By Adam Swift
Monday night saw the first meeting of a new year for a new city council session, but there was plenty of familiarity with the number of motions introduced dealing with city parking and traffic issues.
Ward 3 Councillor Anthony Cogliandro and Ward 5 Councillor Angela Guarino-Sawaya introduced a motion requesting Mayor Keefe ask the traffic commission to establish a regulation limiting the number of residential parking permits issued per address or housing unit to four. The councillors’ request does include the stipulation that residents may apply for additional parking permits through an appeal process administered by the parking department.
“I originally brought this motion forward last year, but I think it fell through the cracks,” said Guarino-Sawaya. “I was happy when Councillor Cogliandro wanted to revisit it, and with the parking still being a major issue, it is important that we act now. Right now, single, two families, and three families can receive multiple residential parking permits, sometimes up to 10 per unit.”
Guarino-Sawaya said this creates a strain on the neighborhoods and on-street parking.
“I do want to stress that the apartment buildings do not contribute to this, because they receive no parking permits,” she said. “We’re asking that the traffic commission consider capping the permits … to at least four per unit with an appeal process for residents who might need more. Residents have a difficult time finding a parking spot, and sometimes, from what I understand, residents call me and say they have to park two or three streets over from their house, and that shouldn’t be happening; they should be able to find parking on their street.”
The Ward 5 Councillor said the motion is about fairness, balance, responsibility and responsibly managing the shared streets in the city.
“I had a good conversation with Director (Zach) Babo in parking and we have to hit the reset button on this,” said Cogliandro. “We have cars that are automatically registered every year of people who no longer live in the city that don’t change their address. Everett has a program where they allow four (parking permits) and that is one of the reasons we did four; and it’s not auto-renewed, you have to reapply every year.
“I think we need to do that for a couple, two or three years; we have to hit the reset button.”
Cogliandro said councillors get numerous calls from residents regarding vehicles they don’t recognize parked in front of their houses.
“This is a good way to control the number of cars that are allowed to park on our streets,” he added.
