We do not need this. We will not cooperate with it. We will not vote for anyone who supports it.
From November 15 to April 15, we cannot park on the streets of Newton overnight. This is problematic for a number of reasons:
1) There are not enough public parking lots for area renters & those without driveways, and the ones that exist are too far from where people live.
2) It is impractical, unfair, and dangerous to require those without driveways to leave their cars in lots away from their houses when there is not currently a snow emergency.
3) When there IS a snow emergency, you cannot park on any street or public lot: the city of Newton says, at least according to the official that I spoke with: "Leave your car in some other city." This is not how you treat your residents.
4) The vast majority of the days between November 15 and April 15, there is NO SNOW, no need to plow, and no reason to force us to shuffle our cars around.
5) One of the reasons given regarding the rules in nearby towns: "Watertown enforces a parking ban, so we must too." This would easily be solved by employing RESIDENT PARKING rules. Either allow us to post a sticker in our windows, or enact a rule that waives this restriction for license plates that scan as Newton residents.
6) Regarding clearing streets and general plowing during non-snow-emergencies: the city is perfectly capable of coming up with a schedule for clearing streets on a need-basis. If a small mount of snow has accumulated and you need to plow it, let us park in the lots. If we are allowed to park on the street and the lots are cleared at night then there will be no issue.
7) The bottom line is that the only reason the city insists on maintaining its ban is because it makes $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ off of those tickets. It is not an effective deterrent, it is not helping anyone, and it simply should not exist. There are plenty of alternatives, and we need to explore them.
If different areas of the city would prefer to enforce different rules, that is ok: as long as the blanket ban is terminated and these issues above are addressed.
Please sign this petition, and leave your comments and suggestions. Thank you!
J
History regarding the ban:
2017: https://patch.com/massachusetts/newton/newton-parking-ban-back
2014: http://newton.wickedlocal.com/article/20141204/News/141208257
