Sox Fans Could Pay $10 An Hour Under Proposed Street Parking Rates

Red Sox fans could shell out as much as $10 an hour to park at Brookline parking meters under a proposal presented to the Transportation Board this week.

The recommendations are designed to take advantage of the town's new multispace parking meters, which will allow officials to quickly and easily change parking rates citywide from a computer terminal. If approved, they would represent the first parking rate hike in Brookline since 2005.

As part of the changes, the town's Parking Committee is urging the board to seek selectmen approval for a new parking price ceiling, somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 or $2 an hour. Currently, the Board of Selectmen must approve any changes to parking rates, a "long, drawn-out process" that has helped keep Brookline at $0.75 an hour while all nearby cities, with the exception of Newton, have jumped ahead.

Under the new arrangement, the Transportation Board would be free to adjust rates within the range specified by the selectmen, which would make it easier to experiment and respond to demand.

If the board isn't granted that ceiling, board members plan to push for a jump to $1 an hour for parking in short-term spots along much of Harvard and Beacon streets and Brookline Avenue, as well the Centre Street East lot and the overcrowded long-term spaces on Brookline Avenue, Chapel Street and the Longwood MBTA lot.

A more nuanced strategy was considered, but Transportation Administrator Todd Kirrane said the committee was "afraid it would be too confusing and discourage people from using these downtown commercial areas."

Board member Bill Schwartz, who served as co-chair of the committee that put the recommendations together, said the recommendations were guided by two basic principles: "Don't give it away" and "create turnover."

Kirrane and Schwartz explained that, by extending the parking time past 6 p.m., the committee was hoping to discourage people from coming home from work at 6:05 p.m., snagging a convenient parking space, then occupying that space for the rest of the evening. They even considered extending the limit to 10 p.m., as that would prevent people from filling the meter once at 6 p.m., then camping in the space for for the rest of the evening.

$10 an hour for Red Sox Games

On the face of it, the gameday flood of Sox fans would seem to be boon for business in St. Mary's Station, located on Beacon Street near Fenway Park. And business does boom, Kirrane said, at least in the hour before game time. But then everything dies – the fans wander off to the park, and local customers avoid the area because they can't find any available parking spaces.

The committee hopes to solve that problem – and generate a little extra revenue for the city – by pushing Sox fans to park in the Beacon Street median and clearing up the curbside parking in the area for patrons of local businesses.

That would be accomplished by extending all parking meters in the area to 10 p.m., putting a two-hour limit on curbside spots on St. Marys Street and Carlton Street to encourage turnover, and taking time limits off the spots in the Beacon median between St. Marys Street and Hawes Street. Those spots would be priced at just $0.75 for the first two hours, but would jump to $10 an hour for the third and fourth hours. That would force Fenway fans to pay a premium while not punishing those who just want to visit a local business.

The new fee system would be "up and running" in time for next season, Kirraine said.

The public will be invited to comment on the proposed parking plans on Sept. 20, as well as at the board's Oct. 21 meeting.

Advertising the transition

The board riefly discussed the transition to the new rates. They agreed that extensive signage, labeling and stickering would have to take place, much as it has in nearby Cambridge. There was also some discussion of a sort of "grace period" in which drivers were merely warned – not ticketed – for infractions.

"You have to have some interim way of enforcing it so you're not killing people right away," Schwartz said.

Top Transportation & Limo appeals

Two weeks ago, the board denied Top Transporation & Limo's application for a license to take passengers from Brookline hotels to Logan Airport in apparent defiance of state law. Now, the company has appealed to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities with a request that the DPU take over licensing power for Brookline in this case and grant them a license to which they're legally entitled.

The hearing will take place at 1 p.m. on Aug. 11 at the DPU office on One South Station St. in Boson. Kirrane "strongly encouraged" the board members who denied the application to attend the meeting and explain the town's actions.