The Davis Square Community

A couple of decades ago there were some car sharing co-ops around these parts. I almost joined one, but really never needed a car. The idea was essentially the same as having roommates sharing a house. The only real complication was the insurance, of course. But it was doable.

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rikchik.livejournal.com

My impression was that Zipcars won't get tickets on permit streets because they have commercial plates - not sure that's right though.

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xuth.livejournal.com

I don't know the exact rule but commercial vehicles are allowed to park temporarily in permit only spaces (to my knowledge throughout MA). This is how a contractor can do work in all of the permit only areas. The restriction is that they can't park overnight (I don't know how it's worded so that, for instance, a contractor can do emergency work at night but you should be ok parking for a short term at night too). But it's a rare situation where you'll want to park a zip car overnight (and pay for it) in Somerville.

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ckd

If you really need a place to park a ZipCar overnight, there's always the parking space it belongs in....

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gwodder.livejournal.com

but If your destination was the parking spot the car belongs in you wouldn't need the car in the first place!

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josephineave.livejournal.com

Funny, because my contractor was ticketed the other day. He likes to use my guest permit, but he forgets to return it and he's only supposed to use it 2 days per week. I told him to contest the ticket, but it will probably mean I lose a guest pass.

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fumblerette1.livejournal.com

hm. I know very little about this, but I just hired movers to move from newton to somerville, and they told me that I have to go and get permits for their moving vehicle to park on my new street (permit parking only).

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ron_newman

That's probably so that you can reserve the space in front of your house for the movers, and have the city post No Parking signs and tow away anyone who parks in the space.

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xuth.livejournal.com

so apparently I'm wrong? Certainly wouldn't be the first time. Sorry.

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The moving van fee is a brand new thing. I happened to notice it while waiting in line at T&P the other day.

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A non-resident car in use by a resident or under the auspices of a resident that's parking temporarily in a resident parking area?

Sounds like we need some sort of placard permit available to all residents that they could stick in the vehicle when it is parked temporarily in their neighborhood.

We could call it -- hmm -- a "visitor card" and the city could make up to two of them available per household.

http://www.somervillema.gov/section.cfm?org=traffic&page=138

Uh-oh. My first intentional snark. I'm going to get in trouble. I just know it.

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somertricky.livejournal.com

T. Champion (W 1-0)

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ceo

Well played, sir.

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mjperson.livejournal.com

I had thought, from reading the back of the visitor permit, that the one person in all the world *not* allowed to use it was the resident it was assigned to.

Dang, I don't have one here in the office with me to check.

Dang, I just argued with

tomchampion. I'm probably doomed.

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ron_newman

I thought it was just that you can't use it on a car that you own. You don't own a zipcar.

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That's correct. You can't use it on a car that's registered to you, or a corporate car that's assigned to you.

You can use it on a car you're borrowing or renting temporarily.

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To quote from the back of the vistor parking permit under the "VIOLATIONS"

"A visitor parking permit cannot be displayed in a vehicle OWNED OR CONTROLLED BY A RESIDENT.

Emphasis Somervilles...

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ayelle.livejournal.com

> Uh-oh. My first intentional snark. I'm going to get in trouble. I just know it.

Aww, but it seems like the nice kinda snark, where you're gently pointing out something that's essentially common knowledge, yet without implying that the OP is stupid for not knowing it/stupid for posting at all (that implication being what can make this community feel so unwelcoming sometimes).

Though I suppose the whole trouble with snark is that it's hard to tell sometimes how it will be received. Maybe I just read this as "nice" snark because, well, you usually seem so nice!

Edited Date: 2008-05-23 04:57 pm (UTC)

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chenoameg.livejournal.com

The visitor placards state on them they shouldn't be used on a car owned or operated by a resident.

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From:

elements.livejournal.com

It would be nice if those of us who live on non-permit streets could get those too. Often when I have family visiting from out of town it will take ages to find a non-permit space to park in, while there are plenty of residential spots on adjacent streets. If I were allowed to have visitor permits, it would help a lot in those situations. (And not make my parents have to park halfway to Magoun when they visit me.)

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ron_newman

Do you live at the corner of a permit street and a non-permit street? When I lived on Kent Street, i was able to get visitor permits because Harrison was a permit street.

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elements.livejournal.com

I'm a few houses from the corner, but yes, I am near a permit-only street. It wouldn't be as much of a problem if so manu folks didn't come to park on my street because it is both non-permit and close to the square/bike path (just not close enough to be made permit). I don't want to have my street go permit-only, but it would be nice to have even one guest pass for days when my street is full down its entire length.

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(Wait a sec . . . I'm almost done splitting these hairs. There -- finished.)

You are definitely NOT supposed to use the placard in place of a sticker permit on a car that's registered to you. That's because some residents would prefer to keep their cars registered out of state indefinitely in order to save on insurance costs. But if you use a ZipCar, or rent a car for the weekend, of course you can use your own visitor permit. It's a vehicle that's visiting your neighborhood on a temporary basis, because you invited it to do so. As a practical matter, there's no way for the city to differentiate between a car owned by your Aunt Edith or your Uncle ZipCar or your cousin Avis -- and no need to do so. They're just visiting.

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I shared this thread with Jim Kotzuba, head of Traffic and Parking, who sent this note to be shared with the group:

FYI, Zipcars are exempt from and Commercial Overnight restrictions. This was ok'd by the Traffic Commission in early 2006. They can use the guest card but we are sympathetic as far as Permit Parking as well although they are not officially exempt from that. It really doesn't come up very often with us because the majority of the rentals are same day pickup and return.

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Yeah, this is too bad that rentals in general aren't encouraged (or at least permitted legally). Could be something to look into...

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They are permitted. You can use your visitor's permit for a rental.

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Not according to the visitor permit itself, which specifically forbids it.

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If you call the Traffic and Parking folks, they'll explain to you that you can use the visitor permits for short-term borrowed or rented cars. What you can't do is use it for something like a corporate car that you don't own, but use for long periods of time.

This is what Tom Champion said, basically.

Think about it: the Somerville Traffic Enforcement people, seeing a rented car on the street with a visitor's permit on the dash, have no way of determining whether the person driving that rented car is a Somerville resident or an out-of-town guest from Albania.

The thing is that you can't register your car in New Hampshire to save on insurance and excise tax, then use your visitor's permit every day to park in front of your house. THAT is what the stipulation on the back of the permit is meant to prevent.

From:

ron_newman

Here's a new question for you: What do I do if I want to rent a car for a whole week? Not a Zipcar, a regular rental car like Enterprise or Avis. These usually aren't externally labelled as rental cars,, and guest permits are limited to two days a week.

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ms-info.livejournal.com

I ran into this one when I had a rental for a month while my car was being slowly repaired. I was instructed (by the parking office) to collect the tickets that I received and then bring them all in once I was through with the car and the tickets would be forgiven. (Which they were, several hundred dollars worth of them).

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I'll ask, but the rest of city hall is closed and it's just us workaholics here, so the answer may not be up 'til next week. BTW, it's really nice out. Those of you free to do so should go outside and play until it starts raining later this evening.

Preemptive Note: For those not familiar with our arcane hours (Ron is not included in this group), Somerville City Hall is open for business transactions (OBT) 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. except Thursdays when we're OBT until 7:30 p.m. and Fridays when we close for OBT at 12:30.

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I should have waited for ms_info's response.

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ron_newman

Thanks! No need to rush on this; I'm not renting a car this weekend.

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From Jim Kotzuba at T&P (clearly a workaholic in his own right):

We have rental car permits. $10 per month.

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Interesting! I don't usually rent, but I sometimes borrow a car from a friend, and that's very, very useful to know! Thanks!

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You don't need to buy a rental car permit for a car you "sometimes borrow"--it's perfectly OK to use your visitor's card for that (up to the two-day limit).

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pearlythebunny.livejournal.com

One option is just to park on a street that isn't resident-only parking. About half of the city's streets are open to anyone, if I remember correctly. There is an alphabetical list of resident/nonresident streets on the city's website, but a map showing the streets would be much easier to use.

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boblothrope.livejournal.com

That works for now, but what about a few years down the line? More streets get permit parking every year, and I've never heard of existing resident restrictions being lifted, anywhere on earth, except when struck down by a court.

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