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December 01, 2009
TRAFFIC AND PARKING TO OFFER EXTENDED HOURS DURING LEAD-UP AND SWITCHOVER TO NEW PERMIT PARKING RULES
Holland Street Offices Will Remain Open until 7 p.m. on Jan. 4 and 5 for Residents Who Miss Jan. 4 Deadline
Acting Director James Kotzuba announced today that the City’s Traffic and Parking (T&P) offices at 133 Holland Street will remain open until 7 p.m. on January 4th and 5th, in order to provide permitting assistance to residents affected by new parking regulations. One third of Somerville’s public ways will be converting to resident permit parking status effective January 4, 2010, and the additional Saturday hours are designed to provide alternative times to obtain new resident stickers and visitor permits before the change in policy.
“The new permits have been available since July, but we expect many residents to wait until the last minute to come in to Traffic and Parking,” said Kotzuba, “so we want to provide some alternatives for those who can’t easily come in on a weekday. We also want to help out those who miss the deadline and end up scrambling to get their new permits on January 4th and 5th.” Kotzuba added that T&P will also maintain its regular schedule: Mon.-Wed., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Thu., 9 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.; and Fri., 9 a.m. to 12 noon.
“It’s important for most residents to understand that, if they already have a resident sticker for their vehicles or visitor permit placards, they don’t need to change anything,” Kotzuba said. “For most of the people who register their cars here in Somerville, this is a non-event. This change affects only those who live on the one third of Somerville streets not currently covered by permit parking regulations. We’re already seeing many of those folks coming in to get their permits, but we want to make sure people know the change is coming and that everyone has a time that they can come in to make this one-time switchover.” Once a resident parking sticker is issued, it can be renewed annually by mail.
“Work crews are already putting up new signs on the affected streets, and they should be finished by December 18th,” said Kotzuba. “We’re following up the sign installation by putting flyers in four languages – English, Spanish, Portuguese and Haitian Creole – on every car parked on those streets. On December 21st, we will start issuing warnings, but no actual violations will be written until January 4th.” The permit parking changes were originally voted by the City’s Traffic and Parking Commission to go into effect in August, but were delayed for five months to allow for extensive review and adjustment by the Commission and by the Parking Solutions Task Force, an advisory body of residents, business leaders, and public officials appointed by Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone to help develop an implementation plan for the new rules.
As a result of the review process, and in anticipation of the change, the City has also expanded its business permit and “landlord” permit (for non-resident property owners) programs, and made a number of other changes in its current permit policies. Full information on parking permit programs is available at the Traffic & Parking page on the City’s website, or by calling 311 from any landline or cell phone in Somerville (617-666-3311 from outside the city). A map showing affected streets is also available, along with a brochure describing the city’s parking policies, a full list of traffic and parking regulations, detailed information on how to obtain resident vehicle stickers and visitor permits, and a listing of all fees and violation fines associated with the City’s traffic and parking rules.
“Except for registered undergraduate college students, Massachusetts law requires residents to register their cars in the communities where they live,” Kotzuba said. “This change will mean that some residents who have ignored that law in the past will have to register their cars here in Somerville in order to qualify for a resident sticker. But once they come into compliance with the state’s residency requirement, I think they’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much freedom they will have to park across the city.”
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