Newton Residents Call For Repeal Of Overnight Parking Ban: Report

NEWTON, MA – Newton’s former Ward 3 at-large City Councilor Jim Cote, and Newton Highlands Neighborhood Area Council President Jeremy Freudberg have filed papers with Newton City Hall to put a question on November’s ballot to repeal the city’s overnight parking ban, Fig City News reports.

Newton currently has a seasonal overnight parking ban from December 1 through March 31. The ban prohibits non-emergency vehicles from parking on any streets between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.

On a petition website created by the two residents, they called the ban “outdated, unnecessary, and exclusionary,” and said it creates a burden on “households with more than one working person, multigenerational households, disabled and/or elderly people, and generally people of lesser means.”

While only 50 signatures from community members are needed for a public hearing on an issue, they are aiming much bigger.

They hope to obtain 10,000 signatures to put a binding question on the November ballot for Newton voters to consider.

“Unfortunately, the City Council has yet to act on any substantive changes to the winter ban, including its repeal,” the petition website said. “Under the procedures set forth in the City Charter, this petition seeks a repeal of the winter overnight parking ban either through direct City Council action or a binding ballot question.”

The petition website said some city leaders have indicated support to repeal the ban, such as feedback from Mayor Ruthanne Fuller’s newsletter showing citywide support to lift or reform the ban, and a February 2023 Public Safety & Transportation Committee meeting where members stated that the ban is unnecessary.

Read more at Fig City News.