zoned parking permits ?

[i-leonardo.livejournal.com]

according to this article, the aldermen are considering zoned parking:

http://somervillenews.typepad.com/the_somerville_news/2010/03/alderman-proposes-zoned-parking-permits.html

Comments

[rmd.livejournal.com]

wow. that would be annoying.

UGH

[shana-lyons.livejournal.com]

It's going to take me a long while to think of an idea more annoying than zoned parking permits. I really hope this doesn't move forward. Time to dig up my alderperson's contact info. . . .

[ron_newman]

Not a good idea -- very bad for small businesses throughout the city. Why would anyone favor this?

[rmd.livejournal.com]

seriously. no visitor parking on the streets, plus zoned parking?

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

I'm totally against this -- who should I contact to express my dislike?

[inahandbasket]

Seconded... anyone have contact info for aldermen?

[ron_newman]

did you look on the Somerville city web site?

[inahandbasket]

what? I thought this was the lazy_web, do I have the wrong place?

(thanks ron, should've just gone there.)

[ron_newman]

Three clicks from the front page takes you here, then click on each alderman's name in the left column.

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

i think they are trying to heard us like cattle.

[tamalinn.livejournal.com]

This is horrendous. And why can't I find a map of the current parking zones?

And if Dennis Sullivan feels so badly about driving to Davis to get the T, why doesn't he just stop doing it?

[ron_newman]

There aren't any current zones.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

i'd guess they'd go with the zones for permit numbering.

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

I live on the Cambridge/Somerville line in Porter Square. We're already at the boundary of two Somerville wards and parking zones, and we're hemmed in by Cambridge, one-way streets, parking lots, and the part of Somerville Ave. that used to allow parking but no longer does. Parking is difficult for residents and bordering on impossible for visitors. I can't imagine doing something that would make it worse. Sometimes I think the city has forgotten that my neighborhood is a) residential and b) part of Somerville.

[starry83.livejournal.com]

I'm all for this, at least in certain areas. I live quite near the Davis T, and it's getting increasingly difficult to park my own car at my house. Especially since the advent of all-permit streets in January, other Somerville residents commute to my street, park, and walk to the T. There are usually 4 or 5 cars parked on my street when I get up in the morning, and then it will be completely filled with people from other zones by 10am.

[leko.livejournal.com]

Why would the all-permit street parking have made this worse? If anything, it should have made it better, since it restricts the population of cars that can park in the area.

I never found it difficult to find a spot within a block of my place in davis. Even during the heavy periods during the day there are spots to be had. I'm not for anything that will make using public transportation (even if it's only for part of the journey) a less attractive option.

[starry83.livejournal.com]

My street was already permit parking, but now there are many more people who have permits and can park on my street.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

I'm still not getting you. No more people have permits than before.

[ron_newman]

Actually, more people do have permits now -- the people who used to live on non-permit streets, who all had to get permits this year.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Those people didn't have permits before? I did when I lived in Somerville, even though I lived on a private road, so that I could park on permit-only streets.

[starry83.livejournal.com]

No, more than 2500 new people got resident permits just before that deadline in January.
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/somerville/2010/01/in_somerville_long_lines_more.html

[ron_newman]

So did I, back when I had a car and lived on a non-permit street, but a lot of folks probably didn't bother.

I still don't have a permit

[avjudge]

I didn't have a permit, and still don't. Or visitor permits. I have a driveway large enough for my single car and 5 others, way bigger than I ever need. When I drive somewhere in Somerville it either has a parking lot (Market Basket, Assembly Square, Target) or metered parking (Davis) - and I park in metered spots rarely enough (pretty much just about half the Wednesdays in farmers' market season) that a permit wouldn't pay, or barely would and isn't worth the hassle of getting it. And within Somerville I often just walk if it's within a mile and a little, and most of Somerville is.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I've had to deal with that many times but I'm still completely against the idea. Before you support it, consider the fact that you won't be able to park *anywhere else* in the city without a meter.

[silveraeroguy.livejournal.com]

Agreed. The main idea behind permits was to not have "outsiders" coming to Somerville and parking all day, especially in light of the planned Green line extension. Now this talk of limiting us "insiders". Once this line gets built are they going to further limit us residents based on the stops?

But wait, wasn't parking in Somerville sometimes an issue even before the city wide permits*.

[mistresshellena.livejournal.com]

I simply don't think that the parking situation in Somerville warrants something this drastic and can't imagine that's going to change in the near future. Sure, there are pockets around Davis, Inman, and sometimes Union but that's IT. I've never had to park more than 1-2 blocks from my final destination anywhere else in Somerville. There are alot of driveways!

Ridiculous. Good luck fighting the fight people! (no longer resident there myself)

[redheadedmuse.livejournal.com]

evil.

[findingthegirl.livejournal.com]

I just sent a protest email to my alderman. Hopefully I'll get a response from her.

[no1onthecorner.livejournal.com]

This would make me consider switching from my doctor and dentist in Davis Square, to providers in Arlington or elsewhere; I'll contact my alderman.

[adaptively.livejournal.com]

"I know that's controversial," Roche said, "but you have to think of these residents."

These parking issues (and the absurd amount of money I and my friends have sunk into parking tickets) are exactly what made me leave Somerville as a resident and a consumer. How is it easier for residents, especially those in one of the many multi-family rentals with shared or no driveways, to make it difficult to park, travel around the city, or entertain guests again?

It's too bad, because I enjoyed visiting and spending money at the many restaurants, bars, venues and shops around Somerville, but since it's just so difficult and expensive to get there and park, I opt for other areas instead. It's not like there's anything in Somerville that can't be had somewhere else.

Betcha this Proposal Goes Nowhere

[tom-champion.livejournal.com]

I think Alderman Roche's is well-intentioned, but wrong in context of last years larger changes to the system. I remember getting an email last summer from a Davis-area resident complaining that the changes would "dilute the value" of his permit, and create a whole bunch of new permit-holders who could use their resident permits to park near T stations on permit-only streets. He may have been on to something.

Of course, the new rules didn't change eligibility for resident permits -- Somerville residents on unpermitted streets have ALWAYS been eligible for permits. But the change did mean that a lot of people who had just never bothered (as well as quite a few residents who had defied state law for years and registered their cars in some other place to save on insurance) finally got permits. It may well be that some of them are discovering the advantages of being able to park on permit streets near Davis or Sullivan.

But that's the whole point: one of the mitigating features of going to citywide permit parking was that resident permit-holders would be able to park on resident permit streets, um, citywide.

I'd be surprised if this went anywhere. Some people complained mightily last year that the Traffic Board had too little accountability and that decisions like these should be made by the aldermen. This time around, the Traffic Board may turn out to be the first line of defense against aldermen trying to carve up the city into restrictive zones to curry favor with localized constituencies.

Irony alert! Irony alert!

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

While I'm certainly not in favor of making parking rules stricter, this proposal does highlight the illogic of the current rules:

People who live in Somerville can drive for short trips across the city where walking, biking, or taking a bus would be easy, while people who live in other towns aren't allowed to drive to Somerville, where the longer distance would make the alternatives are much more difficult.

If Sullivan residents are having trouble finding parking, they should look on Myrtle Street. Before it required permits, it was maybe half-full during the day, even though it was the only unrestricted street in the neighborhood. Now with the permit rules, there's less usually than 5 cars parked on its whole length.