48 hour resident parking rule

[robin bobo]

Hi,

I just got slapped with a parking ticket for leaving my car in one spot for 48 hours. (I am a resident.) I guess it was obvious from the snow piled on top of it.

But this just sounds like a bad law. Why would you want to incentivize people to move their cars every 2 days? I am not blocking thing, I am in a legal parking spot, no one is hurt by me leaving my car where I park it all of the time. If they have problem with me leaving snow on my car, then the law should be, "Residents must clear snow from car within 48hours of snow storm."

rb.

Comments

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Good luck with getting it changed. It's been discussed in this, and other, forums at least as early as 2005 (at least), and it still hasn't been changed. The city's theory is that by requiring those who park on the streets to move their cars every two days, this frees up more parking spaces, and reduces the attitude that a particular parking space belongs to a specific resident.

All in all, I doubt they'll change it.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

I figured they're more likely to ticket cars after storms because the permits are obscured, too.

[jwg.livejournal.com]

Years ago I lived in Manhattan where they had alternate size parking so they could sweep every other day so you had to move your car every day.

[totient]

When the city makes a temporary no-parking zone they put up signs 48 hours in advance. The 48 hour rule makes it so that if they tow you, you don't get to complain that you didn't see the no-parking signs, because you should have gone out and moved your car in the meantime and seen them then.

Separately, the city budget depends on automotive excise tax revenue. They really don't like it when Somerville residents register their cars at a friend or family member's house in Cambridge or Boston so that they can park for free near their work (and Cambridge and Boston don't like that either, for different reasons). If your car is covered in snow the PCOs can't tell if you're playing this game and they're really motivated to keep you from doing so.

[willdasil.livejournal.com]

I believe that if you appeal you will be fine.

Good Luck!

Will

[renee campo (from livejournal.com)]

I have a resident on my street that has 7 cars ... all with resident stickers and I called about him leaving his car for weeks at a time in front of my home. No one wants to visit my home because parking is so hard on my street. I was told by Parking at 311 that they do not enforce the 48 rule during the winter! And if I do call to report car has not moved, it starts 48 hours from THAT day. It's a major issue and something needs to be done. I brought it to my alderpersons attention but it went nowhere. Fight it!

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

My understanding of this sort of rule is that they don't want people to store unused cars on the streets. It will probably remain thus as long as the excise tax (which gets you a resident permit) is cheaper than a year's garage space rental.

[greyautumnrain.livejournal.com]

It is an exceedingly dumb law, and they can't really enforce it unless it's obvious you haven't moved because there is a foot snow on your car. Nearly every weekday I leave my favorite spot in front of my house at 7:55 AM only to return and park in that very same place about 20 minutes later. I doubt the people handing out tickets can actually tell that I've moved. I suppose that during winters like this they want to avoid letting cars sit under a bank of snow for all of February, but there are probably saner ways of accomplishing that.

I guess the take home from this is next time just clear the snow off your car so they can't prove you didn't move.

[gruene.livejournal.com]

I kind of like the rule myself, though I realize I'm in the minority. If you want to put your car in long-term storage, the streets of Somerville are not a great place, since they're already fairly impacted. However, the time window should be longer, perhaps 4-5 days.