SPARC appreciates that the Mayor's Parking Solutions Task Force has been addressing some of the concerns we've identified with the parking regulation changes. We are also pleased that they have advertised the parking changes through a brochure mailed citywide, CTY connect calls, and ultimately flyers and warnings.
The following are our outstanding concerns that we have brought to the attention of the Task Force as a new member, or plan on bringing to their attention. If you would like to notify SPARC and Somerville Local First about your concerns, please email us at somervilleparc@gmail.com or fill out our survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=TpnWRv3QVDY_2bOD2n3c9FTw_3d_3d
Concerns about the Parking Regulation Changes and Proposed Solutions
Twenty Major Streets 2HR parking from 8am-2:30am and resident only from 2:30am-8am is an improvement but there are still some problems
Concerns: Businesses with early morning hours, such as restaurants that serve breakfast, and fitness centers will still be impacted by not having places for non-Somerville residents to park before 8am. Evening businesses such as bars and restaurants will also be impacted as their patrons will need to leave or move their cars after 2HRs. There are also additional streets that we feel should be on the list, including Beacon Street and Temple Street, as well as streets with community parks on them, such as Vinal Ave.
SPARC Proposed Solutions: Make these streets open parking from 6pm-2:30am. Also, any agreements made between the City and a resident, business, artist, religious congregation or property owner to not enforce a portion of the parking regulations in a certain area, or at a given point in time will be documented through a written application signed and stamped by the City once approved. A copy of the approved application will be sent to the Parking Control Officers, hearing officers and the applicant. If a ticket is mistakenly given for a violation that was promised to not be enforced, the ticket will be waived through the ticket appeal process. The entity provided the exception can provide a copy of the approved application as back-up evidence when appealing their ticket.
Residents' Quality of Life Impacted
Concerns: Quality of life of residents will be affected by making all streets permit parking. Spontaneous gatherings will be made much more difficult.
SPARC Proposed Solutions: Make all non-permit parking streets permit parking from 2:30am-7am. We also request the $1/car party passes be available online.
Maintain a Thriving Artist Community
Concerns: Somerville's artists are an integral part of the character of our City. Artists who rent studio space in Somerville but don't live here, as well as their customers, will not have a place to park for more than 2 hours at at time on main thoroughfares. The $150 business permit fee is cost prohibitive for many, and business permit time frames of 8am-6pm or 6pm-3am do not conform the to various hours an artist may work in their studio.
SPARC Proposed Solution: Create an artist parking permits valid 24 hours within a certain radius of the studio. Designate 2HR parking in front of artist studios the same as main thoroughfares.
Allow for the Same Privilege of Unregulated Parking to Religious Communities with Services on Days other than Sunday, as to those with Sunday Services
Concerns: Some faith communities hold services on days other than Sunday and do not benefit from the Sunday exemption to parking regulations.
SPARC Proposed Solution: More conversation with the religious communities need to be had to come up with a viable solution. One possibility could be to create a special religious service parking pass that can be issued to all members of the congregation. Congregations would also be be issued ample guest passes. Streets in front of religious buildings should accept those passes. Any tickets issued to someone going in to get a guest pass would be automatically waived.
Industrial Neighborhoods Don't Fit the Mold
Concerns: Neighborhoods such as Boyton Yards, the Inner Belt and Brickbottom are primarily business districts and upholding them to resident-based parking policies does no make sense here and can greatly hurt businesses.
SPARC Proposed Solution: More conversation with the businesses in these neighborhoods need to be had to come up with a viable solution. Some restriction at night may be acceptable, though parking should be allowed to begin earlier int he morning than elsewhere in the city.
Contractors Working to Repair or Renovate an Absentee Landlord's Property Will Not be able to Easily park
Concerns: Cost to do work in Somerville will increase if contractors have to get a temporary permit or risk the high probability of getting a ticket every time they work here. Contractors are reluctant to take the time to go to Traffic and Parking to get the permit. These costs will be passed on to owners and residents.
SPARC Proposed Solution: Allow absentee landlords to purchase two guest passes. Also, create a one-day and 7 day contractors permit in addition to the existing 30-day permit. Allow owners to apply for contractor temporary permit on behalf of the contractor. All contractor permits should available for purchase and download online, with adequate documentation provided. List on the landlord pass all properties owned by a landlord, not just one. Currently, tickets are waived if received in front a landlord's property that is not listed on the pass, but that is an unnecessary hassle that can be easily fixed.
Landlords Showing Units to Potential Renters Will Not Have a Place for them to Park
Concerns: Somerville will instantly become unappealing if on first encounter, as potential renter is hit with a ticket.
SPARC Proposed Solution: Allow absentee landlords to buy guest passes to provide to prospective renters.
Business Permit Hours are Not Reflective of Schedules and Cost Prohibitive for Some
Concerns: The 8am-6pm time frame of the Business Permits does not reflect all day time workers schedules. The business permit prices will be a burden on many nonprofit organizations. A business with employees who work staggered hours now has to buy permits for each employee, as the passes are associated with a car, not a business. Business owners and managers may have irregular hours that spans more than 10 hours.
SPARC Proposed Solution: Make it stated policy that there is flexibility in the time frame of the Business Permits (Done! The City has adopted the policy of allowing people to request any 10 hour period.). Create a nonprofit business permit available at a reduced rate. Associate business permits with businesses, not cars. Create a business managers pass that would allow them to park within a 16 hour window.
Short Term Renters and Students Should Have a Way to Legally Park on City Streets
Conerns: Short term renters and students need to park on City streets but are only here temporarily and may not be able to register their cars in Massachusetts.
SPARC Proposed Solution: Create a temporary 6-10 month parking pass to be used by short term renters and students. These passes could be set at higher than normal price to account for the fact that they will not be paying excise taxes because their cars are not registered here.
Concerns about Existing Parking Regulation
Somerville residents who own commercial vehicles for their businesses with their company name on it are not eligible to purchase resident permit parking passes for those vehicles.
Concerns: Somerville should be supporting its entrepreneurs and allowing them to keep company vehicles as their primary vehicle. They should not be penalized for advertising their business on their vehicles.
SPARC Proposed Solution: If a Somerville resident either a) owns a business based in Somerville and has a commercial vehicle, with or without markings or b) has a commercial vehicle, with or without markings, for a non-Somerville based business but the vehicle is registered in Somerville under the resident’s name, then that resident will be allowed one resident permit sticker for that commercial vehicle. Each resident may obtain a "commercial vehicle resident parking permit" for a maximum of one vehicle. All residents who receive a "commercial vehicle resident parking permit" would be allowed to park overnight and they would not be subject to commercial vehicle overnight parking violations. All residents with commercial vehicles that are eligible for residential parking permits would not be required to bring the vehicle in for inspection to get the resident permit commercial vehicle overnight exemption, as is currently the case in order for people with commercial vehicles without markings.
48 Hour Rule for Moving a Car on a Permit Street
Concerns: Many residents use public transportation to get to work and only use their cars on the weekends. The requirement for residents on permit only streets to move their cars every 48 hours incentivizes driving and creates an unnecessary amount of additional pollution and cars on the road and pollution when people have to drive around the block to move their car. Additionally, during business trips or vacations, residents have to rely on neighbors to move their cars for them every 48 hours, and street sweeping days.
SPARC Proposed Solutions: Change the time frame for moving a car to 7 days. Designate some City owned off-street lots or create an inventory of spaces in businesses or private homes for which residents can buy a Vacation Pass to park their car off street during vacations or business trips.
The Low Cost of Reserving a Meter for the Day Takes Away Spaces from Customers of Other Businesses
Concerns: The cost is too cheap to reserve a meter for the day an incentivizes people to buy more spots than they may actually need. This takes away valuable spots for other businesses.
SPARC Proposed Solution: Increase the meter bagging fee that would incentivize people to reserve a minimum amount of spaces
Fire Lanes being enforced at 20ft rule when state allows for 10 ft clearance
Concerns: In some neighborhoods parking is scarce. Fire lanes only need to have 10 feet of clearance on either side. Enforcing it to 20 feet takes away spaces.
SPARC Proposed Solution: Enforce fire lanes to State code of 10 feet and clearly state that that is the policy to eliminate any confusion.
Concerns about Aggressive Nature of Ticketing in Somerville
- Instruct Parking Control Officers (PCOs) to ticket systematically rather than opportunistically, rushing ahead to tag vehicles that may pull up to the curb in view of PCOs working their way down a block. This would enable drivers to grab a permit or correct change before being given an immediate violation. [
- 10-minute Grace Period for Expired Kiosk Tickets: Once kiosks become operational in Somerville, consider adopting the City of Boston’s policy of not issuing a violation until at least ten minutes after the expiration time on the tickets printed by the kiosk and displayed on the dashboard of properly parked vehicles. [ This recommendation will be adopted only if the technology used in City kiosks allows PCOs to tell at a glance how much time has elapsed since a space has expired.]
Concerns about Implementation
- Citywide resident parking may be put into place before the issues outlined above are addressed. This can have significant impact on the economic vitality of businesses and artists not located on the primary thoroughfares, as well as on the ability of congregants to attend religious services.
Concerns about the Process
- This issue is too big to be determined by a non-representative body without community input.
- Traffic Commission did not respond courteously to the public comments that were made at the hearing.
- Lack of community process is incongruous with the City's focus on transparency and constituent services, as evidenced by the ResiStat program, 311, Vision Planning and the All America City award.
Implementation and Process Related Requests to the City
In light of all of these concerns, SPARC makes the following requests to the City:
- Postpone implementation of citywide resident only parking until the plan is fine tuned to address the outstanding concerns, and changes are widely communicated to the public.
- Open up this issue to community input on a citywide and neighborhood level.
- Modify Traffic Commission Process to require additional publicity, notification to Board of Alderman, and open public hearings for any parking decision that will impact more than 30% of City streets.
- Designate a parking liaison with the authority to promptly address issues that businesses, artists and individuals encounter as result of the changes.
- Follow through on Central Business District parking management technology and pricing improvements that the Parking Solutions Task Force has been investigating.
- Appoint a member of SPARC to the Mayor’s Parking Solutions Task Force to provide more community level representation. (We appreciate that the City has responded to this request)
