Less than careful commuter parking on Centre St

Ticketed and hooked within fifteen minutes.

 

We've stumbled upon imminent disaster before and persuaded the BTD to hold off towing a neighbor's car until we've been able to bang on their door to alert them to the impending tow.  Usually the tow operator has shown patience and been willing to wait a couple of minutes before hooking the vehicle.

Somehow we didn't feel quite the same compassion to the random commuter owner of this automobile, who wedged his full-sized vehicle into a half-sized spot.

We don't have strong opinions about how severely parking violations should be treated on Centre Street, but we were astounded at how little time elapsed between this car being spotted, being ticketed, and being towed.  About a quarter of an hour from beginning to end.

The towing section of the BTD website tells this:  "Vehicles towed for illegal parking are subject to a $90.00 tow fee.  In addition, there is a storage fee of $3.00/hour up to $15.00/day. Payment may be made by cash, Master Card, VISA, ATM card, or debit card."  That, plus the $100 for the ticket, sets the penalty at $193 minimum.  Ouch.  Tic-toc.  The tow lot closes at 10:30 p.m.

The 47 bus out of Dudley is the closest bus.  Not a pleasant walk.

Illegal Boston Police parking opposite Headquarters is as perennial as weeds

Click on the photo and enlarge it to see four public servants conducting important police business. The car blocking the sidewalk was in gear and drifted dangerously forward as your reporter walked by.

Illegal Boston Police parking continues unabated on the sidewalk of inbound Tremont Street opposite Police Headquarters.

The entire parking lane of southbound Tremont St. has been given over to Police Parking, from Whittier St. all the way to Malcolm X Blvd, but that doesn't seem to have changed things a bit.

In fact, a stroll by One Schroeder Plaza today shows that not only do the Boston Police need the parking legally designated as official police parking, but they also need to block the MBTA bus stop just north of Prentiss Street on the outbound side of Tremont. And, the illegal police parking extends into the right-hand turn lane at Roxbury Crossing

This problem is as perennial as weeds. Universal Hub reported on a variation of this problem in February of last year. This past June, on another story at Universal Hub about the larger problem of People using outlying neighborhoods as alternatives to downtown garages, a commenter noted the illegal parking.



One wonders whether this year's worshipers for Eid al-Fitr will be permitted to use this clever parking strategy on Friday, or if it is restricted to only police officials.