Traffic Commission Votes to Suspend Winter Parking Ban
Updated 6:39AM Thursday, September 12, 2013
– Allison Goldsberry
Following a public hearing on Wednesday night, the Medford Traffic Commission unanimously voted to suspend the winter parking ban for the coming winter.
The parking ban previously restricted parking overnight to one side of the street for four months. Every year many residents complained about the fines, people holding spots, the difficulty and potential safety issue of having to walk long distances home after finding a legal parking spot, and and the questionable purpose of limiting the number of available parking spots regardless of weather conditions.
“This was an absolutely huge step in the right direction and now it’s up to the residents of Medford to obey parking laws such as not parking on corners to make this a success,” said Medford resident Valerie Harris, who has worked for months with City Councilor Breanna Lungo-Koehn to change the policy.
According to City Council Lungo-Koehn, the one side parking restriction will only be in effect during snow emergencies rather than the entire four month period between December 1 and April 1.
“The ban will only be in effect during snow emergencies, of which you can find out by City and Police website, the robo calls, or you can sign up to get e-mail and text alerts,” said Councilor Lungo-Koehn. “This is a trial basis, so we all need to let our neighbors and the community know that they need to abide by the ban when there is an emergency or else the Chief of Police will have the right at any time to revert back to the four month ban.”
This year, overnight parking will be limited to the odd side of the street during snow emergencies. Residents can sign up for free alerts from the city and more information is also available on the Medford Police website.
While we are on the subject of “walking long distances”, can those of us who pay taxes but use the buses and trains get you all thinking about using some of the city’s snow removal resources to clear sidewalks and wheelchair ramps and bus stops on critical arterial routes? Not even so much for me, but for all the high school kids forced to walk in the street because homeowners were unable to deal with the giant 8’mounds of ice pushed up on the corners/wheelchair ramps. This practice has to stop, and the resources should be shared with the taxpayers who don’t drive.
It would be nice if some of the landlords had to provide some tenant parking. I have a single wide driveway and am surrounded by people who have legal and illegal apartments and force the tenants (all of whom have multiple cars) to park on the streets and their double wide driveways sit empty. Each home should be guaranteed one street spot. I saved to buy a house and shouldn’t always have to swap cars to accommodate renters with multiple cars and no parking. That would help too.
It would be nice to have the parking ban lifted except during a snow storm of 6″ or more…where I rent we lose parking spaces due to two private streets..not only that, Cheryl is right, there are people who rent who are not allowed to use the driveway..I know someone who rents and the landlord charges 200 bucks to use the driveway..to me that is highway robbery…the driveway should be included in the rent..INSANE!! In the winter my driveway is packed with 4 cars and I don’t get a spot in the driveway…always fighting people in the street for a parking spot..it would be nice not to find a nasty note on my vehicle in the winter…
Ladies, you might want to investigate the law as far as that tenant parking is concerned. I am not 100% sure but I think it is either a Medford bylaw or a State law that requires ONE offstreet parking spot for each residence. Obviously if you have 4 drivers in the same apartement it won’t help much but I think that landlord charging 200 bucks is breaking the law!
Keep in mind that not every apartment HAS offstreet parking at any price. I live on a small side street and I’d guess that half of the houses (all two families) do not have driveways. Some of these homes are rented, but others are owned by one extended family or split into condos. I feel lucky that we’re able to cram 4 cars into our driveway – at least when our neighbors don’t block our driveway in!