According to this comment on a prior thread about the parking ban, Newton City Councilor Susan Albright is looking for volunteers to help understand how many homes offer “absolutely no place to put their car(s).”
My next step is to try to get a handle on the extent of the problem. No one in the city knows who has a driveway and who doesn’t. I’ve asked Doug from GIS to print maps for me of the neighborhoods in the proposed 4 precincts. I wonder if any members of V14 would be willing to work with me to collect data on the number and location of properties with no driveway. If you are interested in helping with this data collection process let me know @[email protected]. If we get enough volunteers we can make short work of this.
Rather than gripe about Newton’s parking ban, here’s you chance to help figure it out.
Myself, I believe the ban is too rigid. So many days with no snow
makes one wonder about its effectiveness.
With new housing development growth the need for street
parking goes up dramatically.
Some winters the snow cover can remain for weeks which narrows the streets.
I agree with the existing ban. However the enforcement of it
could be relaxed at the discretion of the mayor and police chief.
But we can still gripe, right? .
Susan’s efforts are limited in scope (for now) to Wards 2 and 3 (Please correct me if I’m wrong, Susan).
(I live in Ward 1).
That said, I encourage anyone to take the Councilor up on this.
Help? Isn’t this why we elect a city council? To resolve issues such as this in a manner that reflects and respects the needs and interests of constituents? Most of us have lives to lead, families to whom we must tend, jobs to which we must devote time and effort. Congrats to those who have the spare bandwidth to “help.” I look forward to casting a vote in support of those CC who do their jobs well and in opposition to those who fail.
Elmo, Susan is one of the hardest working members of the city council. She’s calling for civic engagement in an era when politics is more about posturing than policy. I welcome, and share, her attitude.
What Councilor Auchincloss said. Also, the job of being a city councilor is technically a part time position; although many devote many more hours to it than others devote to full time jobs. (They receive a meager $9,750 stipend annually.) I think it’s great that Councilor Albright is trying to crowd source this.
Councillor Albright is certainly working harder on the city council than I am in my fully paid day job. I have met her several times and she is on top of every city issue.
Been living in Newton for 30+ years. I understand the ban in snow emergencies. Up until now, 15 years in Newton Center, I could leave my car at work 2 miles away. Long walk back and forth everyday, but …. Now that’s no longer an option.
Why not have stickers for residents like many towns do? Real snow emergencies is another issue.
Elmo, Perhaps you are unaware that the City Council has no staff. If I want to collect data on homes without driveways in 4 precincts in Newton, I will have to drive up and down every street and figure this out myself. Most City Councilors have full-time jobs. I’m not complaining, I like it like that. I just want to be sure that you know that collecting data, the kind I’m looking for takes time – and if anyone wants to help me – I would be grateful. I understand that others are busy as well. What’s the old adage? – many hands make light work.
Councilor Albright, thank you for your efforts. But I’m not sure how counting driveways helps. Is there a threshold % of houses without driveways that would convince other councilors to overturn the ban?If only 1% of houses lack driveways does this justify continuing the ban, but 3% means we overturn it? Near me (not wards 2 or 3) the issue is duplexes with one driveway that house two adult couples with a total of 4 cars and off-street parking for only 1 or 2. But I understand that counting driveways is straightforward, if not easy.
Shortening the length of the ban doesn’t solve anything. Even during the shorter ban only a fraction of nights will have snow.
Many other cities (Waltham) handle this by banning on street parking only when there are snow emergencies declared. Why can’t this work in Newton?
I have been in several meetings where the Police Chief and the Director of Streets have said that the winter parking ban is not necessary for their respective operations (outside of snow emergencies).
Given those statements, the City should have clear and explicit reasons why the winter parking ban exists. Based on those answers, we should examine if other mechanisms can be used to achieve those same goals.
For instance, my understanding is that there are already ordinances against using the streets for car storage, which apply all year round. Are we trying to discourage street parking vs. driveway parking? The number of vehicles per residence?
What is it?
I think it’s great to work to get data to understand the nature of problems, but I think it’s also important to step back and ask what the problems really are.
“…Police Chief and the Director of Streets have said that the winter parking ban is not necessary for their respective operations (outside of snow emergencies).”
I’ve long suspected this, but the fact that they have actually said this really proves how ridiculous it is that we still have the ban. It’s just a money grab from the City and it mostly affects the lower income families of Newton.
This issue isn’t all that complex in my opinion. The Overnight Parking Ban should be renamed the Snow Emergency Ban.
OMG Newton and banning things!
Councilor Albright is always working hard for Newton and it’s residents. When she asks for help from her constituency to do that work, anyone who can should be there helping.
Susan is collecting data for use in solving the arbitrary parking ban – not to use to set a percentage to be used as a cut off.
The discussion about this arbitrary parking ban comes up every fall but generally the mayor and city council just leave it alone. Why? It serves no purpose at all. It’s a discriminatory practice.
It doesn’t really need step downs before getting rid of it. Having it during a smaller time period sounds like a compromise by councilors who are trying to get those of us who see no point to it at all to shut up about it already. It serves no purpose during the shorter time period either.
If the police chief and director of streets (didn’t know that position existed) isn’t necessary for them, then who is it necessary for? Why have councilors ignored them as well as the residents wanting it to end completely?
The jump from a $5 ticket to a $25 ticket actually soured me on Setti Warren. It was kind of annoying to see him run for governor with his main platform being income inequality, yet this happened in Newton under his watch. I spoke to someone in Mayor Fuller’s office about this and I’m certain that my concerns fell on deaf ears.
I’m glad to see a group of councilors working on this and advocating for those affected, though. I’d be interested in helping Councilor Albright with her project but I have been stretching myself very thin with work and taking on a lot of volunteer projects so I don’t think I can take on something else right now.
I would imagine more houses than not have driveways. There may be more a question of determining the areas contain houses with driveways insufficient to handle multiple cars, and how many households have 2+ cars.
How about a map showing all areas where 2 or more residential units are allowed? I think that would be a decent proxy for areas that would benefit from dropping the ban on overnight winter parking.
Interesting spin on year-round free parking on city streets:
This guy owns a fleet of 38 cars for his car rental service. Since street parking is free, why not just hog up all the spots
https://jalopnik.com/turo-guy-who-street-parked-38-cars-has-chicago-furious-1830471941
If we did remove the ban, would a $100 annual parking permit be too much to ask? With 88k people, I think there are 22k homes in Newton? If 10% applied for permit = 200k revenue each year
Ted, if some areas have driveways so that street parking isn’t necessary, do we need an ordinance prohibiting it?
Or flip things around: if the overnight parking ban didn’t exist, would there be the pressing need (or political will) to create one?
Bugek, resident parking stickers might be reasonable. But again, what, exactly, specifically, would be the City’s goals in implementing them?
Perhaps it would be to prevent the abuse of street parking. I’d be completely in favor of a commercial overnight parking ban, possibly even year-round. Does that restriction actually exist in Newton right now? That might take care of the “38 cars for rent on the street” problem.
Newton does have a law prohibiting overnight parking for commercial vehicles on residential streets. We were having an issue with a moving company using our street to store their trucks and was told by the traffic bureau of the police department that it was illegal for them to park there overnight.
Mike,
The permits would prevent lazy homeowners who have driveways from parking infront of their house because its more convenient (don’t have to back out). The street parking should be for those who really need it. May also help in spotting “out of town folk” who drive in to break into our homes
The extra revenue & fines would be a plus…although the enforcement costs may not be recouped
Come up to Nonantum, Between Watertown St and Washington St it is almost certainly majority multi family, and parking is at a premium.
@Bugek May also help in spotting “out of town folk” who drive in to break into our homes
Seriously??
Claire,
Yes, Seriously. Criminals from out of town prowl Newton due to its demographics ( older, wealthy, young with kids). Many will park on the streets at night and then prowl around houses to attack
JUST LAST WEEK, a homeowner on Harrington Street in West Newton could have been killed by a criminal from Dorchester with a knife. He was attacked and had to physically fight back… imagine if that happened infront of your children
https://patch.com/massachusetts/newton/man-accused-pulling-knife-newton-resident-gets-arrested
Anything that deters criminals help…
The story is alarming, and it’s great that the neighbors and police Came to the rescue. But it doesn’t indicate that the assailant drove there, or how parking permits would have helped at 7:15 PM (tho in general I think they’re a good idea).
@Bugek – That’s the first I heard of that story and it is indeed chilling.
You said Many will park on the streets at night and then prowl around houses to attack Is there any evidence that this is a common occurrence? I haven’t heard of any similar attacks. Have you?
If street parking causes crime, does it cause more crime in Newton during the summer, when overnight parking is currently allowed?
Would random parking enforcement truly deter such crime? Do people from Newton ever comit crimes?
@Bugek, I fail to see the relevance of that story and the parking ban. It didn’t happen during the hours of the parking ban and there is no indication that Mr Jackson came in a car.
Claire,
It was a discussion about needing parking permits to park on city streets. Criminals don’t like to stick out.. they park their parks and then case out several homes to look for venerable residents…
of course Newton residents commit crime, this is just to deter criminals who drive in
Jerry,
Quite frightening since he was armed with a knife.. he’s obviously is willing to kill someone rather than get caught.. THANK HEAVENS he was caught, would just have a been a matter of time before someone get killed. If you search police logs, Newton does have a big problem with burglaries, it much more common than you think as we are easy targets…
Parking permits is helpful to deter criminals… may or may not have helped in this case.. but you get the idea
Scary story, but there are a few elements that make me think it may not have been random – first, the police report redaction:
And second, the timing – 7:15pm is one of the best times to get caught.
And third, the fact that the alleged burglar Jackson is 51 years old – I didn’t know that geriatric burglary was a thing. (Just kidding, all you old folks on V14)
@Michael- geriatric burglary is definitely a thing. They never suspect me.
Why the heck would anyone go after the burglar rather than calling 911? You have to assume any intruder may be armed, and there’s nothing in a house worth getting injured or killed over.
I’m not buying the “parking ban deters crime” defense. That’s some twisted fear-mongering logic imo.
Meredith,
Blame the victim much? The report specifically says the criminal lunged at the homeowner..
Thank goodness the wife wasnt home alone, carrying a knife means you not afraid to use it. 911 would have been too late
The report says the homeowner saw the man in his basement, so he knew there was an intruder. He had time to call 911 and disengage. Instead he chose to stay and confront the intruder. Having grown up in a large city, I was taught as a child that if someone mugs you, give them your money. If someone is breaking into your home, get away and call the police. I am not blaming him for having a break-in, but it’s important for people to know that it never makes sense to confront an intruder if you don’t have to.
That said, I don’t see what this has to do with a parking ban. It’s not like places with resident permits don’t have break-ins and, as others have pointed out, this didn’t happen during the hours the ban is in effect.
Meredith
The issue was the use of parking permits to park on streets. With permit revenue you get enforcement which means more eyes in neighborhoods to deter out of town criminals
I’m not surprised newton is an easy burglary target.. residents will simply comply meekfully without resistance
@Bugek – Newton’s an easy burglary target because many residents leave their cars and doors unlocked.
Time to return to the topic of the burdensome and unneeded parking ban.
How about sending a simple email or email survey to all Newton residents for whom the city has email addresses? Just ask whether they have sufficient parking for all family cars over the winter. And please leave room for additional comments. For example, we have big issues when overnight guests drive in. This would give you a good starting point.
Really, we should just get rid of the ban, and Newton can announce when they need people off the roads because of snow…
That would be a simple and sufficient solution. There is no reason not to do this now.
Jenna, that’s a great idea. And this isn’t a burglary issue. It’s about folks like myself who would like to park their car near their home, weather permitting.
I want to thank Susan Albright and the town officials who are finally addressing this. It’s nice to have government that serves the will of the people. Seems all to rare.
Kind of disappointed to see that the ban wasn’t even lifted for the holiday weekend like it had been last year.
The driveway cutouts should be available from the DPW and the planning department. The DPW is responsible for creating the curbing so they should know.
There are more days without snow between now and April than with snow. It is easier to find a parking garage for a few nights during the snow season than try and find another parking spot for 7 months. If there is a snow emergency, residents will move their cars for their own good and for the city’s good so that plows can get through. Having a strict overall ban on parking from November to April is just too difficult/impossible.
Well said Alex.
Saw this on Facebook:
FYI – Newton Overnight Parking Ban:
For anyone who is inconvenienced by the overnight parking ban November thru April, email [email protected] the following message:
“I would like to add my support for changing the policy to be a ban on overnight parking only during snow emergencies. For residents with limited driveway access and/or parking, the overnight ban is a hardship.”
Done– added my own personalization to the note
Councilor Norton’s email newsletter encourages the same course of action, to email David Olson.
(Emily, the newsletter as I received it was missing his email address!)
Why do we need a ban on a holiday weekend in November when no snow is predicted? My out-of -town overnight guests were greeted with a $25 fine this weekend as they left for home. Totally unnecessary and I had no reasonable explanation other than “Newton has some nutty laws we’re trying to change”.
At the very least, we should be able to pick up a temporary permit for such situations.
I know. In addition to having to shuffle our cars around every day from 11/15-4/15, we can’t really have overnight guests during that time because they can’t park anywhere!
I have gotten more than one ticket for parking in front of my own house on dry pavement, because I either forgot or was too tired to move my car. I wonder how this would do as a ballot question!
I sent an email to Mr. Olson, in which I also stated that I am not personally affected by the ban but care about its effect on my fellow city residents. I think it’s important for him and our city councilors to know there is support from people other than those who suffer from the ban.
Fifty-some comments later on this relatively respectful thread, and essentially no strong arguments supporting the winter parking ban have been raised (excepting fear of an increase in break-ins and robberies, which is not an issue that Newton Police have even brought up).
Who are these strong backers of the ban and why, specifically, do they support it?
reasons for the winter parking ban:
1) snow plowing
2) salt and sanding
3) street cleaning
4) helps prevent too many cars on the street that wouldn’t be able to be relocated episodically
Per #4, are there any Mass cities that allow winter night street parking yet require ALL cars off the street during snow emergencies?
I’ve started my street by street search for homes with no driveways. One thing I found – an untended consequence of the ban, is that many people have paved their front yards or side yards for a place to put their car during the winter ban – not beautiful but a solution for some – not terrific for the neighborhood. BTW – if you want to send email to the Council you can use this address [email protected]. This copies David Olson and goes directly to councilors. It’s just easier for David.
Susan, some driveways on my street are like that. They’re usually narrow or funnily shaped and they often don’t really fit a car, leaving the car protruding into the sidewalk which is not pedestrian friendly.
I would like to hear from the enforcement folks, police and otherwise on their approach to enforcement and proposed revisions to the ban. They are the missing link.
Also, I hope the Council considers how other nearby communities handle this issue. I live near Waltham, and my understanding is that there is no overnight ban except for snow emergencies. The parts of Waltham nearest Newton have more multi family homes, and the single family homes are smaller. I imagine these homes have less off street parking than we do. And yet, they seem to have a less restrictive policy. At the least it’s worth looking into.
David M,
Shane Mark from DPW, who is in charge of street maintenance and snow clearance, has said that the winter parking ban isn’t essential for 1 (snow plowing) and 2 (salt and sand) on your list.
For street cleaning, is it done at night in Newton? If that’s really an issue, there could be periodic “no street parking” days, just like many other cities and towns. Maybe trash days (which would improve access for trash trucks).
For your 4 (constantly parked cars), we could enforce or extend bans on cars that aren’t moved (car storage on the street). That would be useful winter or the rest of the year.
My point is that there are other, probably more effective mechanisms to deal with everything the winter parking ban tries to address.
The issue here really seems to come down to how to enable/ensure cars have a realistic plan B for serious snow emergencies. To say streets can be cleared effectively with several cars on streets seems to defy common sense.
Some people have feasible solutions that are extremely inconvenient on a daily basis (e.g. jamming cars into limited space where only one can leave first) that they shouldn’t have to execute every day. Others may essentially have to plan to eat the big tickets or occasional towing. What are folks doing today in these no-driveway situations?
Could there be an app that allows residents with some surplus capacity to rent to those without in those situations? Does the city have any capacity that could be allocated to this (e.g. school or municipal lots)? Clearing those is problematic with cars.
I tend to see street sweepers in my part of West Newton come around 8 AM. I don’t know if this is typical for the rest of the city but I notice them when we are getting ready to walk to school.
Jack Prior, the issue you cite (parking during snow emergencies) really isn’t the main issue here.
Currently, residents with no off-street parking have to deal with that problem at most a couple weeks a year. They also have to deal with finding off-street parking every other day of the winter, for apparently no strong reason that anyone can describe.
Both are inconvenient. But if we get rid the second, bigger hardship, it becomes much easier to deal with the first for those at-most couple weeks a year. And that’s where the ideas you describe can come into play: sharing driveways with neighbors, etc.
“What are folks doing today in these no-driveway situations?”
Some of them are parking on the street and hoping not to get a ticket, and finding alternatives on those relatively few days they are needed to facilitate snow clearing. It is no coincidence that it is exactly that policy that people like me are advocating.
“What are folks doing today in these no-driveway situations?”
We have an arrangement with a business’s private lot but we can only use it during limited hours. My husband and I take turns waking up before 6 to run down the street to move the car and then in the evening we move the car back into the lot around 10 PM.
The worst was when we had very young children because if one of us was out of town for work or whatever we’d have to either wake them up to take them with us to move the car or risk the ticket. Risking the ticket when it was $5 was OK, but not at $25.
For what it is worth I have seem people positing for parking space on Nextdoor.com. Not a good long term solution, such as eliminating the ban but might be a short term option
For the record, the first assault on innocent Street parking through tickets occurred December 2, a 40 degree night with no snow in the forecast or on the ground. Thanks, City of Newton!
Just wait until Hello Korfville is completed, and thousand of apartments are added just to Washington Street alone. You think there’s going to be enough parking for all those units? If so, I’ve got an orange grove in Alaska I’d like to sell you..l.
Rick Frank, you are correct in your approach to identifying potential areas where the current winter overnight ban may be beneficial. But then we can also investigate other ways to approach the (in this case, potential) problem that might have less adverse impact.
For example, if new development has on-site parking requirements eased, we can address the street parking problem in other ways. We can have limited resident parking stickers, or have high prices for them. Or we can have some streets with overnight parking limits.
As I’ve said before, if no city-wide winter overnight parking ban existed, we certainly would NOT propose is as a solution to a parking problem at a specific site or neighborhood. It isn’t the right tool for the job.
How about people that visit newton and have no idea about the ban? I got in late, checked the signs, all good. Wondered why no one was parked on the street, but figured everyone has driveways…double checked the signs, had no choice anyway.
Not sure I’ve ever gotten a ticket before for something that was town wide and not posted at all.
@ JB – I tried – and then stopped due to too much opposition – to get a permit system off the ground, where residents with no, or not enough, on-site parking could get a permit to park on their street during the winter on non-snowing days. That would leave the winter parking ban in effect on most streets in Newton.
The idea was to also allot spots on public lots where people would move their cars to during snow storms. Like that the city could appropriately time the sweeping of the streets and lots. We could have a reverse 911 or other system, where the owners would get a warning from the city before an impending storm to move their cars. Cars that don’t move would be towed without warning.
I got a lot of push back of people in the community who could have helped making this happen. One exception was Susan Albright; as always, she listened with an open mind and I am not surprised that she is asking on this forum for input to address the issue. The push back, btw, had NOTHING to do with why there is a winter ban. It was about the “pristine” look of no cars on the roads; people parking too close to a driveway, customer parking on residential streets; college students parking and the like. There are several issues in there that needs addressing, for sure, but none have anything to do with winter.
There was also push back at the idea of issuing permits, i.e. investing the manpower and time to do so.
@JB @Doug I would love to connect with people working on this. My house doesn’t have a driveway. Ward 1.