ATTLEBORO — After decades of banning street parking at night during the winter months, city residents will get a chance Tuesday to voice their opinions on the matter.
The ban, which for years has been in place every night — from Dec. 1 through March 31– no matter the weather, has come to be seen as a burden on residents without driveways, especially those living on the congested East Side.
Police Chief Kyle Heagney, among others, has come out in favor of dropping the ban, which puts a hardship on many, forcing them to find alternative parking for four full months, and has been seen as archaic and unnecessary in the era of smartphone notifications.
Last December, Heagney went as far as to tell the city council he would not have his officers enforce the parking ban through ticketing or towing.
“There should not be a winter parking ban until the forecast is for snow in the immediate future,” Heagney told the council at the time.
“I think it’s unreasonable to prevent citizens to park their cars on the street if we know it’s not going to snow for 30 days,” Heagney said. “This winter parking ban is archaic and should be repealed.”
The Sun Chronicle has editorialized numerous times in favor of dropping the ban, citing its burden on many residents, especially lower income resident living in three-decker houses on the East Side. Larger, more congested cities like Boston, Fall River and New Bedford, do not have a winterwide ban. Those cities institute parking restrictions only when a storm is predicted.
Residents will be able to voice their opinions about changing the law to allow the police chief or the superintendent of public works to declare a weather emergency and ban parking for one or two nights while streets are cleared.
Mayor Cathleen DeSimone, who is running unopposed in the Nov. 7 city election, supports lifting the ban.
“I support the end of the winter parking ban, or at least trying something less restrictive than what we have now,” she wrote in an email to The Sun Chronicle.
When she was a councilor, she wrote the measure along with councilor Diana Holmes.
“I have no issue with the chief or DPW making the determination to implement an emergency parking ban,” DeSimone said. “Imposing a winter-long parking ban can be challenging for folks living in certain areas of the city where there may not be enough off street parking, and we have the ability and technology to communicate information about emergency bans when needed,” she said.
The council meeting starts at 7 p.m., following a personnel committee meeting at 6:30 p.m. The winter parking ban could be voted at the council’s meeting Thursday night.
During the summer the council has meetings once a month in the same week.
