Opinion: It’s Time To End Newton's Winter Overnight Parking Ban.

How many days last “winter” (calling this winter is a huge stretch when we’re talking about Nov 15 through April 15) was the parking ban actually effective and beneficial to the citizens of Newton?

How much longer must the renters and the residents without driveways trudge through the arctic temperatures to leave their cars in crowded, distant “public” lots (or worse: a mile or more away over in Brighton) night after night? How much longer must we wake up at 8am on Saturday to feed the meters of these lots, or move our cars back to our neighborhoods?

How many more nights when we are ill with the seasonal flu, or injured, or a little tipsy after a few glasses of wine, do we have to make that painful choice: Do I risk driving half a mile away and walking back through the cold, or do I take the chance of receiving a $25 ticket by leaving my car next to my house (on the public street that I’m paying property taxes to maintain)?

How much longer will those residents with driveways who complain about narrow streets and snow plows and insist that the ban “helps more than it hurts”, receive preferential treatment by the City? Those residents who during the few “real” snow emergencies in a season, can safely leave their car at their house, while the rest of us scramble to move ours to another city (no parking in the lots during emergencies means that there is literally nowhere else to go without being gouged by a private parking firm.)

With excuses such as “Watertown does it: so we must too”, and “We need to keep the streets clear for snow removal”, the City is clearly taking the lazy approach that nets them the most money from ticket revenue. There are many alternatives, and we must demand that they employ them. Clear the snow during and immediately after the snow emergencies: I’m happy to find a space for my car then. But on November 16th, when the trees are freshly bare, and April 14th, when the sun is warm, and the Red Sox are already almost a month into their season: Newton should not and cannot tell us that we are not allowed to use our own streets.

If we are worried about Watertown residents coming over, give us resident stickers and visitor passes. If there is truly a need to plow all winter, create a street cleaning schedule like most other civilized cities in this area. Use all of that money you made from us last winter, and come up with a better solution.

In the meantime, we are not your ATM.

If you agree that something needs to change, sign this petition:

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/891/317/967/