This year, Newton voters will finally have the opportunity to repeal Newton’s Overnight Parking Ban, which prohibits overnight parking on every street in Newton from December through March. Dating back to 1936, this outdated and nonsensical law is a burden to many Newton residents. Despite decades of concerns from residents, the City Council has failed to listen to its constituents. Our grassroots campaign collected 10,000 signatures from all 32 precincts to put this question before the voters. Now the people will have their turn to speak.
We reckon that the parking ban either inconveniences or has a significant negative impact on almost every household in Newton—for at least some of the nights it is in effect. For some residents, the ban means not being able to have a guest stay overnight. For others, it means the time wasted of frequently shuffling cars in a tandem driveway. For many, it means leaving Newton altogether because their property cannot accommodate the number of vehicles they need to get to work, bring their kids to school, and run errands. Intergenerational households, people with disabilities, and people who need overnight health aides are particularly affected by the parking ban. The only ‘solution’ that the City has provided is overnight parking in municipal lots, which are few, and not practical for many, especially the elderly or parents with young kids.
In a different era—several decades ago—when weather forecasting technology was unreliable and City Hall couldn’t send residents a message with the push of a button—the overnight parking ban was a necessary evil for public safety. Repealing the overnight parking ban will not prevent the City from declaring snow emergencies (when it is illegal to park on the street, punishable by tow). Keeping in mind public safety and snow operations, the City’s Public Works, Fire, Police Departments have not objected to repealing the parking ban.
Development has been invoked as an issue in this campaign. The truth is that the off-street parking requirements for any development are determined by our zoning ordinances and approval processes. Our many single-family home neighborhoods should not suffer under this ban, when there are other tools to ensure that major developments include enough parking. And if a development is indeed built with insufficient parking, it is doubtful that the current ban will sufficiently mitigate spillover. Neighborhoods affected by new developments deserve better than a flimsy 4-month, 4-hour ban.
We have heard concerns about areas near Boston College and Lasell. These neighborhoods already have regulations that are stricter than the overnight parking ban, including, in many cases, resident-only permits. These regulations will remain and can be easily tweaked if necessary. Actually, for any local concern—colleges, development, narrow streets—it makes far more sense to implement targeted solutions for those specific areas, rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all ordinance that fails to fully solve problems in some places, while creating problems in others.
Despite the protestations of anti-car activists, repealing the parking ban will have environmental benefits. The parking ban encourages residents to widen driveways and pave green space. This runs contrary to Newton’s reputation as “The Garden City.” Additionally, by allowing people to remain in Newton, rather than banishing them to farther-flung suburbs, we reduce “vehicle-miles-traveled” because here in Newton we benefit from compactness rather than sprawl, and the ability to live car-lite versus fully car-dependent. We also recognize the need for phosphorous reduction through street sweeping – but a targeted approach would be far more effective than relying on an unrelated ordinance that only applies for part of the year and only at night.
Why now? The Repeal Parking Ban campaign is a natural and reasonable progression. In 2019, the parking ban was shortened by 1 month without a problem. In 2020-2021, the ban was temporarily lifted with no adverse impacts, despite there being more cars in Newton during the pandemic. The City Council, at that time, should have come up with a way to alleviate the widespread burden of the overnight parking ban. Due to the Council’s intransigence, we have brought this question to the voters of Newton. A YES vote will have the exact purpose of expressing to the Council that real change is needed–we can’t expect them to do much otherwise. Since we know from the pandemic years that the ban can be safely suspended, and since most people already own the cars they need, we can take this first step now. We hope you join us in voting YES on November 4. Visit www.repealparkingban.org.
