Street parking, parking garages, and the joys of driving in Davis Square

[flixchick1986.livejournal.com]

Hello everyone!

I'm considering moving to Davis Square this summer. Everything's perfect about the apartment (and Davis Square in general seems awesome), but the single reason I'm hesitant is because of the parking situation. I currently live in Central Square, and I pay $150 a month for a reserved parking space. But the new apartment only has street parking available, and I can't give up my car because I need to drive to work every day.

So my questions are:
1. Are there any parking lots/garages you know of that I could rent a space for around what I'm paying now? Location doesn't matter too much, since I'd probably mainly use the space when it snows and when I'm on vacation, and I'm willing to walk.

2. For those of you that park on the street, what do you do with your car when you go on vacation? Or even just a long weekend?

3. What's the street cleaning schedule like? Is there cleaning in the winter?

Thanks!

Comments

[simianpower.livejournal.com]

1) I don't know of any.

2) Last time I let a friend borrow the car. She needed it, I needed it away from the cleaning nazis, so it worked.

3) They only do street cleaning twice a month, and at different dates for different streets, so if you're only gone a few days it's not a big deal. In winter it's worse because if it snows, you can get hit with the 48-hour ticket for not moving your car ON TOP of the snow emergency ticket.

[flixchick1986.livejournal.com]

Oh twice a month isn't so bad. I'm more worried about getting towed over vacation and thinking someone stole my car than getting a ticket.

[unferth.livejournal.com]

Street cleaning frequency must vary by location. My street gets swept four times a month (every first and third tuesday, every second and fourth wednesday).

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

It's the same for all locations, it's just that if you park on a certain side of the street, you only have to worry about it 2x per month.

I found that in driving to work I negated all worry of the magical cleaning ticket fairies. As for vacationing, I have been ticketed for the 48 hours parked in one place, and it was not during the winter, and I was on vacation, so having someone borrow the car, or parking in a park and ride parking lot at the airport would be advised.

[flixchick1986.livejournal.com]

Is street cleaning late enough in the morning for you to avoid it by driving to work? Or do you leave for work really early?

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

I usually left by 8am, not sure if that's early or not ;)

[unferth.livejournal.com]

In theory it's ticketable between 8 and 12.

As for the winter schedule, they don't do street cleaning in January, February or March. Sometimes they'll stop in December too, if there's big snowstorm.

[solarpanda.livejournal.com]

If you live on a bigger street, street cleaning could be 4x a month (yes, once a week, ugh) from midnight-6am, but most backstreets are 2x a month (per side) 8am-12pm.

Depending on your work schedule/work location, I'd recommend leaving before 8 anyway to beat the local traffic.

[magg1es.livejournal.com]

You really don't need to rent a space for parking as long as you have a resident permit. During the snow storms, the worst my ex and I had to do was park a few blocks away, when we usually parked right in front of our place. This was right off of college ave, about a five minute walk from Davis.

For vacation, or a long weekend, the rare events that it coincides with a snow emergency, just ask a friend, or throw someone a few dollars to move it. If that's not an option, there is a huge garage in Alewife (one stop over on the red line) you could probably put your car during snow emergencies.

The cleaning schedule is different for each area, but just look at the signs posted around the place. It will tell you when, and yes, it's only twice a month.

[flixchick1986.livejournal.com]

Oh ok great, that's useful info about the Alewife parking garage. Thanks!

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

If it snows, I park overnight in Alewife. For vacations, I leave my car at a friend's house or at work.

[flixchick1986.livejournal.com]

Oh good point, I could park at work and take the T back. Thanks!

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I luckily work right off the commuter rail, which sadly doesn't work well for my commute, but works nicely if I don't have my car for some reason or I need to leave it there while I go away.

[flixchick1986.livejournal.com]

Yeah I'll have a similar situation; I'll be working someplace that's T accessible if I'm willing to take an hour T ride and walk 30 minutes, which I wouldn't want to do every day, but it's doable when it's a necessity.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

1) I'm not sure about that, but with a resident sticker, you can usually find street parking somewhere.

2) For a long weekend, I leave it on the street. I happen to live on an out-of-the-way street where the 48-hour rule is not strictly enforced (it's more like a 4 day rule there, but that is definitely not the case on most streets). For a vacation, I park in a neighbor's driveway (in such a way that they park me in, and I pick up the car when I get back).

3) Ours is weekly from April 1 to November 30. There is not cleaning in the winter. For snow emergencies, you should know: a) a snow emergency is always call when 4" or more snow is predicted, and b) snow emergency means odd-side parking only, but municipal and school lots are open to residents during the emergency.

Street parking in Somerville has really not been a problem for me in the 3 years I've been parking on the street, but I think I'm the exception to the rule.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

I lied; street cleaning goes through December, or until the first big snow.

[flixchick1986.livejournal.com]

Cool thanks for the info!

Does the 48 hour rule apply to weekends? There are some weekends when I come home from work on Friday and don't drive again till Monday morning.

[unferth.livejournal.com]

In my experience, the 48 hour rule is only enforced when a) there's a major snowstorm or b) you leave your car in one spot so long that the neighbors complain. It's something to be aware of, certainly, but I've routinely violated it for years and have only been ticketed for it once. After a major snowstorm.

[ethanfield.livejournal.com]

Remember there are no permit-only restrictions on Sundays, which kinda 'resets' the parking week. Also, Parking Control Officers don't work on Sundays; parking is enforced by police on that day... which means they focus on the safety-related ticketing and less on the 48-hour rule. In four years, I have never gotten ticketed for a Friday-to-Monday arc.

There are also a few magic areas of the city where there are no parking restrictions and no street sweeping. If you're going away for a week and can't get anyone to car-sit, you may be able to ask your neighbors about the nearest one. Or ask if you can park at the back of their driveway.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Davis Square *is* awesome! Joinnnnn usssss, and welcome to the neighborhood.

[flixchick1986.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It's not official yet, but hopefully will be soon.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Not to be the public transit troll, but where/when do you work that you have to drive to get there?

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

I'm not OP, but I work in North Andover. you can't assume that people work in T-accessible locations...

[m00n.livejournal.com]

I guess it's really a matter of what you consider "accessible." Many parts of North Andover are easily reachable by bicycle from the Lawrence commuter rail station.

[flixchick1986.livejournal.com]

I'll be working in Brighton (it's over the Western Ave bridge if you're coming from Central Square). Public transportation from the new apartment would take me over an hour to get there, but driving will take about 17 minutes according to Google maps.

[otter3.livejournal.com]

1) You might want to look up Together In Motion on Broadway in Arlington. I had a nice experience with them, but it ended over a year ago.

[upsidown.livejournal.com]

My girlfriend rents a spot in someone's driveway near davis. She found it on craigslist. I'm sure you could find something there too.

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

You should also keep in mind that the penalty for leaving your car during street sweeping is a $50 ticket, unlike Cambridge where they tow you half way across town. As others have said, the 48 hour rule isn't really enforced except after snowstorms or if a neighbor complains. I've been in Davis without a driveway for almost 10 years now, and street parking is really not a big deal.

reasonable off-street spaces

[madscientist01.livejournal.com]

I paid $50 for an off-street space in someone's driveway (I didn't have to park behind/in front of anyone -- I could get in or out anytime) which I found on craigslist. Now that I have my registration/insurance and everything straightened out after moving to davis, I park on the street and it is not a big deal. You just have to pay attention to street cleaning (I like to sign up for the automated emails at http://bostonsweeper.boston.com/ )

Re: reasonable off-street spaces

[flixchick1986.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link!