Davis Square Parking assistance, please!- thanks!

[marie-fnp.livejournal.com]

Hello all!

I have been hours & hours online & joined this community after reading many, many other posts about parking & tickets & street sweeping & snow emergencies... Hopefully someone out there can help me.

I am a nurse practitioner and I just got offered a new job in Davis Square (at the family practice) (yeah!) but I may not be able to take it because I am having a very tough time finding parking (I know, I know, "take the T!"- but I have 2 very small kids to get to/from daycare and I am in Melrose, and there is no easy/quick way to make the T work after factoring in a regular work day plus commute time and the time constraints of the daycare- but I digress.)

I am looking for somewhere close to the square to put my car on Mondays and Tuesdays, from about 7:45 am to about 5 pm.

I know parking is scarce in these parts but I am hoping to find someone who has (or knows someone who might have) a space that they vacate during the work day, or any business that might rent a spot for a reasonable fee.

Failing that, does anyone know the latest time I could arrive at Alewife and still (reliably) get a spot there?

I do appreciate any assistance anyone can give me, including suggestions as to where else I might post this request.

Thank you so much!

Comments

[dani-namaste.livejournal.com]

hi there,

I live on Albion Street right now (it's about a 10 minute walk from Davis) and most spots on my street are no permit required and no quarters required. As long as you pay attention to the street cleaning signs, you're fine. I think that Hudson (the next street over) is similar.

And I work from home, so I can tell you that for the most part there's always parking on my street during the day. I'm at Central and Albion, but you should be able to find a spot all the way down to Albion and Willow with no problem during the day, and it's a 10-minute walk down the bike path to Davis. Good luck!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

You must walk *really* fast. :)

[dani-namaste.livejournal.com]

well, yeah, I do - from Willow Street it's only about 10-15 minutes; some days it'll be 20-25 from my house.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Right, but Albion ends at Cedar, not Willow (Ave). If folks can walk from the family practice to Albion in "no more than 10 minutes" (as someone below said), more power to them, but that's not a reasonable walking speed to expect someone else to maintain.

Sorry, that sort of thing is a pet peeve of mine.

[denonymous.livejournal.com]

FWIW, Hudson turned permit-only at some point in the last year or so. It's what prompted us to finally get a permit only recently.

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

I saw a sign saying "garages for rent" just up the hill from "Big fish little fish" ... near the intersection with Elm St. Can't remember the name of that street for some reason.

Also there's always the public lot next to the health center, although I don't know the specifics on how long one can park there. You might also ask at work about other people's commute routines....

[everose.livejournal.com]

I think that sign is on Mossland Street near the corner of Elm.

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

Just as a heads up.....Albion does not go all the way to Willow. If you cross Cedar at the end of Albion, at a bit of an angle, you'll be on Lexington Ave. Lexington Ave. is permit parking. The closer you get to Davis Sq, Porter Sq, anyplace in the city where parking is at a premium and the T is there attracting parkers who take the T, the more prevalant permit parking is. Drive around, though, there are still a few small side streets without it. However, if residents begin to find a hard time finding a spot and notice people leaving their car on the street all day every day, they often begin the process to request permit parking on their street. Just a heads up. I'm sure you can find someone with a garage or driveway which sits empty during the day. Good luck!

[dani-namaste.livejournal.com]

You know you're right - it goes to Cedar, not Willow. It's still two solid long blocks that usually have plenty of parking during working hours, and it's not that insane of a walk.

[miraclaire.livejournal.com]

And the end near Cedar is certainly not more than a 10 minute walk to Davis.

[dani-namaste.livejournal.com]

see?

[enhf94.livejournal.com]

When I was a student, I rented a parking space by Teele Square. Stop by the small apartment realty companies (I used the one near Teele Square - I think called "colony") and ask if they have any listings for parking spots.

Davis Family Practice is a great place to work! Or at least, they work really well with our healthcare practice.

[dphilli1.livejournal.com]

Endicott St in Teele Sq in non-permit and almost always has spaces down by the substation. Its about 10-15min walk from Davis.

[cold-cold-water.livejournal.com]

i'm moving out of the square and i would be happy to give you my visitor permit. it expires at the end of march 2008. you can park no more than 2 days a week in a row so i think this would work well for you. i live on orchard street between day and chester and i believe you have to use it on either orchard, day, or chester (the adjacent streets) but those are all pretty close to the family practice, closer than a lot of the other options mentioned here. let me know if you're interested and i can pop it in the mail for you.

[elements.livejournal.com]

I think technically you are supposed to leave the visitor permit for the next person who will occupy your house after you leave. The permits are issued to households, not individuals, and sometimes people have a hard time getting new visitor permits when the old one hasn't expired yet. I lived in a house where a visitor had accidentally left with and then lost one of our permits, and we were unable to get a replacement until the old one expired. It's possible it might have been different if we could have proven a new lease, but we did try having a different individual go without success. Luckily it happened near the end of our permit year, so we didn't try pulling out all the stops and just gave up and waited. This was some time ago, your mileage may vary.

So it might be better for you to leave the permit for whoever takes your apartment and not potentially subject them to that hassle.

[marphod.livejournal.com]

Most of Medford is no-permit required.

You could park somewhere on the 94/96 route (in Medford) and take the bus into Davis.

[herbert42.livejournal.com]

how about considering a slightly more distant spot and keeping a cheap commuter bike chained somewhere nearby, or on the back of your car?

that said, what about the vanguard building parking lot near the Davis T and Somerville theater? no idea whether you can get spots there, i just see cars coming and going.

thank you thank you thank you

[marie-fnp.livejournal.com]

First of all - WOW! What a fabulous and genuinely helpful outpouring of information and suggestions regarding my parking dilemma- in less than 12hours!!!

While I will continue to look for a permanent/semi permanent long term solution, I now know that I can take the job at the family practice & I will actually be able to *get there.

I am really excited about working in the square and becoming a part of the community. Thank you so much to everyone who responded. I hope that someday soon I will be able to return the favor in some way. Perhaps I will see some of you at the practice :) and be able to help *you have a better day.

namaste,

Marie

Re: thank you thank you thank you

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

While I can't recall offhand which streets close to Davis are non-permit (I know some of the ones that were are no longer so I don't want to send you down the wrong path), I do recommend, driving around around to find the secret non-permit streets. Willow used to be, I know, but may have changed. Several of the streets in Teele are safe as well, including Endicott and Farragut.

Good luck!

[obie119.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the Square, and to the Family Practice. Both are really special places.

[marie-fnp.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I am already getting that feeling. It is exactly the kind of practice, and the kind of place, that I have wanted to be for many years.

[darthcr1.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine works in Davis and has a business-hours parking permit.

I'd say try the parking office to see if you can get one of these, or if the Practice has to get one for you.

http://www.ci.somerville.ma.us/Department.cfm?dept=TRAFFIC (http://www.ci.somerville.ma.us/Department.cfm?dept=TRAFFIC)

[modstgodds.livejournal.com]

The Harvard Vanguard lot (AKA Buena Vista Lot) has a number of spaces that are marked for business permit. Otherwise, your time limit there is 3 hours.

Be careful with visitor permits (re: cold_cold_water post). You have to park within the block of the address to use them and the parking enforcement folk like to watch those closely (at least they watched me closely when I was using one). I got a couple of tickets most of which were not valid and I contested them and won but you don't really want to have to go through that...I assume.

Welcome to Davis! (I used to live in Melrose.)

[rainbow-spork.livejournal.com]

By the way, you will never have trouble finding a parking spot at Alewife at 7:45am. It's doesn't start to get iffy until about 9:15am. You will, however, spend about 4 million years trying to get *out* of Alewife at 5:30pm.

[ahsu78.livejournal.com]

I know someone who worked in the Davis Square area during tax season (Jan-Apr) and rented a parking space during business hours from a church in the area. I don't know the name of the church offhand, but it's the big one on Mass Ave that's across the street from the intersection of Dover St and Mass Ave.

[ahsu78.livejournal.com]

the church is
St. John the Evangelist
2254 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02140
(617) 547-4880