Time to start charging for Boston parking permits, some councilors say

making Boston parking permits somewhat universal? I have always found it sort of unfair that if you live in Back Bay lets say, and your significant other lives in Southie, you cannot park your car in Southie, even with though you have a city issued parking permit. Unless you find a needle in a haystack spot, of course. If you live in the city and are paying taxes (directly or through rent) and then are asked to PAY for a parking permit, you should be able to park in other neighborhoods in your city. Even if there are some restrictions such as only getting one night, or even X hours.
Somerville has visitor passes that are good for 2 or 3 days, and miraculously they are able to accurately keep track of that. Even if you swap the pass from one car to another, you are only allowed to use the pass for that many days per week, and if you try for an extra day you wake up to a parking ticket.

Walsh and his Transportation Department have been studying the issue since he took office. Sounds like the council grew tired of waiting and decided to push for it on their own.

Isn't this what auto excise taxes are for? I would agree that having 2+ permits per individual residence should incur a fee, but hundreds of dollars per year per permit? Some people require a car to get to work, and this would drive (huehuehue) up the cost of living in the city for them even further.

Not everyone with a parking permit is rolling in dough, but it's great that the councilor is working to ensure that the only residents who do will be able to obtain a permit. Tip-top proposal.

Josh Zakim is wealthy and lives in a mansion on Comm. Ave. I doubt he parks on the street using a residential sticker, shovels out his own parking space, has had his car broken into because he some addict sees a quarter on the car seat, has to worry about where he's going to find a parking space in his neighborhood after he gets home from a late night shift.

and do the same for the damn bikes. My neighbor locks his bike to the street sign in front of my house. Not cool. Bring it in or lock it at an approved spot. Will 311 remove it?

So once again a scheme which punishes those least able to afford it. Wealthy people with multiple cars won't think twice about paying for an extra permit of two; while those just getting by will have to fork over additional money to park on a PUBLIC Street, a street their taxes have paid for.

How about all you rich folks who think these fees are a good idea make voluntary donations to the city.

I don't mind paying higher taxes to improve our city, but the idea of these user fees is unfair.

The only good idea is visitor passes for guests.

Maybe it's time to look at a city wide permit-since to point of this was to free up spaces on Boston Streets for Bostonians.

Councilor Josh Zakim (Back Bay, Fenway, Beacon Hill, Mission Hill) praised Wu as "adventurous and brave" for proposing [shit somerville and cambridge figured out over a decade ago]

long overdue. people complaining about omg how is it going to work can look across the river. I have and use a driveway but would kill for visitor passes. limit them to 2 per address and charge for them, too.

as long as BTD starts enforcing the current resident parking program. They can start by towing cars that do not have stickers. A New York registered vehicle has been parked on my street for a week with no tickets issued. I can count of half my hand the number of times I've seen a parking enforcement officer on my street. #doyourjob

If the city starts charging for residential parking permits, then it should also ban ALL neighborhoods from using space savers at any time.

This Council is "Fun"....looking for something interesting from K Janey

Nice. So where would the money from the fees go?

Charge triple for college students then. It's already hard enough for working class families. Congrats in advance to all of you single no canada goose jacket kids trust funders who have jobs in the city that covers all of your bills... with Daddy's help of course.

I have a two car garage.

Michelle Wi just blew her chance of running for Mayor. The poor people left in Bistin will remember this.

I’m someone who knows

Perhaps they should begin by enforcing the existing parking rules first. If people don't register their cars now what gives you the impression they will do it if they have to pay. You tax homeowners with the new preservation tax now this.
Enough all you accomplish is forcing elders to sell their homes.

Considering the value of a parking space, maybe a transponder pay-as-you-go system makes the most sense, especially in Zone A areas Downtown, Beacon Hill, Back Bay, etc.

Have a BTD van drive around at 3am, scan the transponder for every car parked on the street, and charge $5 a night.

With smart phone technology I don't understand why a city like Boston doesn't have an app in addition to the paper system. The app can geolocate where the car is and your credit card can be charged... the added benefit of the app would be it knows if your car did not move so can charge you more if you go over the time limit. The app could do everything the paper does and add in some extra benefits like visitor parking benefits in areas that do not have machines in place to process a paper slip.

Then you can take the parking enforcement car, put a license plate reader on it and have it drive up and down the streets. All the cars with prepaid passes will be in the database, as will anyone using the app. So the only cars you need to stop for are those without passes or those that used the paper system... which will be a very small group of people because most people would switch over to the app based system if it came with extra benefits and took credit cards and was easy to use. It would also be self enforcing .

And if you want a visitor pass, they are $20 a piece for a 2 day pass.

I was shocked when I first moved to Boston to learn that the city just gives away resident permits. It should at least implement a fee to cover the cost of the program and possibly a bit more to go towards other programs. I'm sure this could be done while keeping the fee relatively low like Cambridge has done.

This is just another tax and a burden on the working poor. Taking parking spots to give to those who are moving into these multi units condos and apartment complexes that are not providing off street parking spaces for their renters, Soon only the well off will be the only ones that will able to own a car in Boston...

This is just another way to push those who are struggling out of Boston. The city is allowing multi unit apartment buildings where you once had at the most a triple decker in these old neighborhoods or on some Main Street storefronts. These unit may or may not come with parking spaces that the renters don't use because they have to pay for their assigned spot. So instead they too park on the street. And if you do not own a car you can't understand why this is not a good idea..

The cost of a resident parking permit allowing some people exclusive use of city streets not directly in front of their home should be based on the value of the car. Since the city already appraises vehicles for auto excise tax, no extra work would be necessary for this. For example the city could charge 10% of the appraised value of the vehicle. For example an older US or Japan subcompact would cost around $50 a year, a new starter Mercedes or BMW around $300 a year etc