Three hour parking

[somjournal.livejournal.com]

You can now park for three hours at lots in Davis Square. Weigh in on the change on our blog.

Comments

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Sweet!

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Oh goody. Because we do so need more cars in Davis Square.
The world needs more people driving when they don't need to. Seriously.

[ron_newman]

I don't think this will bring "more cars" into the Square. It will just reduce the number of tickets people get who are already here.

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

Playing Devil's advocate, by increasing the allowed parking time, it could increase traffic in the Square. Here's my logic: longer parking time decreases parking space turnover, which effectively means fewer parking spaces available, which means more cars circling the Square looking for spaces, so, more traffic. Imagine there are 100 spaces in the Square, each with 6 hypothetical two hour "slots" (presuming meters are from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.). That's 600 parking slots. Increase max parking time to three hours, and each parking space has only 4 slots, for a total of 400 slots, a decrease of 50%. Of course, most people don't stay the full 2 or 3 hours, so the real decrease is much less, perhaps 10-20% (total guess).

On the otherhand, fewer available spaces could decrease traffic if people decide it's not worth it to drive to the Square because it is too hard to park, but I think it's more likely that traffic will increase.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

Y'know, maybe YOU don't need a car or to drive. Maybe YOU can get around just fine by bus or train or your own two feet. Maybe YOU live in a location that allows all of this. Not everyone does. Not everyone has the physical mobility to bus/train or walk everywhere.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

I live in Boston. One does not "need" a car to live in Boston (or Cambridge, or Somerville). This is the precise reason why I moved here 7 years ago. Because one does not need a car to get around in this city.

[turil.livejournal.com]

No one needs a car to live a happy and healthy life. Seriously. No one. Cars just aren't on the official list of human needs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs). Freedom of movement is. Safety is. A supportive community is. Clean food, water, and air are. But not cars. Nope, cars are just not there.

However, our society has chosen to structure people's lives and communities in ways that make it unnecessarily difficult for many people live without a car. But that isn't due to any real needs, it's due to confusion, lack of cooperation, and general inertia in government and individual thinking.

okay, but

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

What percentage of people who drive would you estimate are in fact doing so because of physical mobility limitations?

Y'think probably somewhere around 80, 90%?

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, because it's so very easy to get around to the square when the closest bus to your house goes to Wellington. After all, everyone lives in such convenience.

What we really need less of in Davis Square is pompous, arrogrant elitists who believe that because they've lived there for a year or three, they have sole ownership of a community.

[ron_newman]

do you mean the 90 bus? the other end of that goes to Davis.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

If anything, I think it'll make it harder for people to find a spot on Friday and Saturday nights.

[i-custard.livejournal.com]

but isn't it free to park after 8 on a friday or saturday night anyway? i guess if you do an early dinner it would be hard, but otherwise i'm not sure that will change...

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Very glad I live within walking distance and have very easy parking.

[ron_newman]

By the way, if your car has a Somerville resident permit sticker, that is good citywide. Park on the residential side streets for free, instead of taking up and paying for meters.

(this applies only to stickers, not to guest cards)

[stolenbanana.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what excellent parking policies we have: allow people from Union Square to park in Davis Square for free for days at a time, but impose charges and time limits on people who live outside of walking/biking/bus range and have to drive.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

It's nice to see that the city is willing to cut back on ticketing in the square, but I don't think that this will help or hinder the parking (or lack thereof) situation much.

Most people I know who do park in the square just leave the bar/restaurant or shop and go feed the meter. Worst case scenario, they suck up the tickets and feed the city coffers.

I park in the VFW parking lot. It's free to members who have the parking pass, never full on any night and easy access to everything. : )

[twe.livejournal.com]

The parking situation there is pretty pesky. I've been meaning to bring my sewing machine over for service, but the hassle of parking puts me off. I took a day off work to bring a pile of stuff over to the good will in the middle of the day, but even then it was nearly impossible to park and unload stuff.

[twe.livejournal.com]

Nifty, but are those lots ever not full?

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Actually, if I just have to stop for a bit towards the Teele end of the square, I haven't had any issues finding parking in that lot (next to the T) after 4 in the afternoon in...years. It's usually a third to half empty by then. Can't speak for after 6 though.

[dani-namaste.livejournal.com]

I don't actually have too many problems with most of the lots. The one behind Au Bon Pain, for example, usually has room - and you can usually find something on Highland going towards the square or Elm going away.

Parking directly on Elm is a challenge - but I've never had much of a problem walking the block or two.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

No offense intended, but does the Somerville Journal have any editorial standards as far as the proper use of English grammar? The article you linked to uses the word "effect" where it should be "affect." I know that correcting grammar on the internet is kind of a cliche, but this is a newspaper, for pete's sake.

[watchamacallit.livejournal.com]

This change does not effect street meters, which stop charging for parking at 6 p.m. Metered spots are free after 8 p.m.

Holy crap is that a confusing sentence.

So the lots require coins until 8pm and you can park for 3 hours but meters are free after 6pm and you can only park for 2 hrs? I wish the city would just stop changing the rules already.

[turil.livejournal.com]

I'd be happy to be a copy editor or proofreader for the paper, for a small fee...

I'd also have caught the confusing paragraph that surrounds the effect/affect gaffe: "This change does not effect street meters, which stop charging for parking at 6 p.m. Metered spots are free after 8 p.m." I'm guessing that they mean that the metered spots on the streets are free after 6, while the metered spots in the parking lots aren't free until 8, but that's not clear.

[ron_newman]

to make everything 100% clear:

In metered lots, meters run until 8 pm. You can park for up to 3 hours, if you have enough quarters.

On the street, meters run until 6 pm and take only 2 hours worth of quarters.

The parking lot meters have stickers that explain the hours and limit, but I don't think the street meters have any stickers at all.

[ron_newman]

I'm amused that everyone (including me) ignored the second sentence of the original post. Instead, we all commented here on LiveJournal.