Parking rules drive Somervillains nuts (Boston Globe)

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

By Danielle Dreilinger, Globe correspondent

Snow emergency, street cleaning, resident-only: Parking rules drive (sorry) Somervillains nuts. They got mayor Joe Curtatone in trouble in his first month, when he ticketed cars for a snowstorm that never came. (He forgave the tickets.) This year, they put him on the hot seat again.

The uproar started on May 21 when the Traffic Commission took a break from OK’ing handicapped spots to make sweeping changes in the city’s parking rules. All streets without two-hour spots or meters would require $15 resident stickers. Those meters would increase in price to $1 and run until 10 p.m. in Davis and Magoun squares, 8 p.m. elsewhere.

The Somerville Chamber of Commerce broke the news the next morning. Egg, meet face. Total PR nightmare. Somervillains were equally angry over the changes themselves - the potential impact on business and quality of life - and the way they were made: by an appointed five-person body in the dark of night. Not even most aldermen knew.

It was “unacceptable,” said Davis Square alderman Rebekah Gewirtz. “They should’ve had a public community process.”

More here: www.boston.com/yourtown/news/somerville/2009/10/by_danielle_dreilinger_globe_c_4.html

Comments

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Here's some of the information making this a relevant article, not just a rehashing of stuff from May:


Citywide resident permit parking is on hold. Any resident, car-owning or not, can buy two passes for visitors to park on their street.

This month, the city expects to choose vendors to produce new signs and “pay and walk away” parking kiosks in Magoun and Davis off-street lots. Then they will implement the scaled-back resident parking and pilot 10 p.m. meters. The cost of mailings, signs and kiosks? An estimated $175,000 to $220,000. Yes, the new rules mean less revenue.

Does this mean that people who live on streets that are currently not restricted to residents can now buy visitor permits?

Important caveat

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

"Any resident, car-owning or not, can buy two passes for visitors to park on their street."

These passes are ridiculously limited. They can only be used on the same car twice in a week or else your visitor will be ticketed for "Guest Pass Abuse".

[ericjay.livejournal.com]

Like mattdm_org said, the passes are very limited. In addition to the 2x/week rule in his comment, there's the fact that a visitor pass is only valid on the street of the resident who purchased it. Therefore, buying a pass if you live on an unrestricted street wouldn't serve much purpose.

[djdreilinger.livejournal.com]

Thanks for saying it wasn't a rehash—my goal was to update people on the situation. It would be great if Somerville residents posted comments. So far most of the people opining don't live or work here.

Does this mean that people who live on streets that are currently not restricted to residents can now buy visitor permits?

Tom Champion told me that all registered car-owners have ALWAYS been able to buy visitor permits, regardless of address. Don't have any personal experience w/ that because I've only bought guest passes when I've lived on a resident-only street.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Tom Champion told me that all registered car-owners have ALWAYS been able to buy visitor permits, regardless of address.

This is not commensurate with my experience. I live on a non-permit street, and every time I've attempted to buy visitor permits, I've been rebuffed with the explanation that only people with resident-only street addresses were allowed to buy them.

[violet-helix.livejournal.com]

I've had the same experience.
I was issued visitor permits my first year in Somerville, but when I attempted to renew them much wackiness ensued. After having my check returned to me, I had to schlep to T&P where they explained that, since Highland Ave switches to non-resident parking a block from my house, I was not eligible for passes. The previous year's passes had been issued "in error".

[djdreilinger.livejournal.com]

Whoops—Tom corrected me: people on non-restricted streets have always been able to buy *resident* stickers, not guest passes.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, that is true. Definitely better to have one than not, even if you don't live on a permit-only street. There have been plenty of times when I've had to park my car on a nearby permit-only cross street, for instance.