Watertown’s Winter Parking Ban starts today, so make sure to get your cars off the street.
The Watertown Police Department sent out the following information:
Effective November 28, 2016 and continuing to April 1, 2017 the Winter Parking Ban will be in effect and strictly enforced.
The regulation reads in part; “No vehicle may remain on any public way for more than one hour between the hours of 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. all days of the week.” For residents who lack sufficient off-street parking, the Town allows for temporary parking at any municipal parking lot and other locations noted:
• The police station at 552 Main Street (visitor’s parking lot only)
• Any public school parking lot
• Marion Road parking lot at Victory Field
• O’Connell Park, (lot at the corner of Boylston Street and Mt Auburn Street)
Please note that these locations may be used free of charge, however vehicles may only use available spaces after 7 p.m. and must be moved/removed by 7 a.m. the following day. Vehicles must be removed from school property no later than 6 a.m. Violators may be towed.
And so it begins. People in my neighborhood are parking on their lawns, the sidewalk, and over curbs. The annual parking ban is silly. If there isn’t a snow emergency, we should be allowed to park our cars on the street overnight.
I believe the overnight ban to be a good thing. I could see the possibility to allow for some areas to have 1 parking permit per household for the winter as a compromise. You only need talk to those families that grew up in Brighton to discuss how the families were moved out due to college students renting there(no limit on amount of vehicles due to parking overnight). Parking overnight limits the amount of residents in a home to a reasonable/legal size(which is a good thing). Boston can not enforce overcrowded housing and all the automobiles that come with this. This is a good start at the issue:https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/05/04/overcrowded-off-campus-housing-boston-puts-students-risk-even-landlords-cash/mCsUmZ0FpocJoFrRBM99YP/story.html