13 Comments

1. 

   Meredith on January 8, 2018 at 1:41 pm

   No one should get a ticket for not putting money in a meter they can’t reach.

2. 

   Marti Bowen on January 8, 2018 at 5:16 pm

   I’m not sure snow boots would help much now that the snow is hard. Maybe ice climbing boots with cleats.

3. 

   Bob Burke on January 8, 2018 at 7:45 pm

   Note to the new City Council: Two years ago, I had to help a woman to her feet after she tripped and went down hard on a snowbank trying to feed a meter in the Newton Corner parking lot off of Pearl Street. The City should suspend all metering in this City until every last bit of snow and ice has been removed from around the meters and the areas properly treated. Nobody should have to wade through huge snow banks and icy pathways just so the City can drop a few quarters into the City’s coffers. I can’t believe that the City continues to make meter maids ticket cars when these conditions exist and I really can’t believe this clueless oversight hasn’t been addressed in the past.

4. 

   Claire on January 8, 2018 at 8:02 pm

   Actually all you need is the is the app. I parked at a meter at Langley and Beacon on Friday and paid on the app. I wasn’t sure if I would be ticketed for not braving the snow embankment, but found it pretty easy to feed the meter and after all someone has to pay for all the snow removal :-)

5. 

   Jo-Louise Allen on January 8, 2018 at 8:38 pm

   I am with Bob Burke on this one all the way. Sorry Claire, but there are many of us, myself included who don’t have the app. Not everyone has a smartphone with the app. Also, I would be happy to be corrected on V14, but I don’t think the meter collections have any direct relationship to snow removal. I believe that meter money goes to the police department. I believe that snow plows, salting and sanding, come out of the city’s operations budget. Some years, when we have few storms, there is a surplus. Other years, when we have multiple serious storms, the funds are depleted, and the Mayor has to ask the City Council to appropriate additional funding for snow treatment and removal. Until the City implements a system like Brookline and Waltham, where you input your space into a central parking kiosk, and you can pay in cash or credit card, I think it’s very difficult to expect those of us who don’t “app” to climb over ice and snow to feed the meter.

6. 

   Alicia Bowman on January 8, 2018 at 9:03 pm

   I think it has been standard practice to not ticket right after a snow storm. I think this is even in the contract for the Parking Enforcement people. As for digging around each meter, that will be a while. I would start with getting people to clear their sidewalks and remove those horrible snow mounds next to their driveway. One by me is over my head (meaning more than 5 1/2 feet tall). When will that melt?

7. 

   Claire on January 8, 2018 at 9:05 pm

   J0-Louise Allen, I totally get it!! And I don’t know if there is a direct relationship with paying the meter and snow removal. But I do tend to be a rule follower so if I have the app and I can pay, I feel as if I should. But if I don’t have the app and can’t get the funds in the meter, then we should help each other out

8. 

   Mike Striar on January 8, 2018 at 9:14 pm

   The problem is caused by a lack of snow clearing equipment. The City needs more small, mobile, Bobcat type vehicles to do cleanup work after storms. That’s the best way to address the type of conditions seen in the photo at the top of this thread. More small equipment would also help with sidewalk snow clearing, clearing around parked cars, storm drains, and knocking down some of the high snowbanks that block visibility at intersections.

   I do not believe parking kiosks are the answer in the Newton Centre lot. I’m not a big fan of kiosks in general because they are inconvenient, particularly during inclement weather. More problematic, kiosks would increase pedestrian traffic through an already busy parking lot.

   As has been suggested, the parking meter app can be helpful. I’m an “old school” kind of guy myself. Climbed the snowbank to feed the meter when I went to Johnny’s this afternoon.

9. 

   Jo-Louise Allen on January 8, 2018 at 9:54 pm

   The new ones installed in Brookline don’t increase pedestrian traffic. I love them. With the old variety, you had to walk to the machine, get a paper ticket, walk back to your car and put the ticket on your dash, and then walk out again. Now, every space has a 3 digit number. You walk to one of many kiosks spread throughout the parking lot, type in your number, pay for parking, and leave. No more printing little pieces of paper that you have to return to your car and place on your dash. The meter maids have a computerized hand held device that shows how many hours you paid for by spot. You can also buy 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour, and on up to several hours.

10. 

    Mary Mary Quite Contrary on January 9, 2018 at 9:11 am

    Well said, Bob. The onus shouldn’t be on the residents to climb atop mounds of snow to pay the meter and not everyone is able to use an app. If the City can’t clear the area around the meters, it should be free parking until they are easily accessed.

11. 

    Marti Bowen on January 9, 2018 at 9:38 am

    BTW, I was joking about ice boots.

    When this has happened on Langley and in the lot in years before, I just didn’t feed the meter. I’m not going to put myself in danger of falling to avoid a ticket. I have never received a ticket when that was the case; if I had, I would have fought it.

    I think the meters Jo Louise mentioned sound like a good idea.

    Meter attendant is a much better phrase than meter “maid.”

12. 

    Peter Karg on January 10, 2018 at 7:05 pm

    I was in the Municipal lot on Cypress Street in Newton Centre this afternoon. Several parking spaces are still full of snow reducing the parking capacity in the lot. Also, I took photo’s to forward to City officials of huge snow mounds in that lot that still have not be cleared.

13. 

    Claire on January 10, 2018 at 7:50 pm

    Peter, I don’t really think we should expect all the snow to be hauled away less than a week after the snow storm. I drove west on Beacon Street tonight through Brookline and Boston. The angled parking in Brookline had a least a couple of spots on each block housing snow piles.

    At Cleveland Circle it was a mess! Boston didn’t seem to plow the angled spots in front on the businesses (hardware store, wine store), so people literally used the right hand travel lane for the angled parking reducing Beacon to one lane which delays as those who were traveling in that right lane having to suddenly merge left.