Pesky parking issue in the square
Published on October 17th, 2007
STONEHAM-Town officials, bombarded with complaints from frustrated Stoneham Square merchants, received authorization from a state agency this week to remove rush-hour parking restrictions.
According to Selectman John DePinto, who has long advocated for enforcing two hour parking limits along Main Street, MassHighway finally authorized town officials to trash rush hour parking signs along the busy roadway.
The morning and evening restrictions included a 7 to 9 a.m. parking ban along Main Street westbound, followed by a corresponding 4 to 6 p.m. prohibition on the east side.
Just one week ago, DePinto and Selectman Robert Sweeney - well aware that enforcement of the commuting hour parking ban was becoming increasing unpopular - joked that they would personally paint over the Main Street signage on Halloween night, should the state drag its feet any longer.
"Let me put everyone at ease. We got permission from the Commonwealth this week to take those signs down," DePinto confirmed during a phone interview late Tuesday afternoon.
"What I'd like to do is take those signs down as soon as possible because those are a hindrance to our merchants," the Selectman added.
For a number of years now, several prominent town officials have pushed to enforce parking prohibitions in the Stoneham Square area in order to facilitate the flow of business related traffic into the commercial zone.
Most notably, those in favor of the restrictions have pointed to a number of motorists who abuse the parking spots by leaving vehicles along Main Street and in municipal lots in order to take public transportation into Boston.
At the same time, police officials resisted the calls for parking enforcement, contending that the personnel-light force couldn't divert its manpower to the task.
However, after Selectman George Seibold pointed out that Stoneham rakes in considerably less ticket revenue compared to surrounding communities, the calls for enforcement were renewed.
At first, police reluctantly complied with the demands, enforcing a two-hour parking ban, but later backed-off after a number of residents complained about conflicting messages on the signage along Main Street - which in some spots, only prohibits rush-hour parking.
The enforcement then centered upon the morning and evening restrictions, although police, according to some reports, have again eased up on ticketing due to complaints from local businesses.
"I think the frustration is that it's done partly to facilitate traffic through Stoneham during rush-hour," said Sharon Iovanni, Executive Director for the Stoneham Chamber of Commerce, of enforcement of the 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. ban.
"We're making it convenient for those not interested in supporting local businesses to get through the area," Iovanni added, saying that the enforcement makes it harder for patrons to frequent Stoneham Square area businesses during those periods.
According to Diane Guptill, of Hank's Bakery, Iovanni's assessment is right on, as the local business has struggled since the rush-hour bans started being enforced.
To make the situation even more frustrating, says Guptill, the enforcement appears to ultimately do little to assist commuter traffic, and at the same time, ignores scofflaws who break two hour parking limits and leave their vehicles in spaces for hours-on-end.
"For years, they've had the signs up and they didn't enforce it. And there was no parking," Guptill recalled. "Now, they go to the other extreme and start enforcing the 7 to 9 a.m. restriction."
"Well, this is a bakery, and people come here in the morning for coffee and [baked breakfast goods]. People are in and out of here in the morning and getting a ticket, but people parked here all day get nothing."
"In case I-93 backs-up, they want two lanes of traffic going through Stoneham," the Hank's Bakery worker continued. "But I don't see that facilitating traffic at all. It's not like we look out the window and see cars speeding by because there's no parking."
According to Guptill, the enforcement of the rush-hour parking bans has had a huge impact on the bakery's revenues, so much so that the business has had to close its doors on Monday to cut-back on the losses.
Agreeing with the Hank's Bakery employees assessment of the situation, Anthony Piccoli, of Anthony's Italian Specialties - located across Main Street - has also seen a slow-down in business due to enforcement of the afternoon ban.
"I would agree with that," said Piccoli on Tuesday afternoon. "We need to find a solution."
Fully aware that the rush hour restrictions has hurt local businesses, DePinto believes that the town must now pursue a two-fold solution.
First, the Selectman is advocating for enforcing a blanket two-hour parking restriction along Main Street, and secondly, DePinto wants to begin offering licenses to Stoneham Square shops for long-term employee parking in municipal lots.
However, the town official also acknowledges that the police department, citing a lack of manpower, may again resist drives to enforce an all-day, two-hour parking restriction.
"It was hurting businesses," admitted DePinto, when asked about the rush-hour enforcement. "In the morning it would hurt coffee shops and things like that and then in the afternoon, it would hurt restaurants and sandwich shops."
"But other than an occasional show at the theatre, I would assume a two-hour limit is sufficient," the Selectman opined. "We're going to have to talk to the new chief [about the feasibility of doing that]. Maybe we can create a parking division if we could prove the revenue we're taking in is offsetting the costs of new positions."
According to Iovanni, she hopes town officials will take their time before tweaking the parking restrictions again.
Specifically, the Chamber of Commerce representative feels that not only should any parking ban be consistent through town, it should also take the nature of area businesses into account.
"We're looking for consistency throughout, not signs being put up haphazardly without thought about the impacts to a particular area," said Iovanni.
"Now I'm not suggesting that anything has been done haphazardly to date, but I think everybody could work well with some well-thought out regulations that allow for short-term and long-term solutions. For example, you might only need 15 minutes to pick-up food at Anthony's at lunch time, but if you're eating there, you're going to stay longer."
Subscribe and get Home Delivery of The Independent
Save 36% off the newstand price — that's like 18 FREE issues!