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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
By Andrea Kelley
City Councilor-At-Large
Having access to the streets during a declared snow emergency for plowing and emergency vehicles is crucial, but this can be accomplished without banning on-street parking to all residents for the four months of December through March. Newton’s winter parking ban is a bludgeon instrument of excess control over a safety issue that could be managed by less draconian means.
If repealed, on-street parking will still be banned during a declared snow emergency, so Police, Fire, ambulances and plows will safely proceed.
The current one-size-fits-all ban unfairly impacts residents of Newton’s denser neighborhoods, where there is less on-site parking generally available (driveway space, garages, carriage houses), few to no nearby municipal parking lot options, and more multi-family and rental housing. Abutting towns and cities have created effective solutions that include allowing overnight parking during snow emergencies in schools, DPW, parks and other municipal lots.
The only option that Newton provides for affected residents is overnight parking in municipal lots, which are few and are not a practical option for many. Elderly residents and parents of young kids often must pay for a space, forcing a long walk on a cold night from the space to home. For those who live intergenerationally, have a disability, rely on overnight home health aides, or just want to be able host overnight guests occasionally, the overnight parking ban significantly hinders quality of life.
Newton’s Police, Fire and Department of Public Works departments have all said they could make the change work and do not oppose it. The configuration of Newton’s streets — not laid out on a simple grid, has many narrow, curvy streets, neighborhoods near BC and Lasell where
overnight parking enforcement is a problem — make a blanket solution trickier as certain areas will need to be exempted.
A citizen petition to put this question on the ballot in November 2025 succeeded, giving voters the decision-making power. If this binding ballot question passes, I expect a Working Group will be established to evaluate the current roads, develop alternative parking areas for the public to use during a declared snow emergency, identify streets that could be exempted, work with DPW to adapt plowing schedules, and give neighborhoods the protections they deserve.
Go to https://www.repealparkingban.org/ to learn more.
Andrea Kelley has served as councilor-at-large from Ward 3 since 2018.