History may trump bid to change parking rule
For as long as most can remember, Somerville has allowed residents to park only on the odd-numbered side of the street during snow emergencies. So each time the skies dumped inches upon inches of snow on the city, residents of the even-numbered side have been forced to dig out their driveways after every visit from the city plows.
That doesn't seem fair, says Alderwoman Rebekah Gewirtz, who lives on the odd side of her street.
She is proposing that the city consider alternating the sides of the street that residents are allowed to park on during snow emergencies. Gewirtz says the longstanding policy is "an undue burden" for residents of the even side to always be shoveling out, and she wants an equitable policy, particularly for her elderly constituents.
Her proposal has been forwarded to the aldermen's public health and safety subcommittee, which held an initial discussion last week.
The change is also supported by Alderman at Large Dennis Sullivan, who lives on the even side of his street. "I don't see a reason why we can't alternate," he said, adding, "I'm not doing this for personal reasons."
It's hard to say exactly how long the current policy has been on the books, but Captain Paul Upton said it has been in place for all 25 years he's been a police officer in Somerville. Upton, who served on the city's traffic commission when it considered this issue a few years ago, said a study showed there were about 16,000 parking spaces on the even side of the streets citywide, and about 18,000 on the odd side.
Stanley Koty, commissioner of the Department of Public Works, said the bulk of the fire hydrants are also on the odd side. That consideration, along with the additional 2,000 parking spots on the odd side, would make a change difficult to endorse, he said.
"For public safety and parking purposes, it doesn't leave much of a choice," said Koty. "That's how I look at it."
To Alderman Bill Roche, the issue is old hat. He said every time there's a new member on the board - Gewirtz is nearing the end of her first two-year term representing Ward 6 - the issue resurfaces.
"They don't realize how many times we've hashed over it," said Roche, who admitted he thought he had a "brainstorm" when he proposed the same thing during his first term on the board.
"This is a good debate to have every couple years, and you're always looking for new information to surface," he said. But, he added, "It never seems to go anywhere."
Still, Roche agreed, "it's probably not fair. I wish there was some way to alternate."
He suggested one way to address the issue is for neighbors to team up to help each other. On his street, MacArthur Street, those who live on the odd side - like Roche - help their neighbors across the street to dig out.
Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, who lives on the even side of his street, said the current policy is the "most predictable, clear and safest" for residents. But he acknowledged, "For those of us who live on the even side, it's an inconvenience."
Alderman Walter Pero, who lives on the even side of the street, said too much groundwork has already been laid to change now. He said the city has spent years on a public education campaign, training residents that they should park their cars on the odd side of the street when it snows.
"I just think it would be massively confusing to people if we alternated by storm, by month, by year," he said.
He said he worries that residents would park on the wrong side of the street and get their cars towed. "We could be to blame for it," he said.
Pero, an alderman for 12 years, said he's been through the debate many times. He got a call from a constituent proposing this very idea his first week on the board, but after researching the topic, he realized changing the way it's done would be opening up a can of worms.
"It was a bad idea then," he said, "and I think it's a bad idea now." 