A study of 200 apartment and condo buildings and complexes largely built in the Boston area since 2000 found nearly 30% of their parking spaces go unused, suggesting planning agencies and boards need to do a better job resisting NIMBY demands for acres of asphalt, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council says. Read more.
A concerned citizen files a 311 complaint about the way one resident of Lawrence Street in the South End is recharging his or her Honda Clarity: Read more.
Note on boxed-in car and weak front bumper of car behnd it.
Eileen Murphy spotted a car that was well and truly boxed in in South Boston - just a few inches between it and both the car right in front of it and the car right behind it. Nothing unusual, of course, but then she noticed the note on the windshield of the boxed in car - from the owner of the car behind it.
Boston Parking Zones is a map that is exactly what its name says it is.
Grouchy Roslindale ed. note: The map's explanatory text suffers from the common assumption that thar be dragons past the MFA or Melnea Cass Boulevard and so says there are only three small spots where you can find "free parking in Boston," when, in fact, there is a huge swath of the city where the parking is always free, even in municipal lots.
City Councilor Michael Flaherty (at large) says he has the solution to many of Boston's parking woes: No, not making people pay for residential parking permits, which he opposes with the blinding fury of 10,000 suns, but making people with handicap placards pay for metered spaces - and then ticketing them if they stay more than two hours. Read more.
After his comments yesterday about his family's five cars and how T bus stops take up too much damn space, Michael Flaherty now has his own hashtag: #fivecarflaherty. Also, shhh, nobody say a word, but somebody updated his Wikipedia page.
A proposal by Councilor Michelle Wu (at large) to start charging non-poor residents with parking permits got a rough reception at a City Council meeting today. Read more.
City Councilor Michelle Wu (at large) says a rapidly growing Boston can no longer simply dole out unlimited free resident parking permits to residents and wants the city to start charging $25 per annual sticker - with exemptions for senior citizens, low-income residents and home-health and BPS staff who make regular home visits. Read more.
A disgusted citizen goes into ALL CAPS mode to file a 311 report about all the MFA visitors parking on the streets near the museum: Read more.
The mayor's office announced that come July 1, the cheapest parking meters in the city will set you back $2 an hour - up from the current $1.25 - as part of a bid to reduce street congestion and raise money for road infrastructure projects. Read more.
A South Boston resident posts a photo of the note he found on his windshield this morning - a morning, it might be noted, with not even a speck of snow on the ground.
WBZ reports a resident of Fort Hill in Roxbury became angry that his neighbor parked in "his" spot Friday - several days after the snowstorm - and so slapped a Denver boot on her car. He removed it only after she called 911 and police showed up. No word on where he got the device, which was red and yellow, unlike the yellow ones the city uses for unpaid parking tickets.
Shamus Moynihan ran across (but not over) this message-bearing cone in Allston today.
Steven Ayr could only marvel at what he saw on Victory Road at Houghton this morning:
24hrs after storm, someone shoveled out their car, dumped everything on the sidewalk, then put out a space saver. Either this person is a complete jerk or this is a political art installation commenting on the broken nature of Boston transit priorities.
Have a seat! Space savers in Brighton.
An irate citizen filed a 311 complaint from Charlestown yesterday: Read more.
The several gazillion tons of salt public-works crews dumped on Boston streets the other day have turned vehicles into impromptu canvases for messages. As seen on this SUV in Roslindale, not everybody's a fan.
Poplar Street in Roslindale, between roughly the George Wright Golf Course and Beech Street, has a series of homes with stubby driveways, not really long enough for anything much bigger than a Smart Car. A resident filed a 311 complaint about a city ticketing blitz very early this morning in the stretch: Read more.
Gary C. reports this car was originally parked when there were snowbanks along Perkins Street at Jamaica Pond - and hasn't moved since:
Move over buddy! Despite the snow banks having receded to the curb, this lone duck still sits in the middle of the bike lane at Jamaica Pond. The city has noticed and placed several tickets on his windshield.
Look at all that snow! Eileen Murphy ran across these faux French-provincial space savers on West 1st between E and F this evening, should you need something for your living-room end tables.
The scene on Princeton Street in East Boston.
The Boston Public Works Department is responding to a flood of complaints about space savers - from South Boston, East Boston and Dorchester, in particular - with the same answer: Crews will pick up the cones, chairs and other detritus on the streets' regular trash pickup days. Read more.
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