The campaign to Repeal the Parking Ban aims to remove Newton’s winter-time ban on overnight street parking, except in the case of snow emergencies. (See Fig City News articles.) Proponents of repeal have been gathering signatures to place a ballot question in front of voters this November. The campaign recently announced that it had fallen short of the number of signatures required to place a binding question on the ballot this year, but it did gather enough signatures to require the City Council to act on its petition.
[Update: The City Council’s Public Safety and Transportation Committee met on October 4 to discuss the petition (see agenda). In addition to Committee members, City Council President Susan Albright, Ward 3 At-Large Councilor Andrea Kelly, and Ward 7 Ward Councilor Lisle Baker offered comments, as did Newton’s ADA Compliance Officer Jini Farley.
Councilor Alicia Bowman, a member of the committee, indicated that she would be open to a trial period in lifting the ban, and President Albright agreed that lifting the ban for a trial period would allow the City to collect data and monitor the results. Councilor Kelly argued that the ban poses more of a hardship in her part of West Newton, which borders Waltham and has many two- and three-family homes.
Committee vice-chair Chris Markiewicz and Councilor Becky Grossman each noted that Newton is on the brink of passing Village Center Overlay Design zoning, which would impact overall parking. They said that repealing the parking ban now and enacting something on a trial basis, which might then be repealed later, made no sense. Councilor Tarik Lucas added that putting more cars on the streets would also have a negative environmental impact. On the other hand, President Albright and Compliance Officer Farley advocated for some accommodation for people with disabilities or people with special needs who might not be able to walk some distance to a parking lot to access their cars. The Committee voted 7-0 to reject the petition and let the parking ban stand. Councilor Bowman was not present for the vote.
The petition will now go before the full City Council on Monday, October 16. ]
Last month, the campaign had submitted more than 6,000 signatures, of which 5,485 were certified as valid by the Clerk’s Office, according to a memo from the City Clerk to the Public Safety and Transportation Committee. The campaign needed certified signatures of 15% of registered voters in order to place the ballot question this November, and it needed only 10% of registered voters in order to compel the City Council to act on its petition within 30 days. The campaign met the second threshold, so in accordance with the City Charter the City Council must act in one of three ways:
- Pass the initiative measure without any changes. It would become effective within 20 days.
- Reject the initiative measure.
- Pass some other measure in lieu of the initiative measure.
City Clerk Carol Moore noted that if the Council amends the parking ban or implements a suspension or trial, it would be deemed as a rejection of the initiative petition. She added: “Any action other than passing the initiative measure, or failing to act, will allow the petitioners to move forward with the process to place the initiative measure to the voters as a binding ballot question at the next regularly scheduled city election. This will require the petitioners to submit additional signatures equal to at least 5% of registered voters for certification. The next city election will be in November 2025. Based on the statutory election deadlines, as well as practical considerations as to the printing of ballots, early voting, and votebymail, it is not possible for the initiative measure to be submitted to the voters at the upcoming municipal election this November 7th.”
Before the committee meeting, Chair Downs had sent an update reporting that the committee had taken up a similar item earlier in the year that was held for review by a working group (see Report). She indicated in the update that she would propose a temporary trial lifting of the ban and that her “goals are to maintain safety for emergencies and for people outside of cars, along with equity and fairness.” She explained that no public comment would be taken at the meeting, to allow councilors to fully deliberate on this item, but public comments may be emailed to citycouncil@newtonma.gov before the meeting. Petitioners have also suggested that comments be sent to the Clerk with a copy to the campaign at repealparkingban@gmail.com.
Before the meeting, campaign co-chair Jeremy Freudberg said, “My only hope for Wednesday is that the Councilors will listen to the clear message from so many of their constituents, and not give in to fear. I am fully confident that the ban will be eventually repealed. I expect that our support will only continue to grow.”
Former Ward 3 City Councilor Jim Cote, who is co-chair of the Repeal Parking Ban campaign, said, “The repeal ballot question is going in front of the voters, if not next month, then the next election.”
Ed. Note: This article has been updated by Martina Jackson to include the results of the October 4 committee meeting.
