Disturbing comments from the City of Somerville on Boston.com

[atriplex007.livejournal.com]

Was anyone disturbed by City of Somerville spokeswoman, Jackie Rosetti's, comments about the city's parking policy on Boston.com?  I found this comment particularly disturbing: "...the ban discourages commuters from leaving their cars on city streets for several days while they turn to public transportation."

I understand the need for an enforceable parking policy that discourages residents from using city streets as their own parking lots/driveways--oh wait, don't residents already do that by throwing trash in the street to save spaces?  That any city, let alone "The Model City", discourages residents from using public transportation in any way is a crime.  In fact, it should be a crime for a city not to encourage the use of public transportation.

I think the 48-hr parking policy is unreasonable for residential streets.  Instead, I'd like to see something like a 7-day policy, whereby residents that use public transportation to commute, but still own a car, have the weekend to use, and therefore move, their car to avoid being ticketed or towed.  Am I way off base here?  I'm new to the community and have lived in a city without a car for years.  I share my current car with my partner, who also commutes via the T.  I know that it's a privilege, not a right, to park on a public, city street.  That said I don't think the current parking policy is benefiting our community.  There are healthier ways for the city to generate income.

Comments

[cos]

What's the equity in forcing people to move their cars? It doesn't change the number of cars or the number of parking spaces. If there actually aren't enough spaces in a neighborhood for all the residents to find somewhere to park, playing musical chairs more often is no solution.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

This is pretty basic queueing theory right here. If all requestors have the same priority for slices of time on a scarce resource, require them to periodically release the resource.

[cos]

Very bad analogy. If we have a queue at all (except at the margins), that in and of itself is the problem. Are people spending all day driving around Somerville waiting until there's a parking spot available so they can leave their car there for a while, while thousands of other people continue driving around waiting for the next spot?

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

I think you're misunderstanding "queue" here.