Parking exceptions in somerville

[copperpoint.livejournal.com]

I'm told in cambridge, the parking folks are generally willing to look the other way if you're having a party and you give them advanced notice. Does Somerville have a similar policy?
Thanks

Comments

[sapphira-altair.livejournal.com]

It's *really* easy to get one-time parking permits from Traffic and Parking. It's $1 per car, although I got 10 for free back in November. Just go here (http://www.somervillema.gov/section.cfm?org=traffic&page=916) to apply for them.

That said, since parking is such a big issue, when we have parties I typically ask people to carpool and use the municipal lots as much as possible, too.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I was going to say, it makes sense to limit the number of vehicles.

Also, I have heard much about the Cambridge parking enforcement. But little about its generosity.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

If you're having a party in Cambridge and you call and ask nicely 48 hours beforehand, they will not ticket or tow non-permit-having cars parked on your permit-parking-only street.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Really? Hippies.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

AFAICT Somerville requires $1/car for "one-time event passes" (see the first bullet point (http://www.somervillema.gov/section.cfm?org=traffic&page=916)), which is far less generous than Cambridge's just ask us first (http://www.cambridgema.gov/traffic/Consideration.cfm) policy (you can even ask Cambridge online (http://www.cambridgema.gov/CityOfCambridge_Content/forms/tpat_consideration2.cfm)).

[forgotten-aria.livejournal.com]

Huh, nice to know about the new charge. Though it's good to note that, at least when they were free, they were reusable, so if you're having a long party, you don't really need one for every car.

It's also good to request them early, if I remember correctly.

[sapphira-altair.livejournal.com]

Just to clarify for the OP, they're reusable from car to car, since they're tied to the address (like a normal visitor pass), but they're not reusable on a different date.

And yeah, the nice people at T&P tend to appreciate having a decent amount of notice since they have to hand-write the info on each pass. :)

moderator note

[ron_newman]

I tagged this "parking". If you can edit your post to include a descriptive Subject, that will help people find this post in the future. Thanks.

[haptotrope.livejournal.com]

I remember there being a "call the parking office" let them know you are having a party. Guests park, bring tickets to you at the end of the night, then you bring the tickets to the parking office to get them voided.

Might be worth a call: 617-625-6600 X7900 since that 1$/car thing sucks.

[haptotrope.livejournal.com]

So I called, and they don't do that anymore and it sucks -- becuase going to that freaking office during their business hours is a pain -- or in my case utterly impossible -- and I don't want to have to track my guests' method of transportation, so that I can guess how many dollars I can shell out for this reason.

[sapphira-altair.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's that big a deal. If you're hosting a party, you're likely already shelling out for booze and food and such anyway, so spending an extra $10 so your guests don't get tickets seems worth it, to me. I just ask people to consider that I only have x amount of passes and that I'd like to have them available for people who can't carpool or take public transit in. And like I commented below, it's usually not much of a problem since people who live in the area understand the PITA parking situation.

[haptotrope.livejournal.com]

10 bucks isn't the problem (though for some it might be - not everyone buys booze and crudites beyond 12 bucks for a 24 pack of Schlitz). Personally, I cannot get the passes during their business hours. Which means my guests are screwed if I don't decide to have a party a month in advance and submit a request by mail.

Here's hoping for internet enabled self printing event passes.

[sapphira-altair.livejournal.com]

Having internet-enabled self printing event passes would be cool. I could see Somerville implementing something like that in the future.

FWIW, they do have late hours on Thursdays and I only submitted my request a couple weeks in advance. :)

[mrpet.livejournal.com]

Last I heard you can do it all by mail if you have enough prior notice.

[haptotrope.livejournal.com]

good to know. right now, I'm just thankful most people I know ride bikes.

[roosto.livejournal.com]

I recently had a party and bought 10 of the things. I told the guests that there were 10 of them and if they ran out they'd have to park on Holland or Broadway where there were no restrictions after 6pm. 40-50 ppl showed up and I think that maybe 5 passes were used, most folks just parked in unregulated spaces not wanting to bother with the nonsense.

[sapphira-altair.livejournal.com]

Yup, that's been my experience, too. I've found that most people who are in the general Metro Boston area understand what a PITA street parking is and so when these situations arise, they make accommodations as necessary without much complaint.