The Boston City Council was back to talking about parking remedies during this week’s regular city council meeting.
Councilors Lydia Edwards, Annissa Essaibi-George and Andrea Campbell called for a future hearing regarding citywide parking reform throughout all of Boston.
“We need to look at every single tool in the toolbox when it comes to parking,” Edwards said. “All of us are feeling some type of pain when it comes to parking.”
This comes a week after Councilor Michelle Wu proposed a new ordinance that would change resident parking stickers from free to $25.
“Honestly it sparked a conversation among us saying it really does take a holistic plan even in parking, and that’s what we really haven’t been doing as a city,” Edwards said. “We have a finite amount of land but we’re giving an infinite amount of parking passes out for free.”
Edwards believes the city may need to look into different parking solutions for different neighborhoods.
“Not all solutions are for every community,” she said.
Essaibi-George agreed saying the city needs to have more conversations about parking and traffic in general.
“It really needs to be a bigger conversation than just about whether or not we should be fining or creating a fee for our residential stickers,” she said. “It needs to be focused neighborhood by neighborhood.”
Campbell agreed with her colleagues saying solutions would be “specific” to each neighborhood and community.
Wu last week proposed an ordinance that would require each resident parking permit to cost $25. If a household needs two stickers, then they would pay $50 and so on. A visitor parking permit would cost $10 and would be valid for up to 72 hours. The council began talking about parking problems in the city last year.
Wu said there would be financial exceptions for low income residents and senior citizens.
Some councilors expressed doubt and concern over Wu’s proposal during last week’s meeting citing financial concerns and said they should look into charging ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft more.
Although a NorthEndWaterfront.com reader poll last year found our readers in opposition of charging for stickers with 57% of voters saying the permits should continue to be free, a recent poll shows just over half of readers who voted would be okay with paying $25 for a sticker if it improved parking in the neighborhood.
How about tripling the feed for a valet license?
Or tow the cars that the valets park in Resident Parking and Visitor spaces so that the car owners have to pay the tow fee and parking ticket and then they can take the Valet company to small claims court
On that note does anyone know
how much $ does it cost for a valet license?
https://www.boston.gov/departments/transportation/how-apply-valet-parking-permit
Get rid of visitor spots too. Visitors should pay for parking, not residents. Also- free first permit, very high price for any more at the same UNIT. #fivecarflaherty.
Isn’t property tax and excise tax payment for parking on the street. This is nothing more than another tax!!!
Stop!!!
Of course this scam is another tax. The lack of consistent enforcement is the issue here.
Agree
Agree Dave Edwards another farce
I agree with you. Visitors should pay for parking in pay lots, the City really needs to fix the parking issue for residents first.
They could ticket on Sundays when residents and non-residents alike are parking anywhere they please, to include hydrants and driveways.
Matthew you are correct Sunday is a free for all. Ticketing should be 7 Days a week.
I live in wharf district with no residential permits at all. Other areas of city are in similar situation. This is grossly unfair and should be corrected as part of reform.
The Wharf District? I have never heard of it.
I don’t understand the whole “visitor permits $10 for 72 hrs”. Does this mean they can park anywhere with a visitor sticker? If that’s the case, wouldn’t savvy TD Garden event attendees just pay that each time they’re coming in for an event? Can someone clarify?
I’m almost positive that the city of Boston does not offer visiter parking permits.Cambridge and Somerville do but Boston does not and if they did you can bet that the price would not be $10 dollars.
It’s being proposed by WU.
Good point.
Visitors pass for $10 is a joke. How about monitor the passes that are given out to friends and family who live in the suburbs and claim their mom’s address.