Visitor Parking

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I know there's some simple process for getting a visitor parking tag, but my memory of it is lost in the echoing corridors of time. Now I have a reason to need one, since my boyfriend has collected all the parking tickets he'd wanted.

I seem to recall the process involving $1 and a visit to an office somewhere in Davis...

(I'll put this thread in community memories so we all know where it is.)

Comments

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

The Somerville Parking Office is on Holland St. just outside of Davis Sq. I'd suggest calling them up and/or dropping by there.

[marphod.livejournal.com]

You need proof of residence (lease/deed will do, but there are other options).

[frickster.livejournal.com]

When I got a pass, it was only $1 but I needed to show proof of residence other than a lease/deed, because they claim people can fake those too easily -- they accepted a utility bill or bank statement with my name & address.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

As the folks said, go to the parking office and bring a utility bill addressed to your place. (It doesn't even have to be in your name.)

Be warned, however: there are limits to their use per car. I think it's three days in a row and two weeks per year. So if you use them both, that's four weeks worth a year. They *will* track that sort of thing and ticket for overuse.

[ron_newman]

I didn't think there was any limit to the number of weeks.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

There was on the last ones I got, but they may have changed it for this year. I found this (http://www.ci.somerville.ma.us/section.cfm?org=traffic&page=138) which seems to indicate the specs have indeed changed, as it's now two days a week, whereas it used to be three consecutive days.

Anyone got one and can post the fine print?

Anyway, the point (I believe) is to prevent residents from using a visitor pass instead registering their car in Somerville.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

(If they've eliminated the annual max, that's quite a score! They definitely used to ticket for that and it was a friggin pain.)

[lindalee.livejournal.com]

I also recently learned that if you get your utility bills online (which all of mine are these days), they'll happily take a printout.

[beowabbit]

I also recently learned that if you get your utility bills online (which all of mine are these days), they'll happily take a printout.

Good thing they don’t take a lease signed by your landlord, and with your and your landlord’s address on it! That would be easy to fake. HTML that looks something like how some random browser chooses to print an online utility bill is much more secure!

[lindalee.livejournal.com]

Well, my gas bill looks a lot like a paper gas bill that's been scanned in, and we all know that it's extremely hard to modify gifs, jpegs, and bitmaps.

[ron_newman]

City of Somerville - Traffic and Parking

Traffic and Parking office is at 133 Holland Street, about five blocks west of Davis Square, on the north side of the street. Between the ballfield and the Tufts Administration Building.

[ron_newman]

You can buy two visitor passes. They cost $1 each.

[ravenword.livejournal.com]

City of Somerville website says... http://www.ci.somerville.ma.us/CoS_Content/documents/ParkingPoliciesWeb.pdf

Visitor cards require proof of residency and $1 to obtain. You can get two per household. The pass can only be used two days per week (not necessarily consecutive days!) and they do indeed keep track of this, at least sometimes.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

It also says visitor permits are for households on permit-only streets. Does that mean people who live on metered or no-parking streets, with all surrounding streets permit-only, are out of luck?

[rmd.livejournal.com]

i do believe it does.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Thanks everybody! I'll be going down to the office with my $1 and utility bills later this week. :-)

[ron_newman]

$2. You are allowed to buy two of them, so you may as well do so.