As most Newton residents soak up the sun in the recent heat wave, Jeremy Freudberg and Peter Klapes have their sights set on the future—to snowstorms, freezing temperatures, and the rules that come with them. As co-leaders of the campaign to repeal Newton’s winter parking ban, they’ve rallied support for a repeal measure that will appear on the November ballot.  

Freudberg and Klapes—both Newton South High School alumni and current/soon-to-be Suffolk Law students—have built a movement to overturn the city’s four-month restriction prohibiting overnight on-street parking from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. from December 1 through March 31.

Their push for a repeal follows years of advocacy and more than 10,000 signatures gathered from registered Newton voters. Their campaign argues that the ban, originating in 1936, is outdated and inequitable, failing to accommodate the diverse circumstances of Newton residents.  

“If you have your big driveway, your big garage, you can have as many cars as you want, and you’re not really paying for those externalities,” said Freudberg. “If you can’t afford all that space, you’re just kind of out of luck.”

Freudberg and Klapes discussed anecdotes of how the ban has affected residents. Klapes recalled a neighbor who had had a stroke and required in-home overnight care. 

“The health aides would get ticketed,” he said. “They would get ticketed all the time. They just don’t grant exemptions to this law.” 

Klapes said the ban disproportionately affects those who rely on cars to get to their place of work, caregiving, or who have a living situation without ample parking. 

“The electeds in Newton don’t understand that most people don’t have the luxury of living a car-free lifestyle right now,” said Klapes. “It’s really an unfair thing to say to people that we’re going to keep this ridiculous law on the books to try to disincentivize car ownership—there are other ways to do that.”

Freudberg echoed that idea, explaining the inconsistencies and disparities between enforcement. 

“They have a 99% chance they’re not gonna get a ticket for blocking the sidewalk, whereas if they just parked on the street, which is much safer, they would probably get a ticket,” said Freudberg. “There’s this kind of reverse, or really perverse, incentive to do things that are unsafe just to avoid the ticket, and just the whole legislative regime just doesn’t really make sense.”

In neighboring communities, storm-based restrictions are enforced, going into effect when snow is forecasted. For areas such as Boston and Cambridge, “snow emergency corridors” are prioritized, clearing major streets of cars for plowing, while parking is still allowed on side streets. Other areas, such as Waltham and Peabody, implement a total ban on parking only during active snowstorms. 

For Freudberg, the model demonstrated by Waltham and Peabody would be best suited for Newton. 

“That’s what we’re looking for in Newton,” said Freudberg. “In general, you can park overnight, but if it’s snowing, I think most people in Newton expect their street to be totally cleared, and we support that too.” 

Left to right: Samuel Fishman, City Councilor Andrea Kelley, Peter Klapes, Alex Klapes and (seated) Jeremy Freudberg talk to crowds about repealing the city’s winter parking ban at Waban’s Village Day 2025. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

According to City Councilor Randy Block, however, the winter parking ban serves more purposes than just clearing snow.

“It’s really too bad that we call it an overnight winter parking ban,” he said. “It achieves more than just allowing snow to be plowed more easily during three months of the year, right?”

Block explained how lifting the ban could potentially affect the city’s zoning requirements for new infrastructure. This would impact parking for residents. 

“If you remove the overnight parking ban, then somebody who builds a building could just not bother with any parking and just tell people who live there, ‘Well, just go park on the street, you can park year round,’” he said. “And if you go to Brighton, for example, that’s exactly their system. And if you walk the streets of Brighton, it’s just very clogged parking all over the place.”

Block also noted that a repeal of the ban would prompt many logistical changes. 

“We will have to go street by street and figure out which streets need new parking restrictions,” he said. “The narrower the street, the more likely there’ll be some changes. That’s the most obvious thing. And there won’t be a lot of time, right?”

According to Block, the concept of the ban and whether or not it should be applied is much more complicated than one might initially think. 

“People who simplify this are either misinformed or they’re just misleading people,” said Block.  

Equity concerns raised by Freudberg and Klapes are not lost on Block, who agreed that accommodations for those with extenuating circumstances should both be publicized better, and expanded. 

“I’m very sympathetic to people who don’t have off street parking as part of their residence,” he said. “Those are residences that are on smaller lots, narrower streets, sort of older neighborhoods. And they knew that they didn’t have off street parking when they rented or purchased their residence. But that doesn’t eliminate the problem, right?”

Block mentioned how neighboring towns offer overnight permit parking for households. 

“I think we should look into that, I think that would help the inequity that can arise from this system,” he said. “So that’s a problem. Government is here to solve problems, right? We should work harder on that. We really should.”

Over the course of their campaign, Freudberg and Klapes have used both traditional and creative outreach, including flyer “tickets” left on windshields that allowed residents to sign a petition to repeal the ban. According to Freudberg, this was an effective way to gather support. 

“They signed their signature, signed their address, all this stuff, and used their own stamp,” he said. “We got, you know, hundreds of these things back in the mail.” 

Despite their efforts, the Newton City Council voted 21-3 earlier this year against the repeal campaign, citing apprehensions similar to Block’s. 

“After that rejection, we had to collect an additional 5% from new people, not the previous signers, but a new 5% of registered voters to force the question onto the ballot,” explained Freudberg. 

If the measure passes in November, Block explained that the Council, and Traffic Council–led by David Koses—will need to act quickly. 

“There’s really no time to do it,” said Block. “So we better hope for no problems, right?” 

As for the work that would come should the ban be repealed, Freudberg and Klapes said they both would want to be involved, and help in any way they can. 

“We’re not going anywhere,” said Klapes. “It would be an honor to serve the residents of Newton in the near and far future.”