[identity profile] geekpixie.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] davis_square
This coming Wednesday, June 3rd from 6:30-8:30pm I will be at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square (hey, someone may not know where it is..) collecting signatures in the lobby for a petition against the parking meter hour extension. Currently, the theatre is also collecting signatures at the box office as well. They're providing me a table in the lobby, so please, come on by and say hello! We need at least 50 registered voter signatures, but I am sure that more would make an impression.

Please note, this is ONLY a petition against the meter hours extension in items 9-12. I have always lived on a permitted street in Somerville, and paid far more at meters in other places, so the two other major changes are not as large an issue for me. Hurting businesses that are already suffering in an economic downtown just to scrape together a few more dollars on TOP of doubling parking rates? I have issue with. If you are unhappy about the permitting of streets, or any other part of the new regulations, I encourage you to draft a petition yourself, and organize. I'll happily sign it. It took me all of a half hour to write one up, get in touch with the ST, and set up times to be present and collect signatures.

If you are interested in a copy of the petition to collect signatures yourself, and return to me, or the city, just ask!

I hope to see you there!



Petition

On street parking meters are frequently used by visitors to Somerville who are attending concerts and movies, dining, and shopping. By extending the hours of our on street parking to 8 in all of Somerville except Magoun and Davis Sq. and 10pm in Magoun and Davis Sq., as detailed in items 9, 10, 11, and 12 of the provided excerpt from the commission's agenda, local businesses will lose patrons who cannot afford a ticket while watching a movie, and/or enjoying a leisurely dinner. In a time when the economy has done more than enough to discourage customers to local businesses, they should not be further discouraged by difficult parking time maximums and unreasonable parking meter times. The standard times for Parking Meters to be enforced are 8am-6pm for street meters, and 8am to 8pm for parking lots we request that you keep Somerville's parking meters enforced only at these times, and help, not hinder, our local businesses in their success.


We the undersigned registered voters of Somerville, Massachusetts oppose the extension of Parking Meter hours to 8pm and 10pm, and respectfully request that these hours stay as 8am-6pm for street meters and 8am-8pm for parking lots.

Date: 2009-05-29 12:18 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] ron_newman
I am concerned that extending resident permit parking to all streets will hurt businesses in areas other than Davis Square, which depend on nearby street parking for their customers and employees. The existing system of having residents petition street-by-street seems to work well, and I don't see a reason to change it.

I'll still sign any petition regarding any of the changes, on the simple grounds that democratic decision-making process has not been followed.
Edited Date: 2009-05-29 12:20 pm (UTC)

Date: 2009-05-29 01:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] miss-chance.livejournal.com
Can you post a reminder on Tuesday evening or Wed. morning? I'd like to come sign the petition. I'll even bring you a cuppa coffee at the table for your efforts. :)

I'm curious: What is the process from here? Fifty signatures are necessary in order to induce what to happen procedurally?

50-sigs sounds totally do-able.

Oh, and maybe would you post the full text of the petition (behind a cut) so that we can know in advance exactly what we're coming out to sign? Thanks for your efforts on this!

Date: 2009-05-29 01:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pierceheart.livejournal.com
I'll sign.

I second the request for full text - it will also help someone who is planning on writing a petition about the all permits all the time.

Date: 2009-05-29 01:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tt02144.livejournal.com
It's all about the $$$ friends, and I've become very cynical and don't believe your petitions will do you any good, sorry to say. They've been using parking as a means to offset the budget for several years now. It's why they declare a snow emergency hours before the first hint of snow, or when the prediction is for barely noticeable accumulation. It's why my daughter received a ticket for a street she had never been on and they refused to rescind it. Permit parking destroys business. When Cambridge instituted city-wide permit parking I virtually stopped (except when necessary) visiting any store, restaurant, doctor, dentist, you name it, in Cambridge. Why would you, when you can go to Arlington or Medford and park for free or for a few quarters?

take action, not whine? wtf?

Date: 2009-05-29 04:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] winterhill.livejournal.com
Good for you for doing this! I'll sign. I believe a hearing is absolutely necessary -- and am concerned that these restrictions can be introduced without our Alderpeople's consent or the public's input.

Date: 2009-05-29 04:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] boblothrope.livejournal.com
Keep in mind that one of the other upcoming rule changes will hurt businesses much more than extending meters to 10 pm:

All streets that are currently 2 hour parking 8 am - 6 pm except by permit will become permit-only from 6 pm to 8 am. This means it will be illegal for nonresidents to park for *any* length of time in the evening, anywhere on streets like Elm, Holland, and College starting where the Davis parking meters end.

This takes away a huge pool of evening parking spaces, from an area where it hadn't been that hard to find a space. It means once the Davis meters are full, that's it -- there will be nowhere else in Somerville to look for a legal spot.

Date: 2009-05-29 08:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tt02144.livejournal.com
"I'm curious how much money the city could save by discontinuing all enforcement of all drug-related and other victimless-crime laws...."
Ron, if you seriously think that drug-related crimes are 'victimless' I'd really like to have a conversation with you. You must be living in a cocoon....apparently you've never known a 'victim' of a drug-related crime. That's pretty amazing.

Date: 2009-05-29 10:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sonofabish.livejournal.com
Many thanks for doing this. I was considering drawing up a petition as well.

I realize the permit issue doesn't matter to you, since you live in an area that already has them. But a lot of people- myself included- are a bit worked up about it as well.

What I'd like to propose is this- that a petition is drawn up listing all the items to which people object, and numbering/lettering each item. Then, when people sign it, they have the option of either signing a petition to encompass all items, or to just note their objection to, say, items 1,2, and 4.

I can help draw it up, if you like.

And again, thanks for doing this.

One other comment- those of us on this LJ community are pretty wired into the issue, but I for one am wondering about folks, say, over near Sullivan Sq. or older folks that don't really surf the net or read the local papers. There's going to be serious hell to pay when these folks find out what's happened.

Date: 2009-05-29 11:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] prunesnprisms.livejournal.com
I'll be glad to sign it. I think this is detrimental to the area.

Will be glad to sign...

Date: 2009-05-30 03:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vinyl-raven.livejournal.com
Slightly off topic...
Did anyone see the car Tom Champion was driving on Memorial Day? *looks expensive)

Profile

davis_square: (Default)
The Davis Square Community

July 2025

S M T W T F S
  12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 30th, 2025 07:26 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios