I walked through the parking lot by Shaw's in Porter Square today, and I saw cars being towed from the lot by Phil's Towing. A couple of hours later, I walked back through the lot, and I saw security people marking car tires with chalk. It looks like the two-hour parking limit is being strictly enforced now.

Also, I noticed that the parking lines have been repainted so that there are no longer any compact car spaces. All of the spaces are now for standard-sized cars.

Comments

[tisana.livejournal.com]

Well, yes.
Because those with ginormous SUVs blatantly ignored the "Compact Cars" bit and squeezed themselves in so other cars didn't really fit on either side, necessitating people squeezing out through tiny openings of the car doors. So why bother having them if people ignore them?

Good to know about the towing, though.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Me, I'd think they'd want to tow the SUVs for doing that: juicy revenue for them, juicy schadenfreude for us.

[ifotismeni]

the compact cars thing i thought had been that way for years. no?

they're probably also more strictly enforcing the employee parking thing as well. a few months ago i wasn't paying attention and parked there, they slapped a HUGE "VIOLATION" sticker on my windshield that would *not* come off. had to scrape at the thing for hours with all sorts of chemicals to remove it. obviously that was my fault :P but it was new to me.

now that the porter exchange mall has cracked down on parking there too, it's harder for people to sneak free parking in the area. aww, poor babies ;D

[ron_newman]

There are employee-only spaces in that lot?

Restriping & time limit

[first-clark.livejournal.com]

Enforcement comes and goes in the lot. I expect it's mostly driven by customer complaints about not being able to find a place to park. When they reach a crescendo, and receipts and/or floor traffic also go down, managers/owners tend to notice. When enough of them, or maybe especially when the Shaw's manager weighs in, the mall owner/manager gets out the chalk and calls Pat's. Regardless of the details, if they just started a strict kick, it'll last until the next stretch of inclement weather, when the lot security guys will be less diligent about circulating and chalking.

The restriping to create compact car spots dates to the renovation and solar power assist upgrade that was done about six or seven years ago. The idea was to create more spaces, and since it's an urban location, the presumption was, and the reality is, that most of the cars in the lot are compact or mid-sized. Unfortunately, human behavior being what it is, the full size spaces all got occupied first, because who wants to a) shoehorn themselves into a narrow space when they don't have to, and b) risk door dings from the clod next to you even if you're both compacts in the center of your lines? This left narrow spaces for everyone who came later, SUV drivers and all, and damage complaints skyrocketed. One of the reasons tire chalking goes by the board is the the lot security officers are dealing with irate patrons with door dings, fender scrapes, and broken taillights.

I learned this when it happened to me. Cost to replace the broken outer plexiglass of my right rear light is just below my deductible. Did the perp leave me his info, or even a twenty to apologize? Nope. The security guy showed me the sheaf of complaints already in hand for just that week, and said that he saw many folks curse, scream, stomp, and then pull away without coming to him to make a report or complain.

Hope the perspective helps y'all be a bit philosophical about it. This too shall pass.

[cutieperson]

they'd make more profit if they bothered to tow out of the handicapped spots parked in illegally.

[blondeamazon.livejournal.com]

I drove a New beetle until recently, I thought it was considered compact,and it didn't fit in the "compact" spaces. That is the single most aweful lot to park in that I have used in the greater Boston/Cambridge/Somerville/Medford metro area.

[midorionna.livejournal.com]

you obviously haven't been to market basket on a sunday evening ;)

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

Have you ever had to visit/park at 725 Concord Ave in Cambridge? It's a medical building/child care center, and I swear the spots are skinnier than even at Shaw's lot. But you're right, I try my best not to park at / shop at Shaw's if I don't really need an item. I'd rather go elsewhere, because even if the price is cheaper at Shaw's, the repair bill more than makes up for the few pennies saved on toilet paper.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Here here, I drive a Mini and belong to that Healthworks. Those are the tiniest damn spots in the whole world.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

The spots at the Porter Sq. Shaw's are not standard width. This was done to squeeze more spots into the parking lot, which is too small for the level of business to begin with.

Some of the spots were marked compact, but I observed that was more for length than width. To fan the flames, they have now taken more spots away and marked theme employee only.

As far as I'm concerned, you either have to be able to handle the level of vehicles expected, or don't handle them at all. This would have necessitated building a parking garage (more construction $) or providing no parking and relying on walking/bike customers only (less revenue $).

The whole Porter Exchange, in my opinion, relies on this half-arsed approach, where they shoe horn in some spots, but not enough, leading to perpetual overcrowding of the lot. This isn't just a problem for the people who shop there. The congestion spills over onto Mass. Ave. and the neighbouring streets, creating hazards for other motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians. Navigating through Porter Sq. is a nightmare.

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

I believe the reason for the shrimpy parking spaces wasn't poor thinking on the part of the shopping center owner, stricktly speaking. When the building housing the CVS and the Healthworks was added (which I think greatly improves the area) the Porter Square neighborhood association demanded that the shopping center keep the same number of spaces as it had before to hopefully alleviate spill-over parking on the neighborhood streets. The PSNA has a lot of armchair urban planners.

[ron_newman]

For any of you who live within walking distance of Shaw's: I highly recommend using a granny cart instead of trying to park in that lot. Tags sells granny carts that are guaranteed for life (at least mine was, long ago).

[nuns.livejournal.com]

What's a granny cart?

[thespian.livejournal.com]

tags doesn't offer the lifetime guarantee anymore.

I had one of those carts; bought it in 1992 or so? It lasted me through Boston, Raleigh, Atlanta and Toronto. It finally fell apart there in 2004 (usable but took some fighting), but sadly, the Tags tag had fallen off sometime after Atlanta. I seriously thought of bringing it with me when I moved back here in 2006, and if it had had the tag still, I would've, for the amusement of it. But it lasted a long while, regardless of the guarantee.

[xuth.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to understand why cargo bikes and cargo trailers for bicycles haven't caught on even among cycling advocates in this area. For $200*, you can get a light to medium duty trailer that will hold as much or more groceries (or anything else) as will fit in the "granny carts" and allow you to go longer distances with them in an easier fashion. They're easy to attach and remove from bicycles and you barely notice they're there when you don't have heavy loads in them. When they are loaded you definitely do notice them when going uphill but it's still doable.

* Since cargo trailers are somewhat of a specialty item here they aren't made in great quantity. But an inexpensive child carrier trailer (which can be gotten new for less than $100 because there are a few models built in quantity) will work too and has the benefit of full weather protection.

[laryu.livejournal.com]

Cavaet emptor. I bought a granny cart from Tags three years ago. A wheel fell off ON THE WALK HOME from Tags.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Good: I will no longer have to freak out about how to fit my Saturn (yes, Saturn) into one of those parking spaces, between huge and dubiously parked vehicles, without scratching anyone.

Bad: This is because there will never be any more parking spaces available there ever again.

Hmmm, tossup.

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

That's why I use my Somerville parking permit and just park on Hancock or Elm or one of the side streets. My car is big and it's not worth the heartburn to navigate that screwy parking lot. Hell, it's tough enough just to walk through.

PS. I like that LJ suggests Smelly and Smellier and Scurvily as correct spellings for "Somerville".

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Those lines have been repainted for awhile now. At least since the mid Fall. I love it because I can now park anywhere in the lot!

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

This makes me glad that 90% of the time, I just go on foot.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

maybe that's why i've been able to find a place to park recently without having to drive around the lot for half an hour.... they're towing people. thank god they repainted the lines, too - i have a compact car and i just barely fit in those teeny spaces.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

Here's one solution:

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

I've always suspected those compact spaces were designed with a Mini Mayfair in mind.

[mr-mcfeely.livejournal.com]

Having lived right near the Porter Sq Shaws, let me share an easy solution to avoid this extraordinarily stupid parking lot. I'm shocked that this has not been mentioned yet, but if you must drive, just park in the JKF Elementary School lot at the corner of Cherry/Elm and take the 0.5 minute to walk to the store. Parking in this lot (on the weekends) is :
1) free
2) stress-free
4) much less of a hassle
5) time limit-less
Shhhh....don't tell too many folks about this parking oasis.

[mr-mcfeely.livejournal.com]

You already knew this, but I meant JFK Elementary :)

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

I also have a small car, and find that not only are the spaces too small, the driving lanes are as well. I, for one, only go there when I can't get it anywhere else, or it's after 9 at night or before 8 in the morning! I don't think the re-painted lines will make much of a difference to me - I simply HATE that lot. Plus, making the spaces larger, but sectioning off certain spaces for employees only won't really help the parking situation. Do any employees still park in the side lot on Elm Street?
And FYI to Ron.....a one-way street is technically one-way for everyone. It's not one-way for cars and two-way for bikes. Travelling down a one-way street the wrong way is not only tempting an accident with a car, but it's a GREAT way to have an accident involving a pedestrian, many of whom only look for traffic one-way on a one-way street!
And please, Mr. McFeely, DO NOT park in the Kennedy School lot during school hours (should be obvious, I know, but really isn't!).