Party and Parking advice

[kalimba21.livejournal.com]

Hi All -

Not a rant, just looking for advice.

We live on a dead end street that is difficult to drive into because it is very narrow and difficult to turn around.
Our neighborhood used to be open parking, and there is plenty, but of course, this year it is different.

I talked to parking about purchasing 50 guest passes to accommodate my summer party. Essentially, registering my party. However, when I asked if a car owner could put their hazard lights on along with a sign on the dash saying that they were picking up a guest pass, I was told that this would not prevent a $50 ticket.

It takes about 3-4 minutes to walk from most of the neighborhood to the end of my dead end street, round trip.

Do you think, knowing that I will be having that many visitors, the city will be extra vigilant in patrolling my neighborhood that night? Has anyone experienced this?

Do you think it would be prudent for me to hire someone for the night to stand on a busy corner near my house to distribute the permits? Or perhaps I could tack them in an envelope onto a phone post near my house on the next street? Only I'm afraid the parking people, or someone else, may remove them?

Does anyone else have a practical idea around this issue? The traffic dept. suggested that I mail them to all my guests, but I feel that this is not practical as many people don't decide until the last minute if they are coming and it seems like a big hurdle on my end, especially since my invites go out the same week as the party.

I'd hate to cancel my annual party, but, covering everyone's tickets, which seems the right thing to do, could cost me several thousand dollars if parking enforcement is especially vigilant.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Comments

[valadil.livejournal.com]

Would you consider mailing parking passes to car owners who RSVP?

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

I have no real advice. I just want to note the blazingly obvious that this is precisely *why* they did this with the parking situation, because they knew it would trap people into paying wacky amounts of money.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

THIS!

Wasn't there an explanation or suggestion of how someone could deal with a party situation in one of the threads about this all streets all permit fiasco?

Sorry, just reread the relevant post and city pages, and that seems to be what the OP did.

[knowthyself.livejournal.com]

It seems rather rude of your guests to expect you to pay their parking tickets, for one thing.

I'm not sure what advice to offer, really. It seems like a 3-4 minute trip *shouldn't* result in a ticket, but of course, you never know. You could tell them to drive by your house first to get the pass before parking, and encourage carpooling so you need fewer passes, and people can be in the car idling while another gets the pass they need.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

This. If I was invited to a party and chose to drive to it, I'd pretty much expect to have to pay any parking ticket I'd incurred. Considering there are other options besides driving when going to any party, parking tickets shouldn't be the responsibility of the person hosting the party.

That being said, do you have a driveway people could pull into while picking up the passes? Or does a neighbour have one they'd let your guests use just to pick up the passes?

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

agreed with you guys.

let's face it, MOST parties don't have special passes for their guests to park with, and people just make do. whether it means walking, taking a cab, carpooling, etc or even sucking up the possibility of getting a ticket for one night. also, many people do not come to parties alone, so whoever isn't driving can run up to get the pass while the driver waits with hazards on or makes a loop. (i realize the OP said this wasn't the easiest thing, but if it's that or a $50 ticket with a cop standing right there, i know which i'd choose ;))

[dial-zero.livejournal.com]

I don't think the OP said their guests would EXPECT the host to pay the tickets... but that the OP, as the host, would feel bad inviting unsuspecting people over to The Land Of Parking Tickets.

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

The city is vigilant, but they're not THAT vigilant. The odds of getting a ticket while running in to grab a visitor's pass are pretty low (assuming that you don't spot someone walking down the street writing tickets when you pull into the parking space, in which case the odds are high).

If you're really concerned, have guests call the house when they arrive and have someone come meet them with a permit. You can also suggest that guests carpool so that someone can wait with the car while someone else runs to get a permit.

[veek.livejournal.com]

you're really concerned, have guests call the house when they arrive and have someone come meet them with a permit. You can also suggest that guests carpool so that someone can wait with the car while someone else runs to get a permit.

These are the only foolproof options I know.

[swashbucklr]

My recommendation would be similar. Have people stop by the house first and pick up the parking pass, and then go find a space. This would be best done with someone at the party whose job it was to meet new guests with the parking passes.

[elements.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they are that vigilant. My parents have gotten tickets twice while visiting me doing just that (parking less than a block away, running in to get a permit). That was a few years ago; now my folks do the sending one person out for the permit thing.

E-passes?

[dibalh.livejournal.com]

Any chance the city is OK with you scanning the permits and leaving them online for guests to print out?

Hell, practically speaking, if the city knows you were having a party and the date and the time, they should be able to keep track of the permits they gave you and let each guest handwrite a note that says "I am permit 12345-67Z." and leave it in the windshield.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I agree that the actual odds of getting a ticket in that window are pretty slim. But more directly, how many people are arriving in cars solo? Seems like that should rarely happen, so one person can wait while the other gets a pass.

Also, put a guest/volunteer on pass duty and let people know that if they arrive alone by car they can call that number and a pass will be brought out to them. Or they could just make the annoying u-turn.

(Fifty cars? Assuming that most people don't come alone and more people won't drive than will, that's one BIG party. Invite me! :)

[ringrose.livejournal.com]

The odds of getting a ticket in the 3-minute window when you go get the pass are small, but we have at least one example of it happening posted to DSLJ.

I like the idea of print-your-own parking pass if the city lets it happen. Beyond that... do you have a coatrack? Put it outside on the curb, with a sign, and hook a dozen passes to it. People can pretty easily grab one that way. When there are one or two passes left, refill it.

Hopefully having a sign on it with instructions will keep someone not going to your party from snatching all of them, and even if they do it's only some of the supply.

[agreeleyo.livejournal.com]

I would suggest having your party on a Sunday when the parking restrictions are not in effect. In Cambridge you can request "parking consideration" for parties, essentially suspending permit enforcement for the hours of the party. Is that a possibility? Otherwise, send the invitation a week earlier so that you can send parking pass and encourage people to rsvp in order to avoid a ticket...

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

i don't know whether this is during the day or night, but most people i know won't go to a party if they have work the next day ;)

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

I have gotten a ticket on a Saturday night at around 10pm in Somerville on Kidder Ave when I had gone inside to get a visitor's permit; the person could not bring it out to me seeing as I was going over there to walk her dog in her absence (and the car I was driving was not my own and was not registered in Somerville at the time). I told the person who gave me the ticket that I had just gone in to get the visitor's pass. She told me to appeal it. Because that doesn't take any extra time or focus or cause more stress, no no. Btw? That's sarcasm folks.

I was not aware you now had to *PURCHASE* parking passes in order to have a party. I do believe this is discrimination against folks with less money than others; now I am not allowed to have a party in my home without having to pay the city of Somerville a sum for the privilege, or I have to ask my guests to pay for the privilege of coming to it.

I know that there needs to be *some* parking regulation. The degree of unfriendliness that Somerville now exhibits in this area is truly appalling. The appointed folks who put this into effect with no accountability whatsoever probably do not have to worry about trivial little things like adding to the cost of having a gathering; little doubt there are many aspects of reality they do not have to deal with and see no problem in making the rest of us deal. To call this frustrating really doesn't begin to cover it.

I understand about thinking you would need to cover someone else's ticket; I mean, if people get a ticket in the 3 minute gap, maybe they won't feel welcome coming back? I wouldn't; I can't really afford tickets at this time.

It is difficult to not wish the parking office would just disappear. At this point, I think they are doing more harm than good.

In regards to filing the appeals

[unferth.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall that the traffic officers have some restrictions placed on them in terms of what they're allow to do once they've written the ticket. I'm a long way from certain of this, but I think they're not supposed to toss them out once complete.

One possible explanation for that policy, assuming I have it right at all, is that it makes it less productive for angry ticket recipients to threaten the officers. Another would be that it makes it less likely for people to offer bribes. Or for corrupt traffic officers to solicit bribes.

I agree with some of the frustration regarding the traffic policies - although the actual traffic and parking employees I've dealt with at the Holland Street office have invariably been pleasant and helpful.

Purchasing parking permits strikes me as reasonable, as long as the prices are not exorbitant. There's a limited amount of parking available in the city, after all, and a reasonable fee will encourage people not to use more of it than they genuinely need. After all, one person's desire to have a party and invite nonresident guests directly interferes with that person's neighbors' desire to park their cars close to their houses. Which is not to say you shouldn't be able to do it at all, but if it costs nothing then some streets will never have open parking for residents.

Emphasis on "reasonable" in "reasonable fee", of course. The traffic and parking policies do seem to be drifting away from the desirable goal of encouraging some turnover in the most congested parts of the city and into raw revenue generation. At which point I'd rather they just raise the excise tax on cars and give us all a predictable share of the city's costs based on our cars.

Re: In regards to filing the appeals

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

I was only mentioning the issue with getting a ticket while in the process of obtaining the visitor's pass because there are folks who doubted this happens or is particularly likely. I expect the more folks who are coming, the greater the chance a ticket could happen in process.

I appreciate your point of view with regard to having to pay for visitor's permits, though I am going to venture a guess that you do not have the financial complications that I do. For people who have more money than I do, it might seem reasonable to pay a fee to the city in order to have a gathering. In my situation and in the situation of most anyone else who struggles financially, the idea of having to pay the city to have people over is still appalling.

Re: In regards to filing the appeals

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

"a reasonable fee will encourage people not to use more of it than they genuinely need"

The current system for parties, where you have to buy passes at the parking office ahead of time during business hours, encourages people to buy more permits than they'd need, and then give them to their friends for free.

If there were pay-and-display machines on every block, and drivers could pay for a pass that would allow them to park in residential spaces for a few hours, that would be a legitimate market-based way to allocate spaces.

Re: In regards to filing the appeals

[unferth.livejournal.com]

True, but a permit that's paid for but not used doesn't hurt anyone other than the person who overpaid for it. And at $1/permit, it's not exactly an exorbitant amount.

I'm not advocating a Somerville parking spaces futures market or anything, just noting that having a small fee for permits serves a useful purpose other than maximizing revenue.

Going permit-only throughout the whole city, as opposed to just the areas where parking is tightest, not so much.

[mjrocks98.livejournal.com]

Are we all invited????

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

Wow, you are a nicer friend than I am. Typically, when I am hosting a party, I just let folks know that the streets are resident-only, and encourage them to either take the T or bus, or find a parking lot. But really, as far as I'm concerned, parking isn't my problem.

However, as you've gone the good-friend route, I'll echo that a) your friends will probably be, more often that not, OK for the few minutes they run inside, b) also have the option of leaving a friend in the car while they go in to retrieve the pass, or c) could potentially call you to come outside to their cars with a pass. Either way, good luck and enjoy your party!

One less noisy party in Somerville...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Won't be the end of the world... :)

Re: One less noisy party in Somerville...

[squirrelitude]

Now now, you don't know that it would be a noisy party. I often go to parties around here that don't have any music playing at all! (*gasp*)

[kalimba21.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your thoughtful responses.

I hadn't thought of the cell phone option, thanks for that, it's useful advice - I'll just have to carry around a phone all day.

I don't mind paying $1 per pass, and I know it's not that common to get a $50 ticket while retrieving said pass, it's just that I was thinking that once I've effectively registered my party with date and time frame, the traffic department will monitor my neighborhood more closely - a good ticketing opportunity that they wouldn't want to miss.

Many of my guests are families with young children and to use transit would require multiple transit changes - some do this but for many it's a burden, especially those who live out by rt 128.

This is something that I've done once or twice a summer since the mid 1990's, never with a complaint, so I would hate to give it up due to these new rules. It's weather related so I can't send the invite weeks in advance. And our tiny dead end street cannot be driven up by guests. Yet it has historically shown off our fair city in a positive light. I'd like that to continue.

Thanks again.

[upsidown.livejournal.com]

I would try for a Sunday party if possible. Or maybe there's a school or church close by that would let you "rent" their parking lot for an evening?

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

I can't be much help with the rest of it, but as far as partygoers with kids taking the T -- they do know that kids under 12 are free on all MBTA services (bus, subway, and commuter rail) don't they? If not, you might want to clue them in. :)

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

I missed the detail that no-permit tickets went from $40 to $50. That's rather ridiculous for a non-safety violation.

I think Cambridge no-permit tickets are $30.

[trtls.livejournal.com]

Um, I don't know exactly where you live or where your guests are coming from, but would it be possible for at *some* people to take public transportation?

[kalimba21.livejournal.com]

As I mentioned before, some people do take the t, but we live smack between the red, orange and green lines, and almost 2 miles from each of them, so it is not terribly convenient, especially for families who may be bringing stuff. Sadly, the buses are terribly unreliable around here, in my opinion. There is plenty of parking in my neighborhood so that's not the issue. I was just looking for tips on getting the permits to the cars.
Thanks for your inquiry though.