Councillor Proposes Overnight Parking Hours Changes

By Adam Swift

Ward 3 City Councillor Anthony Cogliandro wants the city to think about revising its overnight parking enforcement hours.

At last week’s council meeting, Cogliandro presented a motion requesting the Traffic and Parking Commission expand the hours of resident parking enforcement from midnight to 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. The motion was put on file, although several other councillors stated they were willing to look into some potential changes to the parking enforcement hours.

“There are a few things happening, one being that at 6 a.m. or 6:01, people are showing up at someone’s house and parking on the street and carpooling into town,” said Cogliandro. “They don’t have to be back to move their cars until 12.”

Cogliandro also noted that he recently spoke to Revere Parking Director Zachary Babo, and that the department is going to be switching the hours for the overnight parking clerks to 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.

“It would be a lot better, because we would be able to cover more of the city, because right now, we are not able to cover the entire city overnight,” said Cogliandro. “We are not able to ticket the people who don’t have resident parking.”

Cogliandro said he wanted to bring the issue up at the council meeting to get feedback from his fellow councillors.

“I usually agree with my good friend from Ward 3, but on this one, I am sorry to say that I totally disagree,” said Ward 6 Councillor Richard Serino. “In part, because if we start ticketing people at 10 p.m. who don’t have residential stickers, what happens if you have company over? I really think that is going a little too far.”

Serino said he still believes the midnight restriction is more appropriate in the evening, and in the morning, he noted that he believes 8 a.m. is a little too late.

“Between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., residents could have visiting nurses or home health aides visiting them,” said Serino. “I know the ordinance says at 7 a.m., landscapers can be out and about through the city in the summer months. I understand we are trying to limit people from parking and going to work, but I think that could have unintended consequences.”

Councillor-at-Large Gerry Visconti said he agreed with Serino, but would be willing to extend the overnight permit parking hours to 7 a.m.

“I hope that the Traffic Commission in whatever shape or form continues to review their policy, but I would like to see some more consistency,” said Council President Patrick Keefe. “Even though this (parking policy) is two years in, it is still somewhat new to people, so I think changing it would be a little more confusing.”

Keefe noted that Babo and his department have been doing an excellent job, and that if they need additional help with overnight parking clerks, they should request it in their budget.

“Ultimately, they pay for themselves in their revolving fund when it comes to what their work is,” Keefe said.